Once a lender hands an unpaid account to a collection agency, or sells it to a debt buyer, the calls and letters start. Ignoring them is tempting, and it mostly backfires because of one later step, a lawsuit you don’t answer.
Nothing about ignoring a collector is illegal, and it won’t land you in jail. What changes is who decides what happens next.
The calls usually keep coming
For a while, anyway. Collectors can contact you by phone, mail, email, text and private social media messages, within limits set by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the CFPB’s Regulation F. They can’t call before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. your local time without your agreement, can’t harass you, and can’t tell your friends, family or coworkers that you owe a debt. The FTC’s debt collection FAQs list the full set of rules.
If one agency gets nowhere, the debt may be passed to another or sold, and the contact starts again under a new name. Whether interest and fees keep growing depends on your original contract and state law.
You can stop the contact. A written request asking the collector to stop communicating with you generally ends calls and letters, apart from notices about specific actions such as a lawsuit. It doesn’t cancel the debt, and it doesn’t stop a lawsuit.
How long does a collection account stay on your credit report?
Your credit takes the hit whether or not you answer the phone. By the time an account reaches collections, the missed payments have usually already been reported by the original creditor. The collection itself then shows up as a separate entry.
The FTC says negative information such as past-due debts can generally stay on your credit report for seven years. That clock is tied to the original delinquency, not to the date the collector bought the account, so a debt resale should not restart it. Paying a collection doesn’t remove it early, though some newer scoring models ignore paid collections, and the three nationwide bureaus dropped paid medical collections from reports in 2022 and medical collections under $500 in 2023.
Check what is actually being reported. You can pull your reports from each bureau for free every week at AnnualCreditReport.com and dispute anything that is wrong, such as a debt that isn’t yours or a balance reported twice.
Can a debt collector sue you?
Yes, as long as the debt is within your state’s statute of limitations. Not every collector sues. Lawsuits cost money, so they are more common on larger balances and with collectors that file cases in volume. But you can’t predict which accounts will go to court.
If you’re sued, you receive court papers with a deadline to respond. That deadline can be short, sometimes a few weeks or less, depending on your state and court. The CFPB’s guidance on what to do if you’re sued by a debt collector is blunt: respond by the date in the papers, yourself or through a lawyer. Filing a response admits nothing about whether you owe the money, and it puts the collector to the work of proving its case.
Ignoring a court summons
The court can enter a default judgment. That means the collector wins without having to prove the amount, and you lose the chance to raise defenses you might have had, including that the debt is too old to sue on, that it isn’t yours, or that the amount is wrong.
A judgment usually adds court costs and, where allowed, attorney fees and interest to the balance. It also gives the collector tools it didn’t have before.
Garnishment, bank levies and liens
Federal law caps garnishment for ordinary consumer debts at the lesser of 25% of your disposable earnings or the amount by which your weekly disposable pay exceeds 30 times the federal minimum wage. Some states set tighter limits. A few, including Texas, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and South Carolina, largely bar wage garnishment for consumer debts.
A bank levy works differently. With a court order, the collector can have funds in your account frozen and taken. Federal rules require banks to protect two months’ worth of certain federal benefits, such as Social Security and VA payments, when they are directly deposited into the account. Money above that, or benefits that weren’t directly deposited, may need to be claimed as exempt through the court, and the deadlines to do that are short.
A judgment lien can attach to a home or land you own. It usually has to be paid when you sell or refinance. State homestead laws protect some or all of the equity in a primary home.
Debts past the statute of limitations
Every state sets a statute of limitations for suing on a debt, and it varies by state and by type of debt. The FTC explains that once it runs out, the debt is considered time-barred. Under Regulation F, a collector may not sue or threaten to sue you over a time-barred debt.
The debt doesn’t vanish, though. The collector can still ask you to pay, and in some states a small payment or a written acknowledgment can restart the limitations period. Before you pay anything on an old account, find out whether it is time-barred and what a payment would do under your state’s law.
And if you’re sued on an old debt anyway, you still have to respond. The statute of limitations is a defense you have to raise. If you don’t show up, the court may never hear it.
Steps to take instead
- Read the validation notice. Collectors must send you one with the amount, the creditor’s name and how to dispute.
- If anything looks wrong, dispute in writing within the 30-day window in that notice. The collector then has to stop collecting until it sends verification.
- Check the statute of limitations for your state and type of debt.
- If the debt is valid and recent, ask about a settlement or a payment plan, and get any agreement in writing before you pay.
- If court papers arrive, respond by the deadline and look for help from a legal aid office near you or a consumer lawyer. Some consumer lawyers take debt collection abuse cases with fees paid by the collector if you win.
How much a collector will accept varies widely. Older debts held by debt buyers often settle for less than the full balance, but there is no standard percentage. Offer what you can actually pay in one amount or a short plan, and don’t give a collector access to your bank account to pull payments.
Common questions
Can you go to jail for unpaid debt? No, not for ordinary consumer debt. You can get in trouble for ignoring a court order, such as an order to appear for a hearing about your assets, which is another reason not to ignore court papers. A collector who threatens arrest is breaking the law.
What if you have no income except Social Security? Federal benefits are generally exempt from garnishment by private debt collectors, though they can be taken for federal debts like taxes and for child support. Someone with only protected income and no significant assets is sometimes called judgment-proof. A legal aid lawyer can confirm whether that applies to you.
Does paying a collection improve your credit score? It can under newer scoring models that ignore paid collections. Under older models still used by many mortgage lenders, a paid collection may still count. Either way, it stops the lawsuit risk and the calls.
Related reading
- How to Stop Debt Collector Calls, Legally
- How to Settle Debt for Less Than You Owe
- How to Remove Collections From Your Credit Report
Garnishment limits, exemptions and lawsuit deadlines differ by state. A legal aid office can tell you which protections apply where you live.
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