Statute

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David A. Szwak
Posts: 1974
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Statute

Post by David A. Szwak »

Arkansas
Fair Debt Collection Practices Guide
www.ag.state.ar.us/consumer/collector.html

Arkansas Code Title 17, Chapter 24, Section 203 (17-24-203)
http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/NXT/gatew ... d=blr:code
David A. Szwak
Posts: 1974
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Post by David A. Szwak »

Arkansas State Statute Regulating Debt Collection / Debt Collectors
17-24-101. Definition.


As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, "collection agency" means any person who works with or employs one (1) or more other persons, or any partnership, corporation, or association which engages in the collection of delinquent accounts, bills, or other forms of indebtedness, or any person, partnership, corporation, or association using a fictitious name or any name other than their own in the collection of their own accounts receivable, or any person, partnership, corporation, or association which solicits claims for collection.


17-24-102. Exemptions.


(a) The provisions of this chapter shall not be applicable to: (1) Regular employees of a single creditor; (2) Banks; (3) Trust companies; (4) Savings and loan associations; (5) Abstract companies doing an escrow business; (6) Licensed real estate brokers and agents when the claims or accounts being handled by the broker or agent are related to or in connection with the broker's or agent's regular real estate business; (7) Express and telegraph companies subject to public regulation and supervision; (8) Attorneys at law handling claims and collections in their own names and not operating a collection agency under the management of a layman or under names other than their own; (9) Persons, firms, corporations, or associations handling claims, accounts, or collections under an order of any court. However, child support collection agencies not operating pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act are not exempt from this chapter and shall be subject to licensure; and (10) Any person, firm, corporation, or association which, for a valuable consideration, purchases accounts, claims, or demands of another which were not in default or delinquent at the time of acquisition and then, in such purchaser's own name, proceeds to assert or collect the accounts, claims, or demands.


(b) Nothing in §§ 17-24-301, 17-24-309, 17-24-401, or this section with respect to licensure by the State Board of Collection Agencies, or limitations of fees for collection services, shall include or be applicable to attorneys at law licensed to practice in the State of Arkansas who are engaged in rendering legal services for clients in the collection of accounts, debts, or claims, nor shall §§ 17-24-301, 17-24-309, 17-24-401, or this section amend or repeal in any way the exemptions set out in subsection (a) of this section.


17-24-103. Penalties.


(a) Any person, partnership, corporation, or association which engages in the business activities of a collection agency without a valid license issued pursuant to this chapter and any person, partnership, corporation, or association who shall violate any provision of this chapter shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum of not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500). Each day of the violation shall constitute a separate offense.
(b)(1) The State Board of Collection Agencies is authorized to impose monetary fines as civil penalties to be paid for failure to comply with the provisions of this chapter or the regulations promulgated pursuant thereto.
(2) Prior to the imposition of monetary fines, the board shall provide notice and opportunity to be heard in accordance with hearing procedures in effect for the revocation, suspension, or refusal of licensure.


17-24-104. Sanctions.


(a) Any collection agency required to be licensed under this chapter, which fails to remit to its client funds collected for the client within the calendar month following the month of collection, shall not be entitled to a collection fee and shall remit the total funds collected to the client.
(b) In instances where a collection agency has failed to remit funds collected to its client within the calendar month following the month of collection, if the collection agency does not remit the total funds collected for the client to the client within sixty-one (61) days of the date of collection, the collection agency's license shall be subject to suspension or revocation by the State Board of Collection Agencies.


17-24-105. Remedies.


When any person, partnership, corporation, or association engages in the business activities of a collection agency without a valid license issued pursuant to this chapter or has had the license revoked, suspended, or refused, in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter, the State Board of Collection Agenices shall have the right to petition the circuit court in the jurisdiction in which the collection activity has occurred and, upon affidavit, secure a writ of injunction, without bond, restraining and prohibiting the person, partnership, corporation, or association from operating the collection agency.


17-24-201. Creation - Members.


(a)(1) There is created a State Board of Collection Agencies composed of five (5) members to be appointed by the Governor. (2) The members shall serve three-year terms without compensation except they may receive expense reimbursement and stipends in accordance with § 25-16-901 et seq.
(b)(1)(A)(i) One (1) member shall be selected by the Governor from a list of three (3) names furnished him or her by the Associated Credit Bureaus of Arkansas and another shall be selected from a list of three (3) names submitted by the Arkansas members of the American Collectors Association.
(ii) The persons whose names are submitted to the Governor by the Associated Credit Bureaus of Arkansas and the Arkansas members of the American Collectors Association shall all be actively engaged as the owners or managers of a collection agency or someone employed by collection agencies in an executive capacity.
(B) All nominees on the list submitted to the Governor shall be individuals who have been actively engaged in connection with the operation of a collection agency for five (5) years next preceding their appointment.
(2) One (1) member, who shall not be a member of either such association, shall be selected from the public at large.
(3)(A) One (1) member shall represent the elderly and shall be sixty (60) years of age or older.
(B) This member shall not be actively engaged in or retired from the operation of a collection agency.
(C) He or she shall be selected from the state at large subject to confirmation by the Senate and shall be a full voting member but shall not participate in the grading of examinations.
(4)(A) One (1) member shall be selected to represent the check-cashing industry.
(B) He or she shall be an Arkansas resident who is actively engaged as the owner or manager of a check-cashing operation licensed to do business in the State of Arkansas.


17-24-301. License required.


It shall be unlawful for any person, partnership, association, or corporation to conduct within this state a collection agency or engage within this state in the business of collecting claims for others, or of soliciting the right to collect or receive payment for any other person of any claim, or advertise, either in print, by letter, in person, or otherwise, the right to collect or receive payment for another of any claim, or seek to make collection or obtain payment of any claim on behalf of another person without having first applied for and obtained a license from the State Board of Collection Agencies.


17-24-302. Qualifications - Restriction.


(a) The State Board of Collection Agencies shall have the authority to issue a license to an applicant for a license to do business as a collection agency, provided that the applicant meets the following qualifications:
(1) The applicant is at least twenty-one (21) years of age;
(2) If a partnership, the names of the partners, their ages, s*, and their business address are provided, and the members of the partnership are at least twenty-one (21) years of age; and
(3) The proposed managers of a corporation or the owners of not less than fifty percent (50%) of the stock of the corporation are at least twenty-one (21) years of age.
(b) No sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, deputy constable, state police officer, or other law enforcement officer shall be licensed in any manner to engage in the business of operating a collection agency or acting as a collector for a collection agency.


17-24-307. Grounds for revocation, suspension, or refusal.


The State Board of Collection Agencies shall have the authority to revoke, suspend, or refuse to issue a license for violation of this chapter, or upon receipt of evidence as follows:


(1) False or misrepresented statements on application;
(2) Sale or transfer of ownership of agency;
(3) Conviction of any crime involving moral turpitude;
(4) Aiding or abetting any unlicensed person to engage in business as a collection agency;
(5) Publishing or posting, or causing to be published or posted, any list of debtors, commonly known as "deadbeat" lists;
(6) Collecting or attempting to collect by the use of any methods contrary to the postal laws and regulations of the United States;
(7) Having in his or her possession or making use of any badge, using a uniform of any law enforcement agency or any simulation thereof, or making any statements which might be construed as indicating an official connection with any federal, state, county, or city law enforcement agency, or any other governmental agency, while engaged in collection agency business;
(8) Distributing any printed matter which is made to be similar or to resemble government forms or documents, or legal forms used in civil or criminal proceedings;
(9) Advertising for sale or threatening to advertise for sale any claim as a means of endeavoring to enforce payment thereof, or agreeing to do so for the purpose of soliciting claims, except where the licensee has acquired claims as an assignee for the benefit of creditors or where the licensee is acting under the order of a court of competent jurisdiction;
(10) Engaging in any unethical practices or resorting to any illegal means or methods of collection;
(11) Using profanity, obscenity, or vulgarity while engaged in the collection of claims;
(12) No licensee shall address a letter to or telephone any debtor at his or her place of employment unless a good-faith attempt has been made to contact the debtor at his or her usual place of abode by letter and the mail has not been returned and no answer has been received; or
(13) Using violence or threats of physical violence while engaged in the collection of claims.


17-24-309. Collection charges - Limits.


(a) No person, partnership, association, or corporation mentioned in § 17-24-301 shall charge as a collection charge or fee an amount in excess of fifty percent (50%) of the total amount actually collected on all accounts held by the person, partnership, association, or corporation for collection for any one (1) client, nor more than fifty percent (50%) of the total amount actually collected on any one (1) account, nor shall a minimum charge in excess of one dollar ($1.00) be made on any partially or totally collected account.
(b) All contracts providing for a greater collection charge or fee or a greater minimum charge than provided in this section entered into between any creditor in this state and any person, partnership, association, or corporation covered by this chapter shall be void. The creditor shall have, in addition to all other remedies now or hereafter provided by law, a cause of action to recover all amounts collected by the person, partnership, association, or corporation on the creditor's account or accounts.
17-24-310. Annual notice to client of accounting requirement.
(a) Each collection agency required to be licensed under this chapter shall, annually, within the month of April, give written notice to each client for whom it is collecting or attempting to collect that collection agencies licensed by the State of Arkansas are required by law to remit collected funds to the clients within the calendar month following the month of collection.
(b) No such notice is required to a forwarder who is also a licensee of the State of Arkansas.


17-24-401. "Long arm" jurisdiction.


Any nonresident person, partnership, association, or any foreign corporation not authorized to do business in this state whose sole business contact with this state is the soliciting of accounts in this state by mail, telephone, telegraph, or by other like means originating outside this state, or the taking or accepting for collection of any account or accounts in this state by such means, shall by such acts.
(1) Subject himself or herself to the jurisdiction of the proper courts of this state under the procedure provided in §§ 17-24-403 and 17-24-404 on any cause of action arising out of or connected with the collection of any such account or accounts;
(2) Be deemed to have consented to comply with the maximum collection charges or fees provided in § 17-24-309; and
(3) Be deemed to have consented to and designated the Secretary of State to be the true and lawful attorney of the person, partnership, association, or corporation upon whom may be served all legal process in any action, suit, or proceeding in any court by any resident of this state arising out of or connected with the collection of any such account or accounts. Such acts shall be signification of its agreement that any legal process in any court action or suit so served shall be of the same legal force and validity as personal service of process in this state upon the person, partnership, association, or corporation. Service of process shall be made upon the Secretary of State pursuant to § 17-24-403.


17-24-403. Service of process.


(a) Service of process in the action, suit, or proceeding in any court as authorized by § 17-24-401(3) shall be made by leaving three (3) copies in the office of the Secretary of State along with a notification that service is being effected pursuant to § 17-24-401, and by paying the Secretary of State the sum of twenty-five dollars ($25.00). A certificate by the Secretary of State showing service and attached to the copy of the process presented to him or her for that purpose shall be sufficient evidence of the service. Service upon the Secretary of State as attorney shall be service upon the principal.

(b) The Secretary of State shall immediately mail one (1) copy of the court process to the defendant in the court proceeding by first class mail at the defendant's last known principal place of business, and shall keep a record of all process which shall show the day and hour of receipt. The Secretary of State shall file an affidavit showing compliance with this section in the court proceedings on or before the date the defendant is required to appear or respond, unless an extension of time is allowed by the court.


(c) No plaintiff or complainant shall be entitled to a judgment or determination by default in any court proceeding in which process is served under this section until the expiration of forty-five (45) days from the date of filing of the affidavit of compliance.


(d) Nothing contained in this section shall limit or abridge the right to serve any process, notice, order, pleading, or demand upon any person, partnership, association, or corporation in any other manner now or hereafter permitted by law.


Website: http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us
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