• If you owe a secured debt and stop making payments, the creditor has the right to repossess the collateral you used to secure the debt. Unsecured debts, however, are not that simple for creditors to recover. Pennsylvania, like all states, has a specific set of laws regarding what creditors can and cannot do when collecting unsecured debts from consumers.
  
  

Fair Credit Extension Uniformity Act

• The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is a set of federal laws regulating legal debt collection methods in all 50 states. The FDCPA, however, only applies to third-party debt collectors, such as collection agencies. The Fair Credit Extension Uniformity Act, which applies to residents of Pennsylvania over the age of 18, gives consumers the same protections afforded by the FDCPA. The FCEUA differs from the FDCPA in that it applies not only to third-party creditors but to original creditors as well. Thus, Pennsylvania debtors enjoy tougher consumer protection laws than individuals in many other states.
  
  

Wage Garnishment

• After a lawsuit, many states allow unsecured creditors to seize a portion of the debtor's pay through a process known as wage garnishment. Through wage garnishment, a creditor can force a debtor to pay off his outstanding balance. Pennsylvania only permits wage garnishment over unsecured debt in very limited circumstances. For example, if you owe child support, back rent, unpaid taxes or criminal restitution, you may encounter wage garnishment in Pennsylvania. Entities cannot garnish your wages for unsecured medical debts, credit card bills or mortgage deficiencies.
  
  

Bank Account Garnishment

• While Pennsylvania does not permit creditors to seize debtor wages to recover unpaid debts, it does allow creditors to garnish funds directly from consumer bank accounts. Thus, while creditors cannot take money directly from your pay, once your paycheck goes into your bank account, an unsecured creditor with a court judgment against you can freeze the account and seize the funds.
  
  

Statute of Limitations

• Pennsylvania's statute of limitations for debt collection is four years. While you have the right to pay a defaulted unsecured debt at any time, your creditor has only four years in which to file a lawsuit against you in Pennsylvania and force you to pay the debt. The statute of limitations begins on the date you made your last payment. Thus, making a payment on old debt restarts Pennsylvania's four-year statute of limitations and could make you subject to a lawsuit.