The Department enforces two acts that are designed to protect consumers who hire companies to assist them in settling, consolidating, or managing their debts.  The first of these acts is the Debt Management Service Act.  The second of these acts, which was signed by Governor Quinn and took effect on August 3, 2010, is the Debt Settlement Consumer Protection Act.

• Regulates businesses that assist debtors for a fee where the primary purpose of the assistance is to obtain a settlement, adjustment or satisfaction of the consumer’s unsecured debt to a creditor.
• Initial fee capped at $50.
• Settlement fee limited to 15% of total savings obtained by the client.
• Provides for statutory examinations as needed.

As part of implementing the new Debt Settlement Consumer Protection Act, the Department must create rules to explain certain provisions and supply technical details not contained in the Act.  The proposed rules, which can be found here, must go through a public comment period, which will begin on August 20, 2010, during which the general public and other interested parties may submit comments on the rules.  Interested persons may submit written comments to:

                    Department of Financial and Professional Regulation
                    Attention:  Craig Cellini
                    320 West Washington, 3rd Floor
                    Springfield, IL  62786
                    217/785‑0813   FAX:  217/557-4451

The Department will only consider written comments received by October 4, 2010. After those comments are considered and any revisions are made, the rules are considered by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR), which is a legislative committee comprised of state senators and state representatives.  Information about JCAR can be found at: www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/.  Because the proposed rules may change throughout this process, consumers and people in the industry should not rely on or take any action based on the language in the proposed rules.

The current rules under the Debt Management Service Act can be found here: Debt Management Rules

Proposed changes to the Debt Management Rules can be found here.

The complete filing of proposed rules in connection with debt settlement and debt management, as published in the Illinois Register on August 20, 2010, can be found here.