Oregon Revised Statutes
As used in ORS 697.005 to 697.095: “Collection agency” means: A person that engages directly or indirectly in soliciting a claim for collection, or collecting or attempting to collect a claim that is owed, due or asserted to be owed or due to another person or to a public body at the time the person solicits, collects or attempts to collect the claim; A p…
A person shall not operate as a collection agency in this state unless the person registers with the Department of Consumer and Business Services under ORS 697.031 and maintains the registration in accordance with that section.
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services shall establish by rule a program for registering persons that operate as collection agencies that must register with the Department of Consumer and Business Services under ORS 697.015. The department shall require applicants for registration to file and registrants to maintain with the departm…
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may refuse to issue or renew or may revoke or suspend any registration under ORS 697.031 if the director determines that: Any information a person files with the director under ORS 697.031 is false or untruthful; A person has violated any of the rules of the director for registration under OR…
A registered collection agency has a property right in any claim or account assigned to the agency in writing for collection. Except as may be otherwise provided in writing between the assignor of the claim or account and the registered collection agency, the registered collection agency as assignee of the claim or account, in its own name, may: Collect the…
The provisions of ORS 697.015 and 697.031 are exclusive and no political subdivision or agency of this state may require of a collection agency any registration, license or fee for any collection agency duly registered under ORS 697.015 and 697.031. Nothing in this section limits the authority of any political subdivision to levy and collect a general and no…
Except as provided in subsection (9) of this section, every collection agency shall keep a record of all sums collected by it, and of all disbursements made by it, and shall maintain and keep all such records and all customers’ funds within this state. Collection agencies shall maintain accounting records of collections for and payments to customers for a pe…
When the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services revokes a registration, the director may take possession of all business records and all bank accounts of the registrant and retain possession of them pending the further proceedings specified in this section. The director shall inventory all the business records and all bank accounts of t…
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may adopt rules for the administration and enforcement of ORS 697.005 to 697.095, 697.105 and 697.115.
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services shall adopt rules that regulate the practices of a collection agency that enters into an agreement with an obligee to collect child support payments as provided in ORS 25.020. The rules adopted by the director under this section shall be as consistent as practicable with the provisions of 15 U…
Any person injured as a result of the violation of any provision of ORS 697.015 or 697.058 or any rule adopted under ORS 697.031 or 697.085 may bring an action in an appropriate court to enjoin the practice or to recover actual damages or $200, whichever is greater. The court or the jury may award punitive damages and the court may provide such equitable rel…
A person who violates any provision of ORS 697.015 or 697.058 or any rule adopted under ORS 697.031 or 697.085 shall not charge or receive any fee or compensation on any moneys received or collected while in violation of any provision of ORS 697.015 or 697.058 or any rule adopted under ORS 697.031 or 697.085. A person shall not charge or receive any fee or …
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may: Undertake the investigations, including investigations outside this state, that the director considers necessary to determine whether a person has: Violated, is violating or is about to violate: ORS 697.015, 697.031, 697.045, 697.058, 697.091, 697.105 or 697.115; A rule adopted under O…
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services shall serve an order under ORS 697.093 on the person named in the order. An order issued under ORS 697.093 becomes effective upon service on the person named in the order. ORS 183.413 to 183.470 apply to an order issued under ORS 697.093. Notwithstanding subsection (3) of this section, a per…
In addition to any other penalty provided by law, a person who violates any provision of ORS 697.015 or 697.058 or any rule adopted under ORS 697.031, 697.085 or 697.086 is subject to forfeiture and payment of a civil penalty to the Department of Consumer and Business Services in an amount of not more than $1,000 for each offense. Civil penalties under this…
Except as provided in ORS 1.202 and 293.231, if a public body, as defined in ORS 174.109, uses a private collection agency to collect a debt owed to the public body, the public body may add a reasonable fee to the amount of the debt, payable by the debtor, to compensate the public body, in whole or in part, for the collection agency fee incurred or to be inc…
A public agency or public official may not: Allow a person or entity in the practice of collecting debt, including restitution, to use the seal or letterhead of the public agency or public official; or Receive or collect a fee from a person or entity in the practice of collecting debt, including restitution, in exchange for the person or entity using the s…
As used in this section, “commercial debt” means any obligation for payment of money or thing of value arising out of an agreement or contract, express or implied, in which the transaction that is the subject of the agreement or contract is not primarily for personal, family or household purposes. A person using a private collection agency to collect a comm…
CHECK-CASHING BUSINESSES
As used in ORS 697.500 to 697.555: “Check-cashing business” means a person that conducts a business that for a fee, service charge or other consideration provides money, credit or any other thing of value in exchange for payment instruments. “Check-cashing business” does not include a financial institution as defined in ORS 706.008 or an employee of a lice…
ORS 697.510, 697.512, 697.514 and 697.540 do not apply to a person licensed under ORS 717.200 to 717.320. ORS 697.510, 697.512, 697.514, 697.528 and 697.540 do not apply to a person engaged in the bona fide retail sale of goods or services and not purporting to be a check-cashing business that, as an incident of or independent of a retail sale or service, f…
Except as provided in ORS 697.502, a person may not conduct, purport to conduct or advertise that the person conducts a check-cashing business without first obtaining a license under ORS 697.514.
An applicant for a license to conduct a check-cashing business shall apply in writing on a form and in a format that the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services prescribes by rule. The director, consistent with the requirements of ORS 697.500 to 697.555, may administer a program to issue and renew licenses for check-cashing businesses b…
Each person who submits an application under ORS 697.510 shall at the same time pay a nonrefundable application fee and a nonrefundable investigation fee to the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services in amounts the director prescribes by rule. If the director approves the application and issues a license under ORS 697.514, the applicati…
After an applicant has submitted a complete application, the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services shall review the application and may investigate the applicant’s financial condition and responsibility, financial and business experience, character and general fitness to conduct a check-cashing business. The director may also determine…
A check-cashing business may not charge or collect, directly or indirectly, an excessive fee, service charge or other consideration for cashing a payment instrument. A fee, service charge or other consideration is excessive if the total amount charged is more than the following amounts: For a payment instrument issued by the federal government or an agency …
A check-cashing business shall provide a receipt to the individual for whom the business cashes a payment instrument. The receipt must display at least: The name, assumed business name or trade name of the check-cashing business; The transaction date; The face amount of the payment instrument; and The fee charged or collected for cashing the payment inst…
A check-cashing business shall: Endorse in the name of the business all payment instruments for which the business provided money, credit or any other thing of value; and Deposit or present for payment each such payment instrument not later than one business day following the date of the transaction.
A check-cashing business shall conspicuously post and at all times display in each business location a notice that states the fees, services charges or other consideration that the business charges for cashing payment instruments. A licensee shall also file with the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services a copy of the notice posted in e…
A check-cashing business shall make, keep and maintain all records used in providing money, credit or any other thing of value in exchange for payment instruments that the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may reasonably require. The check-cashing business shall keep and maintain the records that the director requires under this se…
A check-cashing business may not: Publish, disseminate or cause to be published or disseminated a communication that contains a false, misleading or deceptive statement or representation. Conduct business at premises or locations other than locations licensed by the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services. Engage in unfair, deceptive …
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may by order suspend or revoke any license issued under ORS 697.514 if the director finds that any of the following circumstances are true: The licensee has violated a provision of ORS 697.500 to 697.555 or of a rule or order the director has adopted or issued under ORS 697.500 to 697.555. Th…
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may: Make such investigations as the director deems necessary to determine whether a person has violated, is violating or is preparing to violate ORS 697.500 to 697.555 or a rule or order adopted or issued under ORS 697.500 to 697.555. Require a person to file a statement in writing, under oa…
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may adopt rules for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of ORS 697.500 to 697.555.
If the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services finds that a person has violated a provision of ORS 697.500 to 697.555 or any rules adopted under ORS 697.500 to 697.555, the director may impose in the manner provided in ORS 183.745 a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $1,000 for each violation or, in the case of a continuing violati…
As used in ORS 697.602 to 697.842: “Consumer” means an individual who is obligated or is allegedly obligated to pay a debt and on whose behalf a debt management service provider performs or agrees to perform a debt management service. “Debt management service” means an activity for which a person receives money or other valuable consideration or expects to…
A person that has not registered with the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services under ORS 697.632 may not engage in business in this state in the course of which the person: Performs a debt management service; or Receives money or other valuable consideration or expects to receive money or other valuable consideration for: Solicitin…
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services shall maintain a registry of debt management service providers and by rule in accordance with ORS chapter 183 shall require a person that performs a debt management service, unless the person is exempt under ORS 697.612 (3), to apply to the director to register or to renew a registration as a d…
An applicant for registration as a debt management service provider at the time of application shall file with the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services a bond issued by one or more corporate sureties authorized to do business in this state. The bond must: Be in an amount that is: A minimum of $10,000; or An amount the director spec…
A debt management service provider may not perform a debt management service for a consumer without entering into a written agreement with the consumer that: Lists the name and telephone number for the debt management service provider and the consumer and, to the extent the information is available, the facsimile number, electronic mail address and website …
A debt management service provider or a person required to obtain a registration as a debt management service provider under ORS 697.612 may not: Make, or counsel or advise a consumer to make, a statement that is untrue or misleading or that the debt management service provider or the person in the exercise of reasonable care should know is untrue or mislea…
A debt management service provider shall make, keep and maintain accounts, correspondence, memoranda, papers, books and other records that the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services by rule determines are necessary to ensure that the debt management service provider is complying with the provisions of ORS 697.602 to 697.842. A debt man…
A debt management service provider that holds a consumer’s funds, directly or indirectly, shall establish a trust account in this state with an insured institution, as defined in ORS 706.008, in which to keep the consumer funds that the debt management service provider holds. The debt management service provider may establish a separate trust account for ea…
Subject to subsection (4) of this section, a debt management service provider may charge a consumer only the following fees: An initial fee of not more than $50. A fee reasonably calculated to recover the costs that the debt management service provider incurs in providing an initial counseling session or education class. The debt management service provide…
A person commits the offense of interfering with records of a debt management service provider if, with respect to a record to which ORS 697.672 applies, the person intentionally: Makes a false entry in the record; or Mutilates, destroys or otherwise disposes of the record. Subsection (1)(b) of this section does not apply to a debt management service prov…
A debt management service provider may not charge or receive from a consumer a fee described in ORS 697.692 until after the debt management service provider makes the disclosures described in this section. A debt management service provider shall give to every consumer for whom the debt management service provider offers to perform a debt management service…
A debt management service provider or a person required to obtain a registration as a debt management service provider under ORS 697.612 is liable to a consumer who suffers an ascertainable loss of money or property, real or personal, in connection with the debt management service provider’s or person’s violation of a provision of ORS 697.652, 697.662, 697.6…
Funds in a trust account that a debt management service provider maintains under ORS 697.682 are not subject to execution or attachment on a claim against the debt management service provider.
To enforce the provisions of ORS 697.612 and 697.642 to 697.702, the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may: Examine a debt management service provider or a person required to obtain a registration as a debt management service provider under ORS 697.612 and the debt management service provider’s or the person’s accounts for the pur…
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may deny, suspend, condition, revoke or refuse to issue or renew a registration as a debt management service provider if the director determines that an applicant or debt management service provider: Cannot meet financial obligations as the obligations mature, has liabilities that exceed asset…
If the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services determines that a person has engaged in, is engaging in or is about to engage in an act or practice that the director believes is in violation of ORS 697.612, 697.642 to 697.702 or 697.752, in addition to actions the director may take under ORS 697.752 the director may bring suit in the name…
The remedy provided for in ORS 697.718: Is in addition to and not exclusive of other remedies provided by law. Does not limit a person’s statutory or common-law right to bring an action in any court for an act of a debt management service provider, or the right of the state to punish a person for violating a law.
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may, if the director has reason to believe that a person: Violated, is violating or is about to violate ORS 697.612, 697.642 to 697.702 or 697.752, a rule adopted under ORS 697.632 or an order issued under ORS 697.652 or 697.732, issue an order to cease and desist from the violation. Filed in…
In addition to any other liability or penalty provided by law, the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may impose a civil penalty on a person in an amount not to exceed $5,000 for each violation of ORS 697.612 or 697.642 to 697.702, rules adopted under ORS 697.632 or order issued under ORS 697.825. The director shall impose a civil …
The Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services may adopt, amend and repeal rules that are necessary to carry out the provisions of ORS 697.602 to 697.842.
All moneys received by the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services or the department under ORS 697.005 to 697.095 or 697.602 to 697.842, excepting any penalties received under ORS 697.832, shall be paid into the State Treasury, deposited in the Consumer and Business Services Fund created by ORS 705.145 and used exclusively for the purpos…
Violation of ORS 697.015 or 697.058 by an individual is a Class A violation. Violation of ORS 697.015 or 697.058 by a corporation or association is a Class A violation. Any officer or agent of a corporation or association who personally participates in any violation of ORS 697.015 or 697.058 by the corporation or association is subject to the penalty prescr…
Justice courts have concurrent jurisdiction with circuit courts in all criminal prosecutions for violation of ORS 697.015, 697.058, 697.612 and 697.642 to 697.702. _______________