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     | Friday, June 09, 2000 - 12:40 pm  Repost from http://www.bayhouse.com/discus/messages/4/592.html?960566084#POST3754 By Rhonda (Rhonda)on Friday, June 9, 2000 - 08:54 am: "The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) requires that lawsuits to collect consumer debts be filed in the state where you live (or signed the contract). It reads as follows: § 811. Legal actions by debt collectors [15 USC 1692i] (a) Any debt collector who brings any legal action on a debt against any consumer shall -- (1) in the case of an action to enforce an interest in real property securing the consumer's obligation, bring such action only in a judicial district or similar legal entity in which such real property is located; or (2) in the case of an action not described in paragraph (1), bring such action only in the judicial district or similar legal entity -- (A) in which such consumer signed the contract sued upon; or (B) in which such consumer resides at the commencement of the action. Attorneys who perform collection activities, including filing lawsuits, on behalf of their clients are considered "debt collectors" under the FDCPA (Heintz v Jenkins, US Supreme Court, 1995). Therefore, any lawsuit filed to collect this debt would be filed in Florida and (normally) Florida's statute of limitations would apply. If the contract specified that it is "governed by the laws of the state of ..." (use Delaware for example) then the lawsuit would still be filed in Florida, but either you or the creditor could argue that the laws (and statute of limitations) of Delaware apply. This argument gets complicated and very expensive quickly (I know--I've done it), so it's not likely a creditor would offer this argument unless it was a VERY large debt. So I agree with Voigtkampff--the SOL of Florida applies and seeing as it's almost up, you may as well wait it out."
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