US Supreme Court Rules That Purchaser Of Defaulted Debt Is Not “Debt Collector” Under FDCPA
The US Supreme Court ruled, 6/12/17, in Henson v. Santander Consumer USA Inc., No. 16-349, 2017 BL 198032 (U.S. June 12, 2017), that the purchaser of a defaulted debt is not a “debt collector” subject to the FDCPA. The FDCPA applies to “debt collectors,” a term defined in 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6) as anyone who “regularly collects or attempts to collect . . . debts owed or due . . . another.” The term includes “any creditor who, in the process of collecting his own debts, uses any name other than his own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts.” The FDCPA defines the term “creditor” to mean: any person who offers or extends credit creating a debt or to whom a debt is owed, but such term does not include any person to the extent that he receives an assignment or transfer of a debt in default solely for the purpose of facilitating collection of such debt for another. The statutory definition of “debt collector” excludes a person attempting to collect a debt that was originated by such person, a debt that was not in default at the time it was acquired, or a debt obtained by a secured party in a commercial credit transaction involving the creditor.