Scott Garrett: “I come to the floor tonight just to be brief on two points: first to thank the chairman for his outstanding leadership…”

“I come to the floor tonight just to be brief on two points: first to thank the chairman for his outstanding leadership in the Financial Services Committee over the years in general and specifically tonight with regard to your work on regulatory relief; and also to the gentleman from Texas who just spoke for all of his work to bring this to fruition as we have tonight. The underlying bill here goes, as has been pointed out, to reduce the overall burden on financial institutions in general and make some technical corrections that need to be made. One of the points I want to touch upon is how it impacts on the Federal Debt Collectors Practices Act. In the underlying bill, there were two provisions that I had back in the 108th Congress that I am pleased have been included in the legislation here today. The first of these provisions clarifies that a formal pleading in any civil action will not be considered communications now as defined by the FDCPA, and the second provision now clarifies the right of a collector to pursue an account during the first 30 days, so long as the debt collector's pursuits do not overshadow or otherwise confuse the consumer debtors. By doing these two things, what we are doing is removing ambiguities in the FDCPA, and that increases compliance with the act and improves protections and overall helps consumers. Additionally, the debt collection industry will be helped as well.”