On Wednesday, March 19, 2003 the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 975 the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2003 by a vote of 315-113.

The most important provision of the bill to the credit counseling industry is Section 106 that provides the following:

...an individual may not be a debtor under this title unless such individual has, during the 180-day period preceding the date of filing of the petition by such individual, received from an approved nonprofit budget and credit counseling agency…an individual or group briefing (including a briefing conducted by telephone or on the Internet) that outlined the opportunities for available credit counseling and assisted such individual in performing a related budget analysis.

The bill also provides a mechanism to encourage creditors to participate with the industry to negotiate alternative repayment schedules.