M. President, we have big problems in the debt collection industry that are long overdue to be addressed. Now, before I even begin, I'd like to preface my remarks by saying that when someone takes out a loan, they ought to pay it back. I have no intention of making it easier for people to skip out on legitimate debts. But we also can't sit idly by as debt collectors prey on good people who have always tried to do the right thing.

In 1977, Congress passed the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to protect consumers from abusive practices by debt collectors. But times have changed and that law needs updating. Congress did not foresee the abuses that would arise as the growing debt collection industry found ways around the intent of the law to make their profits on the backs of hardworking Americans.

All around our country, there are numerous stories of people being taken advantage of by unscrupulous debt collectors. The debt collectors don't let the law or common decency stop them from doing whatever it takes to make a buck. These abuses include nasty and harassing calls-including the use of racial slurs-and going after innocent people for debts that they don't owe.

In my state alone-and you can find similar stories from all over the country-consumers have been subjected to endless collection attempts over debts they don't recognize or debts they don't believe ever existed, debts that have already been paid, debts owed by different people, and debts that have been dramatically inflated. Just this week I met a man from Minnesota who was repeatedly harassed by debt collectors for a debt that he didn't owe, and despite the evidence he provided, it didn't stop until he got a lawyer.

Debt collectors have time and money on their side, and now some are even exploiting scarce law enforcement resources to go after unsuspecting Minnesotans. Debt collection firms are preying on people with good intentions but without the time and money to figure out their rights and fight back. This is basically a David and Goliath situation, but here, usually Goliath wins.

For some people, this bad situation spirals into an even worse nightmare. The problems in the debt collection industry first came to my attention in June, when my hometown newspaper, the Star Tribune, began a series on this subject with a story about the Minnesotans who have landed in jail because debt collectors were pursuing them for a debt.

One woman who told her story, a Minneapolis resident, spent a full day in jail over a $250 credit card debt. During that day, she was treated like a criminal, groped by one inmate and offered drugs by another, and slept in a room with a dozen other women, sharing a toilet with no privacy.

And here was what she told the newspaper: "We hear every day about how there's no money for public services. But it seems like the collectors have found a way to get the police to do their work." And she's right. These rogue debt collectors are gaming the system and using law enforcement resources for the sole purpose of corporate profit.

And then there was the story of a woman from Richfield, Minnesota-south of Minneapolis-who was arrested one day recently because she had defaulted on a credit card in 2006. A debt-buying company had bought up her old credit card debt and started sending collection notices, but she'd ignored them because she had never heard of that company. Next thing you know, she was stopped on the road and arrested.

This harassment and abuse needs to be stopped. That's why Senator LeMieux and I are introducing today the End Debt Collector Abuse Act, which would forbid debt collectors from seeking the arrest of a consumer in pursuit of payment. It would also require that debt collectors provide consumers with basic information up front-such as an itemization of the principal, fees and interest that make up the debt-so that consumers can recognize a debt, determine whether the collector's claim is accurate, and exercise their rights.

This bill will also require that debt collectors provide the name of the original creditor up front-so that we can avoid cases like that woman from Richfield who received collection notices from a company she'd never heard of-and quite reasonably, ignored them. It's just common sense to make sure that debt collectors provide this sort of basic information up front so that these misunderstandings don't happen.

And in the case that a consumer does identify an inaccuracy with a debt claim, some debt collectors currently do little in terms of investigating whether the consumer's dispute is correct. For that reason, this bill would require that collectors conduct a thorough investigation when a consumer contacts them about a mistake. The collector would then have to provide the consumer with evidence specific to the dispute.

Finally, the End Debt Collector Abuse Act would increase the penalties for violating consumers' rights, in order to crack down on the rogue debt collectors who have been blatantly and willfully ignoring current federal prohibitions against harassing calls and other abusive practices.

In this tough economy, Minnesotans are suffering enough right now, and they deserve to have these basic protections against abusive debt collection practices. I urge my colleagues to join Senator LeMieux and me in supporting this bill so we can stop the abuse and harassment of hardworking Americans by rogue debt collection firms.