2025 Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 427 - Consumer transactions — debt collection.
427.103 - Definitions: “claim”; “debt collection”; “debt collector”.

427.103 Definitions: “claim”; “debt collection”; “debt collector”.

(1) “Claim” means any obligation or alleged obligation arising from a consumer transaction, including a transaction that is primarily for an agricultural purpose.

(2) “Debt collection” means any action, conduct or practice of soliciting claims for collection or in the collection of claims owed or due or alleged to be owed or due a merchant by a customer.

(3) “Debt collector” means any person engaging, directly or indirectly, in debt collection, and includes any person who sells, or offers to sell, forms represented to be a collection system, device or scheme, intended or calculated to be used to collect claims. The term does not include a printing company engaging in the printing and sale of forms.

History: 1971 c. 239; 1997 a. 302.

In this case, the landlord acted as a “debt collector,” as defined in sub. (3), and violated s. 427.104 (1) (j) when the landlord served an eviction notice on the tenant during a declared eviction moratorium. Koble Investments v. Marquardt, 2024 WI App 26, 412 Wis. 2d 1, 7 N.W.3d 915, 22-0182.