For purposes of this part, the following definitions apply:

(a) Act or FDCPA means the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq.).

(b) Attempt to communicate means any act to initiate a communication or other contact about a debt with any person through any medium, including by soliciting a response from such person. An attempt to communicate includes leaving a limited-content message, as defined in paragraph (j) of this section.

(c) Bureau means the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

(d) Communicate or communication means the conveying of information regarding a debt directly or indirectly to any person through any medium.

(e) Consumer means any natural person, whether living or deceased, obligated or allegedly obligated to pay any debt. For purposes of § 1006.6, the term consumer includes the persons described in § 1006.6(a).

(f) Consumer financial product or service has the same meaning given to it in section 1002(5) of the Dodd-Frank Act (12 U.S.C. § 5481(5)).

(g) Creditor means any person who offers or extends credit creating a debt or to whom a debt is owed. The term creditor does not, however, include any person to the extent that such person receives an assignment or transfer of a debt in default solely to facilitate collection of the debt for another.

(h) Debt means any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance, or services that are the subject of the transaction are primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, whether or not the obligation has been reduced to judgment.

(i)(1) Debt collector means any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or mail in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of debts, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due, or asserted to be owed or due, to another. Notwithstanding paragraph (i)(2)(vi) of this section, the term debt collector includes any creditor that, in the process of collecting its own debts, uses any name other than its own that would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts. For purposes of § 1006.22(e), the term also includes any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or mail in any business the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of security interests.

(2) The term debt collector excludes:

(i) Any officer or employee of a creditor while the officer or employee is collecting debts for the creditor in the creditor’s name;

(ii) Any person while acting as a debt collector for another person if:

(A) The person acting as a debt collector does so only for persons with whom the person acting as a debt collector is related by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control; and

(B) The principal business of the person acting as a debt collector is not the collection of debts;

(iii) Any officer or employee of the United States or any State to the extent that collecting or attempting to collect any debt is in the performance of the officer’s or employee’s official duties;

(iv) Any person while serving or attempting to serve legal process on any other person in connection with the judicial enforcement of any debt;

(v) Any nonprofit organization that, at the request of consumers, performs bona fide consumer credit counseling and assists consumers in liquidating their debts by receiving payment from such consumers and distributing such amounts to creditors;

(vi) Any person collecting or attempting to collect any debt owed or due, or asserted to be owed or due to another, to the extent such debt collection activity:

(A) Is incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation or a bona fide escrow arrangement;

(B) Concerns a debt that such person originated;

(C) Concerns a debt that was not in default at the time such person obtained it; or

(D) Concerns a debt that such person obtained as a secured party in a commercial credit transaction involving the creditor; and

(vii) A private entity, to the extent such private entity is operating a bad check enforcement program that complies with section 818 of the Act.

(j) Limited-content message means a voicemail message for a consumer that includes all of the content described in paragraph (j)(1) of this section, that may include any of the content described in paragraph (j)(2) of this section, and that includes no other content.

(1) Required content. A limited-content message is a voicemail message for a consumer that includes:

(i) A business name for the debt collector that does not indicate that the debt collector is in the debt collection business;

(ii) A request that the consumer reply to the message;

(iii) The name or names of one or more natural persons whom the consumer can contact to reply to the debt collector; and

(iv) A telephone number or numbers that the consumer can use to reply to the debt collector.

(2) Optional content. In addition to the content described in paragraph (j)(1) of this section, a limited-content message may include one or more of the following:

(i) A salutation;

(ii) The date and time of the message;

(iii) Suggested dates and times for the consumer to reply to the message; and

(iv) A statement that if the consumer replies, the consumer may speak to any of the company’s representatives or associates.

(k) Person includes natural persons, corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies.

(l) State means any State, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any political subdivision of any of the foregoing.

[85 FR 76887, Nov. 30, 2020, as amended at 86 FR 5853, Jan. 19, 2021]