Senate Bill No. 374

(By Senators Schoonover, Yoder, Wagner, Bailey, Walker, Buckalew, Chafin, Craigo and Love)

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[Introduced February 15, 1995; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article two, chapter forty-six-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section one hundred twenty-nine-b, relating to adding a provision to the West Virginia consumer credit and protection act prohibiting debt collectors from calling consumers or third parties at work after having been told not to do so by the employer.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two, chapter forty-six-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section one hundred twenty-nine-b, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. CONSUMER CREDIT PROTECTION.
§46A-2-129b. Telephone calls at work after notification by employer.

(a) No debt collector shall place a telephone call or otherwise communicate by telephone with consumers or third parties at a place of employment after having received notice that an employer does not want a debt collector to do so. The fact that an employer gave such notice to a debt collector must be established by clear and convincing evidence.
(b) No creditor or other debt collector who has notice with regard to a particular debt that an employer does not want calls made at work shall sell or assign the right to collect that debt without communicating to the buyer or assignee that the employer does not want calls made at work.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to add a provision to the West Virginia consumer credit and protection act prohibiting debt collectors from calling consumers at work after having been told not to do so by the employer. Subsection (b) prevents debt collectors from getting around subsection (a) by selling or assigning the debt for collection by someone else without communicating the employer's notice to the buyer or assignee.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitte.