225 ILCS 429/10

(225 ILCS 429/10)

Sec. 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Consumer" means any person who purchases or contracts for the purchase of debt settlement services or a student loan borrower.

"Consumer settlement account" means any account or other means or device in which payments, deposits, or other transfers from a consumer are arranged, held, or transferred by or to a debt settlement provider for the accumulation of the consumer's funds in anticipation of proffering an adjustment or settlement of a debt or obligation of the consumer to a creditor on behalf of the consumer.

"Debt settlement provider" means: (1) any person or entity engaging in, or holding itself out as engaging in, the business of providing debt settlement service in exchange for any fee or compensation; (2) any person who solicits for or acts on behalf of any person or entity engaging in, or holding itself out as engaging in, the business of providing debt settlement service in exchange for any fee or compensation; (3) any person or entity engaging in, or holding itself out as engaging in the business of student loan debt relief services in exchange for any fee or compensation assessed against or charged to a consumer; or (4) any person who solicits for or acts on behalf of such person or entity engaging in or holding itself out as engaging in, the business of student loan debt relief services in exchange for any fee or compensation assessed against or charged to a consumer. "Debt settlement provider" does not include:

(1) attorneys licensed, or otherwise authorized, to practice in Illinois who are engaged in the practice of law;

(2) escrow agents, accountants, broker dealers in securities, or investment advisors in securities, when acting in the ordinary practice of their professions and through the entity used in the ordinary practice of their profession;

(3) any bank, agent of a bank, operating subsidiary of a bank, affiliate of a bank, trust company, savings and loan association, savings bank, credit union, crop credit association, development credit corporation, industrial development corporation, title insurance company, title insurance agent, independent escrowee or insurance company operating or organized under the laws of a state or the United States, or any other person authorized to make loans under State law while acting in the ordinary practice of that business;

(4) any person who performs credit services for his or her employer while receiving a regular salary or wage when the employer is not engaged in the business of offering or providing debt settlement service;

(5) a collection agency licensed pursuant to the Collection Agency Act that is collecting a debt on its own behalf or on behalf of a third party;

(6) an organization that is described in Section 501(c)(3) and subject to Section 501(q) of Title 26 of the United States Code and exempt from tax under Section 501(a) of Title 26 of the United States Code and governed by the Debt Management Service Act;

(7) public officers while acting in their official capacities and persons acting under court order;

(8) any person while performing services incidental to the dissolution, winding up, or liquidating of a partnership, corporation, or other business enterprise;

(9) persons licensed under the Real Estate License Act of 2000 when acting in the ordinary practice of their profession and not holding themselves out as debt settlement providers; or

(10) any institution of higher education as defined in the Higher Education Act of 1965, 20 U.S.C. 1001.

"Debt settlement service" means:

(1) offering to provide advice or service, or acting as an intermediary between or on behalf of a consumer and one or more of a consumer's creditors, where the primary purpose of the advice, service, or action is to obtain a settlement, adjustment, or satisfaction of the consumer's unsecured debt to a creditor in an amount less than the full amount of the principal amount of the debt or in an amount less than the current outstanding balance of the debt;

(2) offering to provide services related to or providing services advising, encouraging, assisting, or counseling a consumer to accumulate funds for the primary purpose of proposing or obtaining or seeking to obtain a settlement, adjustment, or satisfaction of the consumer's unsecured debt to a creditor in an amount less than the full amount of the principal amount of the debt or in an amount less than the current outstanding balance of the debt; or

(3) student loan debt relief.

"Debt settlement service" does not include (A) the services of attorneys licensed, or otherwise authorized, to practice in Illinois who are engaged in the practice of law, (B) debt management service as defined in the Debt Management Service Act, (C) the services of a student loan servicer, as defined in the Student Loan Servicing Rights Act, or (D) the services of any other originator, guarantor, or servicer of federal education loans or private education loans.

"Enrollment or set up fee" means any fee, obligation, or compensation paid or to be paid by the consumer to a debt settlement provider in consideration of or in connection with establishing a contract or other agreement with a consumer related to the provision of debt settlement service.

"Federal education loan" means any loan made, guaranteed, or insured under Title IV of the federal Higher Education Act of 1965.

"Maintenance fee" means any fee, obligation, or compensation paid or to be paid by the consumer on a periodic basis to a debt settlement provider in consideration of maintaining the relationship and services to be provided by a debt settlement provider in accordance with a contract with a consumer related to the provision of debt settlement service.

"Principal amount of the debt" means the total amount or outstanding balance owed by a consumer to one or more creditors for a debt that is included in a contract for debt settlement service at the time when the consumer enters into a contract for debt settlement service.

"Savings" means the difference between the principal amount of the debt and the amount paid by the debt settlement provider to the creditor or negotiated by the debt settlement provider and paid by the consumer to the creditor pursuant to a settlement negotiated by the debt settlement provider on behalf of the consumer as full and complete satisfaction of the creditor's claim with regard to that debt.

"Secretary" means the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation.

"Settlement fee" means any fee, obligation, or compensation paid or to be paid by the consumer to a debt settlement provider in consideration of or in connection with a completed agreement or other arrangement on the part of a creditor to accept less than the principal amount of the debt as satisfaction of the creditor's claim against the consumer.

"Student loan borrower" means a person who has received or agreed to pay a student loan for his or her own educational expenses; a parent, grandparent, or other family member who has received or agreed to pay a student loan for a family member receiving the education; or any co-signer who has agreed to share responsibility for repaying a student loan with the person receiving the education.

"Student loan debt relief" means, in exchange for any fee or compensation assessed against or charged to a student loan borrower, offering to provide advice or service, or acting as an intermediary between or on behalf of a consumer and the United States Department of Education or any other originator or guarantor of federal education loans or one or more of the servicers of a student loan borrower's federal education loan, where the primary purpose of the advice, service, or action is to (1) negotiate, arrange, or obtain a settlement, adjustment, discharge, or satisfaction of the student loan borrower's federal education loan debt in an amount less than the full amount of the principal amount of the debt, a reduction or alteration to the interest rate, a reduction or alteration in the amount of monthly payment or fees owed, or in an amount less than the current outstanding balance of the debt, (2) enroll the student loan borrower in a repayment plan, forbearance, or deferment of his or her federal education loan debt, (3) apply for consolidation or consolidate the student loan borrower's federal education loans, or (4) offer to provide any other services related to altering the terms of a student loan borrower's federal education loan debt, including, but not limited to, a reduction in the amount of interest, the principal balance, or the amount of monthly payment or fees owed.

(Source: P.A. 102-298, eff. 8-6-21.)