{"data":{"id":"us-ca/civ-1788.301","jurisdiction":"us-ca","citation":"CIV § 1788.301","heading":"","body":"For purposes of this title:\n(a) “Debt settlement provider” means a person who, for compensation and on behalf of a consumer, provides debt settlement services.\n(b) “Debt settlement services” means any of the following:\n(1) Providing advice, or offering to act or acting as an intermediary, including, but not limited to, offering debt negotiation, debt reduction, or debt relief services between a consumer and one or more of the consumer’s creditors, if the primary purpose of that advice or action is to obtain a settlement for less than the full amount of the debt.\n(2) Advising, encouraging, or counseling a consumer to accumulate funds in an account for future payment of a reduced amount of debt to one or more of the consumer’s creditors.\n(c) “Settlement account” means a depository account established and used for the purpose of holding funds of a consumer to be distributed to a creditor in the event of a settlement of a consumer’s debt with the creditor.\n(d) “Consumer” means a person who is allegedly legally responsible for a debt.\n(e) “Person” means a natural person or entity, whether a corporation, partnership, association, trust, limited liability company, cooperative, or other organization.\n(f) “Creditor” means the person who originated the debt or is assigned, or has purchased for collection, a debt for which a consumer is allegedly legally responsible.\n(g) “Debt” means money, whether in principal, interest, fees, or other charges, which is due or owing or alleged to be due or owing from a natural person to another person and incurred primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.\n(h) “Payment processor” means a person who provides payment processing services.\n(i) “Payment processing services” means accepting, maintaining, holding, or distributing funds, or facilitating the acceptance, maintenance, holding, or distribution of funds, on behalf of a consumer for the purpose of facilitating debt settlement services.","path":["Civil Code - CIV","DIVISION 3. OBLIGATIONS [1427. - 3273.91.]","PART 4. OBLIGATIONS ARISING FROM PARTICULAR TRANSACTIONS [1738. - 3273.91.]","TITLE 1.6C.17. Fair Debt Settlement Practices  [1788.300. - 1788.307.]","CHAPTER 1. General Provisions [1788.300. - 1788.302.]"],"source_url":"https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zip","current_through":"2026-09-13","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T05:56:33Z","sha256":"af181e1466554da0a78a093fa16009e09b5cc973e998b19e72990fb81a7423ce","source_id":"us-ca","stale":false,"prev":"us-ca/civ-1788.300","next":"us-ca/civ-1788.302"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}