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| 1 | AN ACT concerning professional regulation.
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| 2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| 3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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| 4 | Section 5. The Collection Agency Act is amended by changing | ||||||
| 5 | Section 2.04 as follows:
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| 6 | (225 ILCS 425/2.04) (from Ch. 111, par. 2005.1)
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| 7 | (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2006)
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| 8 | Sec. 2.04. Child support indebtedness.
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| 9 | (a) Persons, associations, partnerships, or corporations | ||||||
| 10 | engaged in the
business of collecting child support | ||||||
| 11 | indebtedness owing under a court order
as provided under the | ||||||
| 12 | Illinois Public Aid Code, the Illinois Marriage and
Dissolution | ||||||
| 13 | of Marriage Act, the Non-Support of Spouse and Children Act,
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| 14 | the Non-Support Punishment Act, the Illinois Parentage Act of | ||||||
| 15 | 1984, or
similar laws of other states
are not
restricted (i) in | ||||||
| 16 | the frequency of contact with an obligor who is in arrears,
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| 17 | whether by phone, mail, or other means, (ii) from contacting | ||||||
| 18 | the employer of an
obligor who is in arrears, (iii) from | ||||||
| 19 | publishing or threatening to publish a
list of obligors in | ||||||
| 20 | arrears, (iv) from disclosing or threatening to disclose an
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| 21 | arrearage that the obligor disputes, but for which a verified | ||||||
| 22 | notice of
delinquency has been served under the Income | ||||||
| 23 | Withholding for Support Act (or
any of its predecessors, | ||||||
| 24 | Section 10-16.2 of the Illinois Public Aid
Code, Section 706.1 | ||||||
| 25 | of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act,
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| 26 | Section 4.1 of the Non-Support of Spouse and Children Act, | ||||||
| 27 | Section 26.1 of the
Revised Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of | ||||||
| 28 | Support Act, or Section 20 of the
Illinois Parentage Act of | ||||||
| 29 | 1984), or (v) from engaging in conduct that would
not
cause a | ||||||
| 30 | reasonable person mental or physical illness. For purposes of | ||||||
| 31 | this
subsection, "obligor" means an individual who owes a duty | ||||||
| 32 | to make periodic
payments, under a court order, for the support | ||||||
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| 1 | of a child. "Arrearage" means
the total amount of an obligor's | ||||||
| 2 | unpaid child support obligations.
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| 3 | (a-5) A collection agency may not impose a fee or charge, | ||||||
| 4 | including costs, for any child support payments collected | ||||||
| 5 | through the efforts of a federal, State, or local government | ||||||
| 6 | agency, including but not limited to child support collected | ||||||
| 7 | from federal or State tax refunds, unemployment benefits, or | ||||||
| 8 | Social Security benefits. | ||||||
| 9 | No collection agency that collects child support payments | ||||||
| 10 | shall (i) impose a charge or fee, including costs, for | ||||||
| 11 | collection of a current child support payment, (ii) fail to | ||||||
| 12 | apply collections to current support as specified in the order | ||||||
| 13 | for support before applying collection to arrears or other | ||||||
| 14 | amounts, or (iii) designate a current child support payment as | ||||||
| 15 | arrears or other amount owed. In all circumstances, the | ||||||
| 16 | collection agency shall turn over to the obligee all support | ||||||
| 17 | collected in a month up to the amount of current support | ||||||
| 18 | required to be paid for that month. | ||||||
| 19 | As to any fees or charges, including costs, retained by the | ||||||
| 20 | collection agency, that agency shall provide documentation to | ||||||
| 21 | the obligee demonstrating that the child support payments | ||||||
| 22 | resulted from the actions of the agency. | ||||||
| 23 | After collection of the total amount or arrearage, | ||||||
| 24 | including statutory interest, due as of the date of execution | ||||||
| 25 | of the collection contract, no further fees may be charged. | ||||||
| 26 | (a-10) The Department of Professional Regulation shall | ||||||
| 27 | determine a fee rate of not less than 25% but not greater than | ||||||
| 28 | 35%, based upon presentation by the licensees as to costs to | ||||||
| 29 | provide the service and a fair rate of return. This rate shall | ||||||
| 30 | be established by administrative rule.
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| 31 | Without prejudice to the determination by the Department of | ||||||
| 32 | the appropriate rate through administrative rule, a collection | ||||||
| 33 | agency shall impose a fee of not more than 29% of the amount of | ||||||
| 34 | child support actually collected by the collection agency | ||||||
| 35 | subject to the provisions of subsection (a-5). This interim | ||||||
| 36 | rate is based upon the March 2002 General Account Office report | ||||||
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| 1 | "Child Support Enforcement", GAO-02-349. This rate shall apply | ||||||
| 2 | until a fee rate is established by administrative rule.
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| 3 | (b) The Department shall adopt rules necessary to | ||||||
| 4 | administer and enforce
the provisions of this Section.
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| 5 | (Source: P.A. 90-673, eff. 1-1-99; 91-613, eff. 10-1-99.)
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| 6 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | ||||||
| 7 | becoming law.
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