Washington Code 18.28.120 – Debt adjuster — Prohibited acts
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A debt adjuster shall not:
Terms Used In Washington Code 18.28.120
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Debt adjusting: means the managing, counseling, settling, adjusting, prorating, or liquidating of the indebtedness of a debtor, or receiving funds for the purpose of distributing said funds among creditors in payment or partial payment of obligations of a debtor. See Washington Code 18.28.010
- Fair share: means the creditor contributions paid to nonprofit debt adjusters by the creditors whose consumers receive debt adjusting services from the nonprofit debt adjusters and pay down their debt accordingly. See Washington Code 18.28.010
- Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- person: may be construed to include the United States, this state, or any state or territory, or any public or private corporation or limited liability company, as well as an individual. See Washington Code 1.16.080
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
(1) Take any contract, or other instrument which has any blank spaces when signed by the debtor;
(2) Receive or charge any fee in the form of a promissory note or other promise to pay or receive or accept any mortgage or other security for any fee, whether as to real or personal property;
(3) Lend money or credit;
(4) Take any confession of judgment or power of attorney to confess judgment against the debtor or appear as the debtor in any judicial proceedings;
(5) Take, concurrent with the signing of the contract or as a part of the contract or as part of the application for the contract, a release of any obligation to be performed on the part of the debt adjuster;
(6) Advertise services, display, distribute, broadcast or televise, or permit services to be displayed, advertised, distributed, broadcasted or televised in any manner whatsoever wherein any false, misleading or deceptive statement or representation with regard to the services to be performed by the debt adjuster, or the charges to be made therefor, is made;
(7) Offer, pay, or give any cash, fee, gift, bonus, premiums, reward, or other compensation to any person for referring any prospective customer to the debt adjuster;
(8) Receive any cash, fee, gift, bonus, premium, reward, or other compensation, other than fair share contributions to a nonprofit debt adjuster, from any person other than the debtor or a person in the debtor’s behalf in connection with his or her activities as a debt adjuster; or
(9) Disclose to anyone the debtors who have contracted with the debt adjuster; nor shall the debt adjuster disclose the creditors of a debtor to anyone other than: (a) The debtor; or (b) another creditor of the debtor and then only to the extent necessary to secure the cooperation of such a creditor in a debt adjusting plan.
NOTES:
Part headings not law—Effective date—1999 c 151: See notes following RCW 18.28.010.