It never fails to surprise me, the number of people who think that you can be arrested or thrown in jail for not paying a bill. People, you have rights, but do you know them?
No you cannot be thrown in jail for non-payment of a bill, no matter how large. You can be thrown in jail for writing bad checks but not for not paying. Sounds odd but it is true. Bad check writing comes under the fraud laws because you knowingly are trying to obtain money under false pretenses. While not paying a bill or loan payment because you have no money falls under the Fair Debt Collection Act and you have rights.
Did you know that debt collectors could not collect a past due bill after a certain amount of time? It is called the "statute of limitations" and it is different in every state. In some states the period is as little as 2 years while other states it can be as long as 15 years. The state statue that takes precedence is the place where you debt was made. For example if you left an unpaid bill in the state of California but move to Maine, the statue of limitations would be based on California and not Maine............but the bill collectors will not tell you that.
Before you start screening your phone calls from bill collectors, know your rights and find out exactly what you need to say to them in order for them to stop calling. Yes there is a 2 sentence saying that will get them to stop and it has nothing to do with paying the bill or even agreeing to pay the bill.
I had a bill collector try and collect on a bill that I did not owe. I found out my rights and read to them from the fair collections act and informed them that if I had another call from them it would be referred to the state authorities. I never heard from them again.
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