The bill’s requirements expire after 90 days.
4/13/2020 12:30
The District of Columbia City Council on April 7 unanimously passed a COVID-19 bill to significantly restrict debt collection activity and Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the bill on April 10.
The COVID-19 Response Supplemental Emergency Amendment Act of 2020 is an “emergency” bill slated to remain in effect for 90 days.
According to the bill:
During a public health emergency and for 60 days after its conclusion, no creditor or debt collector shall, with respect to any debt:
- Initiate, file, or threaten to file any new collection lawsuit;
- Initiate, threaten to initiate, or act upon any statutory remedy for the garnishment, seizure, attachment, or withholding of wages, earnings, property, or funds for the payment of a debt to a creditor;
- Initiate, threaten to initiate, or act upon any statutory remedy for the repossession of any vehicle, provided that creditors or debt collectors may accept collateral that is voluntarily surrendered.
The bill also states:
During a public health emergency and for 60 days after its conclusion, no debt collector shall initiate any communication with any debtor via any written or electronic communication, including email or text message, or telephone, provided that a debt collector shall not be deemed to have initiated a comnunication with a debtor if the communication by the debt collector is in response to a request made by the debtor for said communication.
- This subsection shall not apply to communications initiated solely for the purpose of informing a debtor of a rescheduled court appearance date or discussing a mutually convenient date for a rescheduled court appearance;
- This subsection shall not apply to original creditors collecting or attempting to collect their own debt, nor shall it apply to collecting or attempting to collect a debt which is, or is alleged to be, owed on a loan secured by a mortgage on real property.
The District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A. Racine said in a news release his office will begin enforcing an additional slate of emergency protections in the bill immediately.