Bills › 91st General Assembly
Relating to debt management programs, services, fees, and licensee requirements
Sponsored by the House Commerce Committee
Topics:Business & economy
Where it is now
- Done: IntroducedJanuary 22, 2026
- Done: SubcommitteeJanuary 22, 2026
- Done: House committeeFebruary 4, 2026
- Done: Passes the HouseApril 1, 202690–2
- Stopped: Senate committeeDied when the General Assembly ended
- Next: Passes the Senate
- Next: To the Governor
- Next: Signed into law
Died when the session ended The General Assembly adjourned on October 2, 2026. Bills that didn’t pass both chambers died. What’s a funnel?
What’s in it
This bill relates to debt management, services, fees, and licensee requirements. Under current law, if a debt management program (program) is based on a model which requires a licensee to receive money or evidences thereof from a debtor to distribute to the debtor’s creditors, the licensee who receives the money for distribution shall maintain a separate bank trust account in which all payments received from the debtor for the benefit of creditors shall be deposited and shall remain until a remittance is made to either the debtor or the creditor.
Read the full explanation
Under the bill, a licensee shall maintain a separate bank account or dedicated account for such purpose. Under current law, if a debt management program is not based on a model which requires a licensee to receive money or evidences thereof from the debtor to distribute to the debtor’s creditors the debtor shall maintain full control of and access to any moneys set aside for payment to creditors, and the licensee may not receive consideration from any third party in connection with services rendered to a debtor. The bill eliminates the prohibition on a licensee receiving consideration from a third party in connection with services rendered to a debtor.9(4). Under the bill, a licensee may not request or receive payment of a fee for services unless: (1) the licensee has renegotiated, resolved, reduced, or otherwise altered the terms of a debt pursuant to a resolution agreement or other contractual agreement between the debtor and the creditor; (2) the debtor has made at least one payment pursuant to the agreement; and (3) to the extent that debts enrolled in a service are renegotiated, resolved, reduced, or otherwise altered individually, the fee or consideration for the service bears the same proportional relationship to the total fee for altering the terms of the entire debt balance as the individual debt amount bears to the entire debt amount as owed at the time the debt was enrolled in the service, and the same percent is charged for each individual debt enrolled in the program. Under the bill, a person licensed to provide debt management services is exempt from Code chapter 538A (credit services organizations).9(5) (fee agreed in advance).
From the explanation printed with the bill as introduced, written by the Legislative Services Agency. Changed since by amendment H-8274; see Amendments. Full bill text
House subcommittee
Named January 22, 2026 (as HSB 603). On January 29, 2026 it recommended passage.
Three legislators hear a bill first and recommend what the committee should do; it’s the best time to weigh in. How to take part
Iowa Code it changes
Read from the bill as introduced. Each links to every bill touching that chapter of the Iowa Code. How the Code works
Lobbying
2 for · 1 against · 3 undecided · Who →
Family tree
Where this legislation came from and where it went: earlier tries, the versions it moved through this Assembly, and later bills built on it.
Study bill
91st General Assembly
Earlier and later bills are matched by wording or an identical title; check the text to be sure it’s the same idea.