For purposes of a civil action subject to the requirements of this Part:
Rule 280.1.Definitions for Credit Card or Debt Buyer Collection Actions.
Article II. Rules on Civil Proceedings in the Trial Court · Part I. Credit Card or Debt Buyer Collection Actions · Last amended 2020 · Last verified July 20, 2026
In one sentenceRule 280.1 defines the terms — credit card, debt buyer, consumer debt, charge-off balance, and more — that the rest of Part I depends on.
Full Text of Ill. S. Ct. R. 280.1
(a) “Affidavit” means an affidavit or a verification under Section 1-109 of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/1-109).
(b) “Assignment” means a transfer of debt from the owner of the debt to the purchaser of the debt.
(c) “Charge-off balance” means an account principal and other legally collectible costs, expenses, and interest accrued prior to the charge-off date, less any payments or settlement.
(d) “Charge-off creditor” means the person or entity who extended credit to the natural persons involved in a consumer credit transaction on the charge-off date.
(e) “Charge-off date” means the date on which a receivable is treated as a loss or expense.
(f) “Consumer credit transaction” means a transaction between a natural person and another person in which property, service, or money is acquired on credit by that natural person from such other person primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.
(g) “Consumer debt” or “consumer credit” means money, property, or their equivalent, due or owing or alleged to be due or owing from a natural person by reason of a consumer credit transaction.
(h) “Credit card” means any instrument or device, whether known as a credit card, credit plate, charge plate or any other name, issued with or without fee by an issuer for the use of the cardholder in obtaining money, goods, services or anything else of value on credit or in consideration or an undertaking or guaranty by the issuer of the payment of a check drawn by the cardholder.
(i) “Debt buyer” means a person or entity that is engaged in the business of purchasing delinquent or charged-off consumer loans or consumer credit accounts or other delinquent consumer debt for collection purposes, whether it collects the debt itself or hires a third-party for collection or an attorney at law for litigation in order to collect such debt.
(j) “Debt buyer collection action” means a civil action in which the complaint seeks to recover on a consumer debt purchased by a debt buyer.
(k) “Original consumer debt” means the amount of the charge-off balance.
(l) “Payment” means any payment received by a charge-off creditor or a debt buyer, pre- or post-charge-off, that was not returned by the financial institution against which the payment was drawn.
(m) “Person” means any natural person or business entity of any kind, including but not limited to a corporation, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, or limited liability company.
(n) “Principal” means the unpaid balance of the amount borrowed in any consumer credit transaction, not including any interest, fees, or other charges.
Plain-English Summary
A credit-card or debt-buyer suit runs on numbers that can be hard to pin down: what the original creditor was owed, what the debt buyer paid for the account, what’s been collected since, and what’s left. Rule 280.1 gives each of those pieces its own name so the rest of Part I can refer to them precisely.
Several definitions track the life of a debt after it goes bad. The charge-off date marks when the original creditor treats the account as a loss. The charge-off balance is what was owed at that point, after subtracting any payments. The original consumer debt is defined as that same charge-off balance — the number a debt buyer’s claim has to trace back to.
Other definitions set the boundaries of who and what Part I covers: a consumer credit transaction is limited to personal, family, or household purposes, which keeps business debts out of this framework. A debt buyer is defined broadly enough to include a business that hires a third party or a lawyer to collect, not just one that collects on its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a debt buyer under this rule?
A person or business in the business of buying delinquent or charged-off consumer debt for collection, whether it collects the debt itself or hires someone else to do it.
What does charge-off balance mean?
The account principal plus other legally collectible costs and interest as of the charge-off date, minus any payments or settlement amounts.
How does the rule distinguish a consumer debt from a business debt?
Through the definition of consumer credit transaction, which is limited to credit obtained by a natural person for personal, family, or household purposes.
Why does the rule define affidavit separately?
To tie every affidavit filed under Part I to the verification standard in section 1-109 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
Does the definition of person include businesses, not just individuals?
Yes — it covers corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, and other business entities as well as natural persons.
Amendment History
Adopted June 8, 2018, eff. Oct. 1, 2018; amended Nov. 4, 2020, eff. immediately.
Source & verification. Rule text, official Committee Comments, and
amendment history are reproduced verbatim from the Illinois Supreme Court Rules,
promulgated by the Supreme Court of Illinois. Last verified July 20, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: what is a debt buyer Illinoischarge-off balance definitionconsumer debt meaningcredit card collection definitions ruleoriginal consumer debtdebt buyer collection terms