---
kind: "section"
citation: "15 U.S.C. § 1692a"
title: "15"
title_heading: "Commerce and Trade"
number: "1692a"
heading: "Definitions"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/15/1692a"
units:
  - "Chapter 41 — Consumer Credit Protection"
  - "Subchapter V — Debt Collection Practices"
---

# §1692a. Definitions


As used in this subchapter—

- (1) The term “Bureau” means the Bureau of [Consumer](#3) Financial Protection.
- (2) The term “communication” means the conveying of information regarding a [debt](#5) directly or indirectly to any [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e) through any medium.
- (3) The term “consumer” means any natural [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e) obligated or allegedly obligated to pay any [debt](#5).
- (4) The term “creditor” means any [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e) who offers or extends [credit](/usc/15/1602.md?p=f) creating a [debt](#5) or to whom a [debt](#5) is owed, but such term does not include any [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e) to the extent that he receives an assignment or transfer of a [debt](#5) in default solely for the purpose of facilitating collection of such [debt](#5) for another.
- (5) The term “debt” means any obligation or alleged obligation of a [consumer](#3) to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance, or services which are the subject of the transaction are primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, whether or not such obligation has been reduced to judgment.
- (6) The term “debt collector” means any [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e) who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any [debts](#5), or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, [debts](#5) owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another. Notwithstanding the exclusion provided by [clause (F)](#6-F) of the last sentence of this paragraph, the term includes any [creditor](#4) who, in the process of collecting his own [debts](#5), uses any name other than his own which would indicate that a third [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e) is collecting or attempting to collect such [debts](#5). For the purpose of [section 1692f(6) of this title](/usc/15/1692f.md?p=6), such term also includes any [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e) who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of [security interests](/usc/15/1667.md?p=5). The term does not include—
  - (A) any officer or employee of a [creditor](#4) while, in the name of the [creditor](#4), collecting [debts](#5) for such [creditor](#4);
  - (B) any [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e) while acting as a [debt collector](#6) for another [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e), both of whom are related by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control, if the [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e) acting as a [debt collector](#6) does so only for [persons](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e) to whom it is so related or affiliated and if the principal business of such [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e) is not the collection of [debts](#5);
  - (C) any officer or employee of the United States or any [State](#8) to the extent that collecting or attempting to collect any [debt](#5) is in the performance of his official duties;
  - (D) any [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e) while serving or attempting to serve legal process on any other [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e) in connection with the judicial enforcement of any [debt](#5);
  - (E) any nonprofit [organization](/usc/15/1602.md?p=d) which, at the request of [consumers](#3), performs bona fide [consumer](#3) [credit](/usc/15/1602.md?p=f) counseling and assists [consumers](#3) in the liquidation of their [debts](#5) by receiving payments from such [consumers](#3) and distributing such amounts to [creditors](#4); and
  - (F) any [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e) collecting or attempting to collect any [debt](#5) owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another to the extent such activity (i) is incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation or a bona fide escrow arrangement; (ii) concerns a [debt](#5) which was originated by such [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e); (iii) concerns a [debt](#5) which was not in default at the time it was obtained by such [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e); or (iv) concerns a [debt](#5) obtained by such [person](/usc/15/1602.md?p=e) as a secured party in a commercial [credit](/usc/15/1602.md?p=f) transaction involving the [creditor](#4).
- (7) The term “location information” means a [consumer](#3)’s place of abode and his telephone number at such place, or his place of employment.
- (8) The term “State” means any State, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any political subdivision of any of the foregoing.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 90–321, title VIII, § 803, as added Pub. L. 95–109, Sept. 20, 1977, 91 Stat. 875; amended Pub. L. 99–361, July 9, 1986, 100 Stat. 768; Pub. L. 111–203, title X, § 1089(2), July 21, 2010, 124 Stat. 2092.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2010—Par. (1). Pub. L. 111–203 added par. (1) and struck out former par. (1) which read as follows: “The term ‘Commission’ means the Federal Trade Commission.”

1986—Par. (6). Pub. L. 99–361 in provision preceding cl. (A) substituted “clause (F)” for “clause (G)”, struck out cl. (F) which excluded any attorney-at-law collecting a debt as an attorney on behalf of and in the name of a client from term “debt collector”, and redesignated cl. (G) as (F).

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 2010 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 111–203 effective on the designated transfer date, see section 1100H of Pub. L. 111–203, set out as a note under section 552a of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

### Effective Date

Section effective upon the expiration of six months after Sept. 20, 1977, see section 819 of Pub. L. 90–321, as added by Pub. L. 95–109, set out as a note under section 1692 of this title.