Pennsylvania Debt Law

Special Defenses Available in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has some very favorable, specific rules on what a debt collector must plead in order to bring a claim on a debt, and a procedure called “preliminary objections” that brings up these issues.

Despite the law imposing these requirements, the debt collectors ignore them, and chances are good that if you’re being sued in PA, they ignored them for you. That means that you can probably get the case kicked out by filing the appropriate Preliminary Objections. For more on this issue, see our materials related to the Pennsylvania Silver Bullet Pack below.

In addition to the pleading requirements, PA also has some very favorable law on the Account Stated claim that debt collectors like to use so often. An account stated claim, in general, requires that the plaintiff plead and prove that a normal billing relationship existed between the parties, that the plaintiff sent a bill (“accounting”) to which the defendant essentially agreed but did not pay. In most states, this “essential agreement” can be implied from almost nothing. In Pennsylvania, on the other hand, some real evidence of agreement needs to be produced. Of course, the debt collectors almost never have such evidence.

Pennsylvania Silver Bullet Pack – a great product that will stop most debt collectors – and a lot of other bad guys too – in Pennsylvania.