Opinion of the Court
II
A
The FDCPA’s definitional section, 15 U. S. C. §1692a, defines a “debt” as:
“any obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance, or services which are the subject of the transaction are primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.” §1692a(5) (emphasis added).
The Act then sets out the definition of the term “debt collector.” §1692a(6). The first sentence of the relevant paragraph, which we shall call the primary definition, says that the term “debt collector”:
“means any person… in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or asserted to be owed or due another.” Ibid.
The third sentence, however, provides what we shall call the limited-purpose definition:
“For the purpose of section 1692f(6) [the] term [debt collector] also includes any person… in any business the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of security interests.” Ibid.
The subsection to which the limited-purpose definition refers, §1692f(6), prohibits a “debt collector” from:
“Taking or threatening to take any nonjudicial action to effect dispossession or disablement of property if–
- “(A) there is no present right to possession of the property…;
- “(B) there is no present intention to take possession of the property; or
