(205 ILCS 740/2) (was 225 ILCS 425/2)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2026)

Sec. 2. Definitions. In this Act:

"Address of record" means the designated address recorded by the Department in the applicant's or licensee's application file or license file as maintained by the Department's licensure maintenance unit.

"Board" means the Collection Agency Licensing and Disciplinary Board.

"Charge-off balance" means an account principal and other legally collectible costs, expenses, and interest accrued prior to the charge-off date, less any payments or settlement.

"Charge-off date" means the date on which a receivable is treated as a loss or expense.

"Collection agency" means any person who, in the ordinary course of business, regularly, on behalf of himself or herself or others, engages in the collection of a debt.

"Consumer debt" or "consumer credit" means money or property, or their equivalent, due or owing or alleged to be due or owing from a natural person by reason of a consumer credit transaction.

"Credit transaction" means a transaction between a natural person and another person in which property, service, or money is acquired on credit by that natural person from such other person primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.

"Creditor" means a person who extends consumer credit to a debtor.

"Current balance" means the charge-off balance plus any legally collectible costs, expenses, and interest, less any credits or payments.

"Debt" means money, property, or their equivalent which is due or owing or alleged to be due or owing from a person to another person.

"Debt buyer" means a person or entity that is engaged in the business of purchasing delinquent or charged-off consumer loans or consumer credit accounts or other delinquent consumer debt for collection purposes, whether it collects the debt itself or hires a third-party for collection or an attorney-at-law for litigation in order to collect such debt.

"Debtor" means a person from whom a collection agency seeks to collect a consumer or commercial debt that is due and owing or alleged to be due and owing from such person.

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

"Email address of record" means the designated email address recorded by the Department in the applicant's application file or the licensee's license file, as maintained by the Department's licensure maintenance unit.

"Person" means a natural person, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, trust, estate, cooperative, association, or other similar entity.

"Licensed collection agency" means a person who is licensed under this Act to engage in the practice of debt collection in Illinois.

"Multi-state licensing system" means a web-based platform that allows licensure applicants to submit their applications and renewals to the Department online.

"Secretary" means the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation or his or her designee.

(Source: P.A. 102-975, eff. 1-1-23.)