Washington DC (District Of Columbia) Commercial Collection Agency
Like other U.S. states, Washington DC (formerly “District of Columbia”) has statute of limitations and a variety of other collection laws that help determine a deadline to filing a lawsuit or other civil actions. This page is meant to provide you with debt collection information related to Washington DC including: legal and judgment interest rates, statute of limitations in years, bad check laws (civil penalty), and collection agency bond and license information.
The Washington DC debt collection laws are very similar to laws assigned by the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which protects people who owe money to businesses. For District of Columbia, collection laws have been developed for specific abusive and deceptive debt collection methods. Two of the major components of the state’s specific act are: 1) a criminal provision prohibiting bill collectors from implying that they have any government affiliation; and 2) prohibitions against deceptive marketing practices such as selling refurbished items as new products (Nolo.com)
As a resident of Washington DC, you are eligible for the District of Columbia Debt Collection Practices Act (DCDCPA). One of the aspects of the act that works in the favor of a debtor maintains how creditors and collection agencies can contact debtors about debts they may have. According to Nolo.com, creditors and other debt collectors may not intimidate a debtor by threatening violence/harm to the person, accusing the debtor of fraud or crime, threatening arrest for non-payment, or using abusive language toward a debtor. For more information about District of Columbia’s collection laws, please see the summary below.
SUMMARY OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COLLECTION LAWS*
INTEREST RATE
Legal: 6% – Judgment 70% of interest rates on taxes to IRS
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS (IN YEARS)
Open Acct: 3 – Written Contract 3 – Domestic Judgment 20 – Foreign Judgment Foreign Statute
BAD CHECK LAWS (CIVIL PENALTY)
Amount Due – Protest Fees
GENERAL GARNISHMENT EXEMPTIONS
See federal law. D.C. Government employees are not attachable.
COLLECTION AGENCY BOND & LICENSE
Bond: No – License: No – Fee: No
* These are not comprehensive statutes and therefore PSICollect.com and Prestige Services, Inc. disclaims any liability resulting from reliance by any party upon the legality and accuracy of the contents thereof.
Below is a list of the states in the US that we cover.
We are a nationwide operation and service all states, as well as Canada & Mexico.
