Illinois Lawsuit Addresses Time Barred Debt

Plaintiff Terri S. has initiated a time barred debt lawsuit in Illinois against Enhanced Recovery Company LLC.  The time barred debt lawsuit says that the plaintiff has initiated her legal claim in accordance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendant is responsible for unlawful collection practices related to time barred debt.

According to the complaint, Enhanced Recovery Company LLC is a limited liability corporation in Delaware that collects consumer debts on behalf of others inside Illinois and throughout the entire country.  Telephone and mail are used to attempt to collect, or to collect delinquent customer accounts.

The defendant, according to the lawsuit, identifies itself as a debt collector and is therefore responsible for adhering to state and federal laws, including how they handle time barred debt.

Collection Attempt Claim

Terri says that when she reviewed her credit report, she identified an account that was allegedly in collection status.  The plaintiff says she did not recognize the account as one that belonged to her, and this led to her contacting the company over the phone to obtain more information pertaining to the credit report and details of the debt that the defendant was trying to collect.

During the phone call to the debt collection agency, Terri allegedly discovered that the debt in question was one from 2012. The plaintiff alleges that this is time barred debt, meaning that the company is not within their right to attempt to collect the debt in question because of the statute of limitations.

The May 29th, 2018, phone call regarding the alleged debt fell outside Illinois’ applicable statute of limitations, Terri argues, as the applicable five year statute of limitations period had been exceeded since the point in time when the debt fell into default in 2012.

According to the plaintiff’s claims in the lawsuit, at no point during the phone call did the agent or the defendant disclose that the debt was time barred or that the defendant was not eligible to sue her to collect it at that point in time. Furthermore, the time barred debt lawsuit says that the defendant failed to inform the plaintiff that by paying or even making an agreement to pay any portion of the debt or acknowledging that the debt was valid, it could reset the applicable statute of limitations.

The common tactic of withholding information is used by debt collectors, and often encourages people to begin making a payment when they believe that they could be pursued through a lawsuit over the collection of the debt.  Unfortunately,  many consumers who might ultimately become plaintiffs do not realize the high stakes involved in these types of claims; they could make a payment in good faith, not realizing that this resets the statute of limitations associated with time barred debt.

The statute of limitations on debt, or the amount of time the court will force you to pay a debt, varies by state. The statute of limitations is also variable by the type of debt you have (loan, credit card, etc). Know the debt statute of limitations for your state before you respond to a debt collection attempt.

The Illinois Time Barred Debt Lawsuit is Case No. 1:18-Phoebe-04557 filed in the United States District Court Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division.

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DISCLAIMER: Debt collection itself is not illegal. However, debt collection firms collecting on consumer debts must adhere to the FDCPA. Even though debt attorneys are investigating these companies, their debt collection practices may be legal.