New Mexico Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

New Mexico has not enacted a separate State law that is substantially different from the FDCPA.
The only specifications apply to debt collectors and collection licensing. Nevertheless, the residents of New
Mexico are well protected under the federal law.

Here are some helpful extracts from the State Act:

61-18A-1. Short title

This act [ 61-18A-1 NMSA 1978] may be cited as the “Collection Agency Regulatory Act.”

61-18A-2. Definitions

As used in the Collection Agency Regulatory Act [ 61-18A-1 NMSA 1978]:

1. A. “division” means the financial institutions division of the regulation and licensing department;
2. B. “director” means the director of the financial institutions division of the regulation and licensing department;
3. C. “collection agency” means any person engaging in business for the purpose of collecting or attempting to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another, where such person is so engaged by two or more creditors. The term also includes any creditor who, in the process of collecting his own debts, uses any name other than his own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts. The term does not include:
   1. (1) any officer or employee of a creditor while, in the name of the creditor, collecting debts for such creditor;
   2. (2) any person while collecting debts for another person, both of whom are related by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control, if the person collects debts only for persons to whom it is so related or affiliated and if the principal business of such person is not the collection of debts;
   3. (3) any officer or employee of the United States, any state or any political subdivision thereof to the extent that collecting or attempting to collect any debt is in the performance of his official duties;
   4. (4) any person while serving or attempting to serve legal process on any other person in connection with the judicial enforcement of any debt;
   5. (5) any nonprofit organization which, at the request of debtors, performs bona fide consumer credit counseling and assists debtors in the liquidation of their debts by receiving payments from such debtors and distributing such amounts to creditors;
   6. (6) any attorney-at-law collecting a debt as an attorney on behalf of and in the name of a client; and
   7. (7) any person collecting or attempting to collect any debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or due to another to the extent such activity:
   1. (a) is incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation or a bona fide escrow arrangement;
   2. (b) concerns a debt which was originated by such person;
   3. (c) concerns a debt which was not in default at the time it was obtained by such person; or
   4. (d) concerns a debt obtained by such person as a secured party in a commercial credit transaction involving the creditor;
4. D. “communication” means the conveying of information regarding a debt directly or indirectly to any person through any medium;
5. E. “creditor” means any person who offers or extends credit creating a debt or to whom a debt is owed, but such term does not include any person to the extent that he receives an assignment or transfer of a debt in default solely for the purpose of facilitating collection of such debt for another;
6. F. “debt” means any obligation or alleged obligation of a debtor to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance or services which are the subject of the transaction are primarily for personal, family or household purposes, whether or not such obligation has been reduced to judgment;
7. G. “debt collector” means a collection agency, a repossessor, a manager, a solicitor and any attorney-at-law collecting a debt as an attorney on behalf of and in the name of a client;
8. H. “debtor” means any natural person obligated or allegedly obligated to pay any debt;
9. I. “location information” means a debtor’s place of abode and his telephone number at such place or his place of employment;
10. J. “manager” means a natural person who qualifies under the Collection Agency Regulatory Act to be in full-time charge of a licensed collection agency, and to whom a manager’s license has been issued by the director;
11. K. “person” means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, joint-stock company, trust where the interests of the beneficiaries are evidenced by a security, unincorporated organization, government or political subdivision of a government;
12. L. “repossessor” means a person engaged solely in the business of repossessing personal property for others for a fee. The term does not include a duly licensed collection agency; and
13. M. “solicitor” means a natural person who, through lawful means, communicates with debtors or solicits the payment of debts for a collection agency licensee by the use of telephone, personal contact, letters or other methods of collection conducted from and within the licensee’s office.

61-18A-28.1. Additional collection from debtors

1. A. Unless the agreement between the debtor and the creditor or the agreement between the collection agency and the creditor otherwise expressly prohibits, a collection agency may collect from the debtor an amount equal to the gross receipts tax and the local option gross receipts taxes, as those terms are defined in the Gross Receipts and Compensating Tax Act [ 7-9-1 NMSA 1978], imposed on the receipts of the collection agency that result from the collection of a debt from the debtor.
2. B. For purposes of this section, a collection agency does not mean a person who collects his own debts using a name other than his own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts.