© Bruce C. Ward  November 2000

Venue for Debt Collectors

Under the federal law covering consumer debt collection, a suit against a debtor must be filed generally in the county where the debtor resides or where the contract was signed.

If you send a claim to our office and the debtor has signed a contract establishing the debt, please send us a copy of the contract.
 
 

Statute of Limitations

When a claim is sent to our office, we need enough information to determine when the statute of limitation will expire on the claim.  We need to know the date of last charge or date of last payment.

The statute of limitation is the legal time limit within which a lawsuit can be filed on the claim.  The limit varies generally from three to five years depending on the type of claim and whether there is a written agreement.

It has been held by some courts that a debt collector cannot threaten to take or take legal action on a claim where the statute of limitation has expired.