Can one get in trouble for pursuing a time barred debt?

The Illinois Attorney General recently filed a lawsuit against Arrow Financial Services, LLC, an Illinois company. Arrow is a collection agency that collects debts ranging from $100 to over $10,000.00 Arrow’s majority owner is Sallie Mae. Apparently, the AG’s office in Illinois has received 669 consumer complaints about Arrow since 1999.
What shocks me is that one of the complaints made by the AG’s office is that Arrow had attempted to collect on time barred debt. I think this will be a very interesting case for debt collectors because the Statute of Limitations is an affirmative defense. That means that even though a debt may not be legally enforceable, it is nonetheless an obligation of the debtor. If a creditor sues a debtor on an out of statute debt, it is up to the debtor to file an answer and to assert the Statute of Limitations.
This case that the the AG of Illinois brings seeks to reprimand a collection agency for attempting to collect debt that is out of statute. Do collectors violate the FDCPA if they attempt, without sending the case to a lawyer, to collect the debt by telephone and mail? I don’t think so. The debt, while not enforceable by law, is still a debt that it is owed….right? I guess we will find out.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 and is filed under Collection Agencies breaking the law . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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