# What happens if I don't pay We try to be straight with you. Here is what happens if you don't pay, in plain language. None of this is meant to scare you. It's meant to help you choose what makes sense for your situation. ## Short answer If you don't pay, one or more of these things may happen: 1. We keep contacting you within the limits the law allows. 2. The business that placed your account may write off the debt. 3. The business may decide to send the account to a lawyer for a lawsuit. 4. If sued and a judgment is entered, the business may collect through legal means (e.g., a court order to a bank or for wage garnishment, depending on state law and whether the debtor is a business or individual). 5. Sole-proprietor and individual debts are treated as consumer debts under federal law and **are not reported by us** to personal credit bureaus. What actually happens depends on the size of the debt, the state you and the business are in, and the business's policies. ## What we do We will continue to reach out to you within legal limits: * Call frequency is capped per-state in `config/compliance/states.json` (for example seven calls per seven days is the FDCPA default; some states are stricter). The scheduler blocks calls that would exceed the cap. * Calls only go out between 8 am and 9 pm in the debtor's local time zone. The scheduler enforces this — calls outside the window are refused. * Emails are sent at reasonable intervals via the email scheduler. If we cannot reach you after several attempts, the account moves to "unreachable" and we may stop trying for a while. We do not call relatives, neighbors, or strangers about your debt. ## What we don't do * We don't threaten arrest. Not paying a business debt is **not** a crime. * We don't threaten to take your house, garnish wages, or freeze accounts. Only a court can order those things — and only after a lawsuit. * We don't tell other people about your debt. * We don't add interest or fees we are not authorized to add. If anyone tells you any of the above, that is not us. [Contact support](/troubleshooting/contact-support.md) to report. ## What the business that placed the account may do The business that placed your account has options. They may: * **Wait.** Many businesses simply continue collection efforts for months or years. * **Write off.** Recognize the debt as a loss for their accounting. This doesn't make the debt go away — they can still try to collect — but it changes how it appears in their books. * **Sue you.** If the amount is large enough to justify it, they may file a lawsuit. Lawsuits are slow (months to years) and expensive for both sides. * **Sell or assign the debt.** Less common in business-to-business than in consumer debt, but possible. ## If you are sued If the business sues, you'll be served with court papers. You have rights and a deadline to respond: * You may have **20–30 days** to respond depending on the state. * You can show up with or without a lawyer. * You can present defenses (the debt isn't yours, the amount is wrong, the statute of limitations has run, etc.). * You can settle before trial. If you ignore court papers, the business can get a **default judgment** — meaning they win because you didn't show up. Then they can use legal tools to collect. If you've been served, talk to a lawyer. Most states have free or low-cost legal aid. ## Credit reporting The compliance engine controls whether the AI agent is allowed to mention credit-bureau reporting on calls. Today that switch is gated by: * A platform-level setting (`bureau_account_active`). When it's off, credit-bureau reporting is not mentioned and is not actively pursued. * Whether FDCPA applies to the debtor (FDCPA-covered debtors get extra protections). * Whether the account is at least 60 days past due. We do not report consumer or sole-proprietor accounts to personal credit bureaus. If you want to know whether your specific account is in scope for any bureau reporting, [contact support](/troubleshooting/contact-support.md). ## Statute of limitations After a certain period of inactivity (typically 3–6 years for written contracts, depending on the state), a debt becomes "time-barred". A time-barred debt can't legally be sued on, but technically the debt still exists. Some debtors choose to ignore time-barred debts; others choose to pay or settle anyway for peace of mind. > If you make a payment on a time-barred debt, in some states you may inadvertently restart the statute of limitations. Talk to a lawyer if this matters to you. ## Your best move For most people, the best move is to engage. Even if you can't pay now: * [Open a dispute](/for-debtors/debtor-portal/opening-a-dispute.md) if you don't think the debt is right. * [Set up a plan](/for-debtors/debtor-portal/setting-up-a-payment-plan.md) if you need time. * [Send a message](/for-debtors/debtor-portal/messaging-the-creditor.md) explaining your situation. * [Ask us to stop contacting you](/for-debtors/compliance-and-rights/how-to-stop-contact.md) if you need a break. Ignoring it usually doesn't make it go away. Engagement, even briefly, almost always leads to a better outcome than silence. ## Need to talk to someone * For account-specific help, [contact support](/troubleshooting/contact-support.md). * For legal advice, talk to a lawyer. Most states have free or low-cost legal aid. *** Last reviewed: 2026-05-12 by Compliance Lead. **TODO: external counsel review.** --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://help.moderncollections.io/for-debtors/debtor-portal/what-happens-if-i-dont-pay.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. 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