The CFPB be issued an Advisory Opinion this Spring prohibiting a debt collector from suing or threatening to sue on a time-barred debt.
Regulation F prohibits a debt collector from suing or threatening to sue to collect a timebarred debt. 14 As the CFPB explained in finalizing this prohibition, “a debt collector who sues or threatens to sue a consumer to collect a time-barred debt explicitly or implicitly misrepresents to the consumer that the debt is legally enforceable, and that misrepresentation is material to consumers because it may affect their conduct with regard to the collection of that debt, including whether to pay it.” 15 Regulation F’s prohibition on suits and threats of suit on timebarred debt is subject to a strict liability standard.16 That is, a debt collector who sues or threatens to sue to collect a time-barred debt violates the prohibition “even if the debt collector neither knew nor should have known that a debt was time barred.”17 Accordingly, a debt collector who brings or threatens to bring a State court foreclosure action with respect to a timebarred mortgage debt may violate the FDCPA and Regulation F. This is true even if the debt collector neither knew nor should have known that the debt was time barred.
A copy of the CFPB’s Advisory Opinion is here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_regulation-f-time-barred-debt_advisory-opinion_2023-04.pdf