(205 ILCS 610/5)

Sec. 5. Year 2000 Consumer Protections.

(a) For the purposes of this Section:

(1) the term "Illinois financial institution" means:

(A) a State bank, a national bank, or an out-of-state bank, as those terms are defined in the Illinois Banking Act, or any subsidiary of a State bank, a national bank, or an out-of-state bank;

(B) a foreign banking corporation, as that term is defined in the Foreign Banking Office Act, or any subsidiary of a foreign banking corporation;

(C) a corporate fiduciary, as that term is defined in the Corporate Fiduciary Act, or any subsidiary of a corporate fiduciary;

(D) a savings bank organized under the Savings Bank Act, an out-of-state savings bank chartered under the laws of a state other than Illinois, a territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, or a federal savings bank organized under federal law, or any subsidiary of a savings bank, an out-of-state savings bank, or a federal savings bank;

(E) an association or federal association, as those terms are defined in the Illinois Savings and Loan Act of 1985, or any subsidiary of an association or federal association;

(F) an out-of-state savings and loan association chartered under the laws of a state other than Illinois, a territory of the United States or the District of Columbia, or a federal savings and loan association organized under federal law whose principal business office is located outside of Illinois, or any subsidiary of an out-of-state savings and loan association or federal savings and loan association whose principal business office is located outside of Illinois;

(G) a credit union, as defined in the Illinois Credit Union Act, or any subsidiary of a credit union; or

(H) a network owned by one or more financial institutions, as those terms are defined in the Electronic Fund Transfer Act.

(2) the term "consumer" means an individual person; and

(3) the term "Year 2000 failure" means any failure by any device or system (including, without limitation, any computer system and any microchip or integrated circuit embedded in another device or product), or any software, firmware, or other set or collection of processing instructions, however constructed, in processing, calculating, comparing, sequencing, displaying, storing, transmitting, or receiving date-related data during the years 1999 and 2000 or from, into, or between the twentieth century and the twenty-first century, or the failure to recognize or accurately process any specific date, or the failure to accurately account for the status of the year 2000 as a leap year.

(b) A financial institution shall stay an action for the collection of a debt from a consumer for 30 days if the consumer's default, failure to pay, breach, omission, or other violation of the agreement that is the basis of the collection action was caused by a Year 2000 failure on the part of any person, provided the consumer notifies the financial institution in writing of his or her inability to meet the debt obligation within 30 days of discovering the inability to meet the obligation due to the Year 2000 failure, and the notice sets forth:

(1) the identity of the person experiencing the Year 2000 failure;

(2) the reason such person's Year 2000 failure caused the consumer's inability to meet the obligation; and

(3) the name and telephone number of a representative of the person experiencing the Year 2000 failure who the financial institution may call for purposes of verification.

This subsection shall not be applied more than once in connection with the same debt of a consumer, nor shall it otherwise affect the consumer's underlying debt obligation, the accrual of any interest on the debt obligation, or the calculation of any period of delinquency for the debt obligation.

(c) A financial institution shall not charge a late fee on a consumer debt obligation, or if already charged shall waive such late fee, if the consumer's failure to timely pay under the agreement that provides the basis for the late fee was caused by a Year 2000 failure on the part of any person, provided the consumer notifies the financial institution in writing of his or her inability to make timely payment within 30 days of discovering the inability to make timely payment due to the Year 2000 failure, and the notice sets forth:

(1) the identity of the person experiencing the Year 2000 failure;

(2) the reason such person's Year 2000 failure caused the consumer's inability to make timely payment; and

(3) the name and telephone number of a representative of the person experiencing the Year 2000 failure who the financial institution may call for purposes of verification.

This subsection shall not be applied more than once in connection with the same debt of a consumer, nor shall it otherwise affect the consumer's underlying debt obligation, the accrual of any interest on the debt obligation, or the calculation of any period of delinquency for the debt obligation.

(d) A consumer may dispute directly with a credit reporting agency operating in this State any negative credit information reported in connection with the consumer resulting from a Year 2000 failure on the part of any person other than the consumer. If requested by the consumer pursuant to this subsection, the credit reporting agency shall include a statement prepared by the consumer of no more than 100 words in the consumer's file explaining the negative credit information relating to such Year 2000 failure, and the credit reporting agency shall include the individual's statement in any report it provides to any person or entity regarding the consumer. The credit reporting agency shall not charge the consumer a fee for the inclusion of this statement in the consumer's credit file.

(Source: P.A. 91-645, eff. 8-20-99.)