In the United States, there is not a single federal "consumer law act" that spans the large range of laws related to consumer protection. Rather, there are a number of individual laws that set the requirements of certain business practices. Generally speaking, fraud, deception, and otherwise unfair treatment is prohibited in federal legislation for each practice, not to mention the additional state laws that prohibit them also. According to the Fair Debt Collection Act, a federal law concerning lending, consumers are entitled to fair and appropriate debt collection procedures, even though they have been negligent in paying their debt. Another act of federal legislation, the Identity Theft Act of 1998, states that the theft of a person's identity or aspect of their identity is a federal crime. Yet another similar act, Through the culmination of the numerous federal legislation such as these, consumers are protected from fraud and ensured a safe consumer marketplace.