Bill
HB 3554
Keeps the Collection Agency Act active beyond 2026, updates definitions, licensing, enforcement, and sets a 25–35% child support collection fee by Department rule.
Status (as of 2025‑05‑15)
- Introduced: Feb 28, 2025 (Rep. Margaret Croke; later Chief Sponsor Rep. Harry Benton added)
- Passed the House (read 3rd time and passed) on 2025‑05‑15; bill was reported engrossed and transmitted from the House.
- Key procedural steps include multiple committee referrals, two House floor amendments (Ham. 001 and Ham. 002), and committee reports from Financial Institutions & Licensing.
Purpose
- To amend the Collection Agency Act and related statutes: (1) remove the Act from the list of statutes scheduled for automatic repeal under the Regulatory Sunset Act (i.e., prevent its repeal on Jan 1, 2026); and (2) update definitions, regulatory procedures, disciplinary processes, licensing rules, and certain fee rules governing collection agencies.
Key provisions and changes
- Regulatory sunset: Removes the Collection Agency Act from the list of Acts repealed on Jan. 1, 2026, thereby continuing the Act beyond that date.
- Definitions & modernization: Revises multiple definitions (e.g., “collection agency,” “debt buyer,” “department,” licensure records like address/email, multi‑state licensing system) and substitutes the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation for prior agency references.
- Fees for child support collection: Authorizes the Department by rule to set the fee rate a collection agency may charge for collecting child support — not less than 25% and not greater than 35% of the child support actually collected.
- Enforcement, discipline & proceedings: Substantially revises rules on unlicensed practice, investigations, penalties, hearings, records, oaths, findings/recommendations, returned payments, and informal conferences/consent orders. Language allows the Department to negotiate agreements and clarifies procedures for hearings and reporting.
- Board provisions (amendments): The introduced bill initially proposed repeal of certain provisions for a Collection Agency Licensing and Disciplinary Board; House Amendment No. 2 reinstates/clarifies a Collection Agency Licensing and Disciplinary Board structure (7 members, composition, terms, duties) and restores a license‑restoration provision (Sec. 24).
- Repeals and relocations: Repeals or renumbers several older statutory cross‑references; repeals certain prior provisions governing when a person is acting as a collection agency (text reorganized).
Who is affected
- Collection agencies and debt buyers operating in Illinois (including those collecting child support).
- Consumers/debtors (potentially affected by fee changes and procedural changes in collection and dispute resolution).
- The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (expanded rulemaking/administration responsibility).
- Members and stakeholders in the debt collection industry (due to Board provisions, annual meetings, licensing requirements).
- Creditors and entities previously exempted or defined under the Act (exemption language is revised).
Potential impacts and notes
- The 25–35% fee band for child support collections is a notable numeric change; actual rates would be set by Department rule, which could affect obligors and custodial parents.
- Procedural and administrative modernization (electronic filings, clarified hearing procedures) may change compliance and enforcement processes.
- Because the bill underwent floor amendments that alter Board and discipline language, implementation details may depend on final enacted text and subsequent Department rulemaking.
- At the time of passage in the House, the bill proceeds to the Senate for further consideration.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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