S.F. 2094 Section 1. Section 537.7103, subsection 3, paragraph a, 1 subparagraph (8), Code 2011, is amended to read as follows: 2 (8) Communicating with the debtor’s spouse with the consent 3 of the debtor, or responding to inquiry from the debtor’s 4 spouse. 5 EXPLANATION 6 This bill relates to the disclosure of information relating 7 to a debt to the spouse of the debtor. 8 The consumer credit code contained in Code chapter 537 9 specifies prohibited practices in connection with the 10 dissemination of information relating to a debt or a debtor. 11 One of the prohibited practices concerns communicating or 12 threatening to communicate or implying that a debt exists to a 13 person other than the debtor or a person who might reasonably 14 be expected to be liable for the debt, except with the written 15 permission of the debtor given after default. There are 16 several exceptions to this prohibition, however, including 17 communications with the debtor’s spouse with the consent of the 18 debtor, or responding to an inquiry from the debtor’s spouse. 19 This spousal exception does not currently authorize or extend 20 to communicating with the debtor’s spouse without the consent 21 of the debtor where the communication is not pursuant to an 22 inquiry from the debtor’s spouse. 23 This bill removes the provision that the communication with 24 the debtor’s spouse is authorized only with the consent of the 25 debtor in a nonspousal inquiry situation. Accordingly, a debt 26 collector would be permitted to disclose information relating 27 to a debt to the spouse of the debtor without the requirement 28 that the debtor consent to the communication. 29 -1- LSB 5649SS (2) 84 rn/nh 1/ 1