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Consumer Protection: Establishes a licensing requirement for debt collectors
Real estate licensees are exempt
This law creates a new licensing law applicable to debt collectors and debt buyers, administered by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (formerly the Department of Business Oversight (DBO)) eective January 1, 2022. However, real estate licensees are exempt.
This law uses the two existing state laws applicable to debt collectors and debt buyers as its foundation. With only minor exceptions, this law does not add any new requirements on debt collectors or debt buyers; instead, it adds a layer of regulatory oversight over debt collectors and debt buyers already subject to state law, but not currently subject to licensure. A licensing and examination framework are layered over existing state law requirements in an eort to better ensure that debt collectors and debt buyers comply with existing law.
Although this law bears many similarities to many of the Financial Code licensing laws already administered by DBO, it does contain one signicant dierence: more limited administrative enforcement authority. Recognizing that the California and federal fair debt collection practices acts already authorize private rights of action for violations of these acts, this law contains a limited set of administrative remedies, including desist and refrain authority, the ability to order ancillary relief, and the ability to suspend and revoke licenses. Lack of civil and administrative penalty authority and citation and ne authority in this law is intended to prevent situations where a licensee could be subject to both a lawsuit by a debtor and to an administrative or civil action brought by DBO for the same violation.
Senate Bill 908 is codied as Civil Code Sections 1788.11 and 1788.52, and Financial Code Division 25.
Commencing January 1, 2021, this law requires the commissioner to take all action necessary in order to be prepared to perform these duties commencing January 1, 2022, including, but not limited to, the adoption of necessary regulations.
Consumer Protection: Establishes the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation as a watchdog agency covering persons who oer 􏰀nancial products or services
Establishes the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) a watchdog agency, modeled after the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which covers persons who provide to a consumer any 􏰀nancial product or service. However, this law does not apply to a licensee, or an employee of a licensee, acting under the authority of
4 The Greater San Diego Association of REALTORS®