II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 2396
To provide enhanced protection against debt collector harassment of members
of the Armed Forces.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JULY19, 2023
Mr. W
ARNOCK(for himself, Mr. BROWN, Mr. BUDD, and Mr. CORNYN) intro-
duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
mittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
A BILL
To provide enhanced protection against debt collector
harassment of members of the Armed Forces.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Debt Collection 4
Practices for Servicemembers Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. ENHANCED PROTECTION AGAINST DEBT COL-6
LECTOR HARASSMENT OF 7
SERVICEMEMBERS. 8
(a) C
OMMUNICATION IN CONNECTIONWITHDEBT 9
C
OLLECTION.—Section 805 of the Fair Debt Collection 10
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Aug 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2396.IS S2396
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2
•S 2396 IS
Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692c) is amended by adding 1
at the end the following: 2
‘‘(e) C
OMMUNICATIONS CONCERNINGSERVICEMEM-3
BERDEBTS.— 4
‘‘(1) D
EFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 5
‘covered member’ means— 6
‘‘(A) a covered member or a dependent as 7
defined in section 987(i) of title 10, United 8
States Code; 9
‘‘(B) an individual who was separated, dis-10
charged, or released from duty described in 11
such section 987(i)(1), but only during the 365- 12
day period beginning on the date of separation, 13
discharge, or release; or 14
‘‘(C) a person, with respect to an indi-15
vidual described in subparagraph (B), described 16
in subparagraph (A), (D), (E), or (I) of section 17
1072(2) of title 10, United States Code. 18
‘‘(2) P
ROHIBITIONS.—A debt collector may not, 19
in connection with the collection of any debt of a 20
covered member— 21
‘‘(A) threaten to have the covered member 22
reduced in rank; 23
‘‘(B) threaten to have the covered mem-24
ber’s security clearance revoked; or 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Aug 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2396.IS S2396
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3
•S 2396 IS
‘‘(C) threaten to have the covered member 1
prosecuted under chapter 47 of title 10, United 2
States Code (the Uniform Code of Military Jus-3
tice).’’. 4
(b) U
NFAIRPRACTICES.—Section 808 of the Fair 5
Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1692f) is amend-6
ed by adding at the end the following: 7
‘‘(9) The representation to any covered member 8
(as defined under section 805(e)(1)) that failure to 9
cooperate with a debt collector will result in— 10
‘‘(A) a reduction in rank of the covered 11
member; 12
‘‘(B) a revocation of the covered member’s 13
security clearance; or 14
‘‘(C) prosecution under chapter 47 of title 15
10, United States Code (the Uniform Code of 16
Military Justice).’’. 17
SEC. 3. GAO STUDY. 18
The Comptroller General of the United States shall 19
conduct a study and submit a report to Congress on the 20
impact of this Act on— 21
(1) the timely delivery of information to a cov-22
ered member (as defined in section 805(e) of the 23
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, as added by this 24
Act); 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Aug 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2396.IS S2396
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4
•S 2396 IS
(2) military readiness; and 1
(3) national security, including the extent to 2
which covered members with security clearances 3
would be impacted by uncollected debt. 4
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Aug 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2396.IS S2396
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS