You cannot go to jail for not paying your debts

A fairly common tactic of shady debt collectors is to tell people that they will go to jail if they do not pay a debt. I’ve even heard about debt collectors impersonating the police and telling unsuspecting people that they have a warrant for them and that they will be arrested immediately unless they pay their debt. 

You cannot go to jail for not paying your debts. Period. Any debt collector that tells you otherwise has violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The FDCPA prohibits false and misleading representations when attempting to collect a debt. This prohibition specifically includes telling you that the nonpayment of a debt will result in imprisonment. 

If a debt collector has lied to you and told you that you will go to jail if you don’t pay a debt, you have the right to sue them under the FDCPA. If you win your case, you are entitled to $1,000.00 in statutory damages, any acutal damages, such as for emotional distress, and the debt collector must pay your attorneys’ fees. Most consumer lawyers will take an FDCPA case on a contingency fee, which means you won’t pay any attorneys’ fees unless you recover money. If you live in Minnesota, and have been told that you will go to jail if you don’t pay a debt, feel free to contact me for a free case evaluation.

(photo: jakevol2)