New law with rules for debt collectors and credit reporting agencies will take effect Sept. 19, 2019.
9/5/2019 11:30
On June 19, 2019, the governor of Maine signed a new law, H.P 553 – L.D. 748, with rules to follow when a consumer’s debt results from “economic abuse.”
This bill provides a definition for the term “economic abuse” and rules for debt collectors and credit reporting agencies to follow when consumers present evidence of being victims of economic abuse. The law will be in effect Sept. 19, 2019.
The new law defines economic abuse as, “…causing or attempting to cause an individual to be financially dependent by maintaining control over the individual’s financial resources, including, but not limited to:
- “Unauthorized or coerced use of credit or property;
- Withholding access to money or credit cards;
- Forbidding attendance at school or employment;
- Stealing from or defrauding of money or assets;
- Exploiting the individual’s resources for personal gain of the defendant or;
- Withholding physical resources such as food, clothing, necessary medication or shelter.”
The law goes on to state that, “…If the consumer provides documentation to the debt collector as set forth in Title 14, section 6001, subsection 6, paragraph H that the debt or any portion of the debt is the result of economic abuse as defined in Title 19–A, section 4002, subsection 3–B, the debt collector shall cease collection of the debt or any disputed portion of the debt owed by the consumer subjected to economic abuse.”
Debt collectors collecting debt in Maine should be aware of this issue and consider creating policies and procedures to comply with this new law when confronted with such consumer claims.
The new law also has provisions for credit reporting agencies.
It states, “if a consumer provides documentation to the consumer reporting agency as set forth in Title 14, section 6001, subsection 6, paragraph H that the debt or any portion of the debt is the result of economic abuse as defined in Title 19-A, section 4002, subsection 3-B, the consumer reporting agency shall reinvestigate the debt. If after the investigation it is determined that the debt is the result of economic abuse, the consumer reporting agency shall remove any reference to the debt, or any portion of the debt determined to be the result of economic abuse from the consumer's credit report.”
While this portion of the new law is specific to credit reporting agencies, debt collectors who credit report will want to be aware of this section of the law as they may be required to investigate such issues through e-OSCAR requests.