N.Y. General Business Law § 601: Prohibited practices

§ 601. Prohibited practices. No principal creditor, as defined by this

article, or his agent shall:

1. Simulate in any manner a law enforcement officer, or a

representative of any governmental agency of the state of New York or

any of its political subdivisions; or

2. Knowingly collect, attempt to collect, or assert a right to any

collection fee, attorney's fee, court cost or expense unless such

changes are justly due and legally chargeable against the debtor; or

3. Disclose or threaten to disclose information affecting the debtor's

reputation for credit worthiness with knowledge or reason to know that

the information is false; or

4. Communicate or threaten to communicate the nature of a consumer

claim to the debtor's employer prior to obtaining final judgment against

the debtor. The provisions of this subdivision shall not prohibit a

principal creditor from communicating with the debtor's employer to

execute a wage assignment agreement if the debtor has consented to such

an agreement; or

5. Disclose or threaten to disclose information concerning the

existence of a debt known to be disputed by the debtor without

disclosing that fact; or

6. Communicate with the debtor or any member of his family or

household with such frequency or at such unusual hours or in such a

manner as can reasonably be expected to abuse or harass the debtor; or

7. Threaten any action which the principal creditor in the usual

course of his business does not in fact take; or

8. Claim, or attempt or threaten to enforce a right with knowledge or

reason to know that the right does not exist; or

9. Use a communication which simulates in any manner legal or judicial

process or which gives the appearance of being authorized, issued or

approved by a government, governmental agency, or attorney at law when

it is not; or

10. Remotely disable a vehicle using a payment assurance device

defined in paragraph sixty-a of subsection (a) of section 9-102 of the

uniform commercial code or by any other means in order to repossess a

debtor's vehicle without first having given written notice of the

possible remote disabling of a vehicle in the method and timetable

agreed upon by the consumer and the creditor in the initial contract for

services. The notice shall be mailed by registered or certified mail to

the address at which the debtor will be residing on the expected date of

the remote disabling of the vehicle. The notice shall be postmarked no

later than ten days prior to the date on which the principal creditor or

his agent obtains the right to remotely disable the vehicle; or

11. If such principal creditor or agent sends more than fifty

information subpoenas per month, fail to keep complete records

concerning all information subpoenas sent by such principal creditor or

agent. Such records shall be maintained for five years. Contemporaneous

records shall be kept that set forth with specificity the grounds for

such principal creditor or agent's reasonable belief, which must be

certified and accompany each information subpoena pursuant to rule

fifty-two hundred twenty-four of the civil practice law and rules, that

the party receiving the subpoena has in its possession information about

the debtor that will assist the creditor in collecting his or her

judgement. In addition to any other penalty that may be imposed, failure

to maintain records in accordance with this subdivision shall subject

such principal creditor or agent to a civil penalty of not more than

fifty dollars per subpoena, up to a maximum of five thousand dollars per

violation, in an action brought by the attorney general; or

12. Use a social media platform as a means to collect on a consumer

claim from a debtor. For purposes of this subdivision, "social media

platform" means a public or semi-public internet-based service or

application that has users in New York state that meets the following

criteria:

(a) a substantial function of the service or application is to connect

users in order to allow users to interact socially with each other

within the service or application. A service or application that

provides e-mail or direct messaging services shall not be considered to

meet this criterion on the basis of that function alone; and

(b) the service or application allows individuals to: (i) construct a

public or semi-public profile for purposes of signing up and using the

service or application; (ii) create a list of other users with whom they

share a connection within the system; and (iii) create or post content

viewable or audible by other users, including, but not limited to,

livestreams, on message boards, in chat rooms, or through a landing page

or main feed that presents the user with content generated by other

users.