Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

This was a mistake. Never ever no matter how desparate you are take out a payday loan.

However, there is some good news in all of this. Depending on when you took out the loan and last paid in 2007 (and if you lived in Pennsylvania at the time) the statute of limitations in PA is 4 years. So if you last paid on the loan on or before 10/29/2007 its legally no longer collectible. If they would somehow try to sue you, you could pay a lawyer a couple of hundred to file an answer and get the case dismissed.

But its not going to come to that. These lenders are offshore, probably in India, but could be anywhere. It is unlikely that they are registered to do business in PA (contact the PA attorney general's office and file a complaint). They are not going to sue because they cannot legally make loans to PA residents since they are not in compliance with the law.

Further, cases are not begun with affidavits, so whatever crap they make up and tell you, its just that - pure and simple BS. They cannot go to the police. Not paying your debts is a CIVIL matter, not a criminal matter.

If they have your checking account information, close that bank account and open a new account, preferably at a credit union, online bank, out of state bank or small community bank. If they have your phone numbers, whether you want to get a new number is up to you. Hopefully, they are not calling your workplace. I would recommend writing to them and advising that your employer does not allow you to receive personal calls at work, but they probably do not have a valid US address other than a postal mail box at a UPS store.

Telling them over the phone is not good enough. If these people get pesky, do creative things - answer the phone "Internal Security - Detective Smith speaking" - you will hear all kinds of stammering at the other end. Or flush the toilet next to the earpiece of a cell phone and say bad connection and hang up. Have fun and be creative. There is no law that says you must talk to these goons or that you cannot have fun while you do talk to them.

And under no circumstances are you to pay them even a penny. I don't care what the contract says - if this is a PA debt and you last paid 4 or more years ago, the statue of limitations has expired. Unemployment benefits are exempt from collection.