Cal. CIV § 1788.1
This is the official text of Cal. CIV § 1788.1, part of California’s Civil Code — covers contracts, property ownership, personal rights, and other general civil obligations between private parties.
Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.
Official statutory text
(a) The Legislature makes the following findings:
(1) The banking and credit system and grantors of credit to consumers are dependent upon the collection of just and owing debts. Unfair or deceptive collection practices undermine the public confidence, which is essential to the continued functioning of the banking and credit system and sound extensions of credit to consumers and small businesses.
(2) There is need to ensure that debt collectors and debtors exercise their responsibilities to one another with fairness, honesty and due regard for the rights of the other.
(b) It is the purpose of this title to prohibit debt collectors from engaging in unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the collection of consumer debts and small business debts and to require debtors to act fairly in entering into and honoring those debts, as specified in this title.
(c) Nothing in this title is intended to create or impose an additional licensing requirement under Division 25 (commencing with Section 100000) of the Financial Code on a debt collector with respect to the collection of covered commercial debt or covered commercial credit.
(d) The provisions of this title related to covered commercial credit or covered commercial debt apply to covered commercial credit or covered commercial debt entered into, renewed, sold, or assigned on or after July 1, 2025.
(1) The banking and credit system and grantors of credit to consumers are dependent upon the collection of just and owing debts. Unfair or deceptive collection practices undermine the public confidence, which is essential to the continued functioning of the banking and credit system and sound extensions of credit to consumers and small businesses.
(2) There is need to ensure that debt collectors and debtors exercise their responsibilities to one another with fairness, honesty and due regard for the rights of the other.
(b) It is the purpose of this title to prohibit debt collectors from engaging in unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the collection of consumer debts and small business debts and to require debtors to act fairly in entering into and honoring those debts, as specified in this title.
(c) Nothing in this title is intended to create or impose an additional licensing requirement under Division 25 (commencing with Section 100000) of the Financial Code on a debt collector with respect to the collection of covered commercial debt or covered commercial credit.
(d) The provisions of this title related to covered commercial credit or covered commercial debt apply to covered commercial credit or covered commercial debt entered into, renewed, sold, or assigned on or after July 1, 2025.
Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site
Need a lawyer in California?
Find a California lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the
Open US Law dataset
(Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine
(Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.