Have you been threatened with arrest?

Here are some of the payday loans that have threatened us with arrest:

Sonic Payday
United Cash Loans
VIP Cash
Rio Resources

Here is a list that has threatened us with arrest:

United Legal
Ellis Crosby & Associates (Shut Down)
First Credit of America
Anothony Galloway & Associates
In the State of Tennessee only one person needs to know about the recording of the conversation.
ttthayden is absolutely right, the police isn't going to waste their time on a civil matter and thats all a payday loan is, A CIVIL MATTER.

I have not been threatened with arrest but I sure have been harassed. It's good to know your rights when dealing with these companies because they end up getting frustrated and backing off. It boggles my mind these companies even have the nerve to threaten someone with arrest when they are most probably not even licensed to do business. What a joke.

I have never been threatened with arrest either. I posted this because I see so many come here looking for answers, scared to death the police are about to bust down their front door or arrest them at work. It is so sad. I thought a post like this might put their minds at ease while they search for other answers.

Toni, it is your concern for the needy people for whom you created a thread like this. I as well as many other here will always thank you for taking this initiative.

No one can be arrested for not paying the debt. Such actions can only take place if a person is intentionally giving wrong information about his property for not paying his debt. Besides, if a person is purposely escaping the court dates set by the magistrate, such actions might take place. The court will always try to give a number of opportunities to pay the outstanding amount by affordable re-scheduled installments. It will be good for all those facing such situations to take advice from the local agency and get help in preparing a budget sheet.

Debt prisons have been abolished since 1850. You can't be sent to jail just for not paying the debt.

As a technical legal matter, service of any summons, warrant, or subpoena is an "arrest". The Norman French were in charge of England after William the B***ard began calling himself William the Conqueror in 1066, and Norman French was the official language of the English government from that time until after Richard the Third. The term, "arrest" comes from that linguistic baggage and simply means, "to stop" or "to detain". Originally, service of every legal paper was an order to the sheriff, not to the defendant, that he go find the body of the person and sieze and take possession of that body and bring it immediately to the court for adjudication. Nowadays, on this side of the Great Water, we use the paper to get notice of the proceedings to the defendant, and only need to detain him as a technical matter to inform him of what he's supposed to do.

So, as a purely legal technical matter, they aren't lying when they say you can be arrested. I don't think a debt collector can say anything that misleading because the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act says they can't threaten something they can't actually do, and I think most people who understand "arrest" to mean custodial detention as a criminal, that would be out. But the original creditor is not subject to the fdcpa. They may be subject to consumer protection laws in your state, however; in Virginia, a "supplier of services" is prohibited from any conduct that is misleading or deceptive in the course of a consumer transaction. Va. Code section 59.1-200(14). It provides for minimum statutory penalties of $500 plus attorneys' fees (maximum damages is three times that amount or three times the actual damages, whichever is greater). Your state may have a similar provision. Look under "trade and commerce" in the table of contents or the index of the code of statutes for your state. Most are available on the internet, and certainly in public libraries, law school libraries, and courthouse law libraries (most are open to the public for research).

The earlier post by ttthayden is entirely correct - you can't be charged with the crime of having written a bad check when they accepted a post-dated check as a way of giving a loan. That is, as ttthayden said, entirely a civil matter. Except!!! It just occurred to me - obtaining (or attempting or conspiring to obtain) property from another through threats, force, or intimidation is the crime of extortion, if the amount is over the threshold value ($200 in Va.) it's a felony, good for five years in prison. Threatening someone with prosecution for a criminal offense, knowing there was none, for the purpose of obtaining money (even if it's actually owed) is a crime in most states.

(Btw, on the historical note: William really was called William the B***ard, asterisks to be replaced with the obvious letters out of concern for the spam filter, because he was an illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy - that's why he had to take England, he had no standing to inherit property in France from his father. At the time, "b***ard" was considered merely descriptive, not necessarily pejorative.)

What I think is one of the funniest stories is my boyfriend a captin at a local police department received a call from a past account belonging to his ex wife but his name was still attached but everything was paid. They told him if he didnt pay they were ready to process his paperwork to be sent for him to be arrested for fraud and have someone waiting at his local police department for them to pick him up. He listend to them bable and started laughing and told them who he was and he was going to take serious action against them. I guess the guy started stuttering and finally said oh I think there has been a mix up in the papework and hung up. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that one!

LMAO!!!!!!! Thats funny!!! thanks for sharing the laugh!! shirley

VLD, you are right, as a former police officer I should have picked up on the difference in custodial detention and "arrest". I guess I really resent the implication that law enforcement is going to do their "dirty work".

Generally speaking, they make it sound like a police officer will be coming immedately to take them to jail. Some have even suggested they need to have someone on standby to bail them out of jail.

The last time I was threatened with being arrested, I told them to go ahead I needed a vacation. Their response was slamming down the phone.

perfect! I may have to use that one!

My Mom was told by this company that i was going to be arrested if i did not pay within the hour. I talked to him and told him i knew he could not discuss this with any one other than me or my husband. All so they would not tell me what the name of there company was. All i have is a number to call them. Does any one have any advice. Also he told me that I would be arrested and go to jail and get fired from my job. Please does someone have any advice.

I'd file complaints against them with the FTC, BBB, and your attorney general (their attorney general if they're in a different state).

Rest assured, they can't legally threaten arrest or the loss of your job.

Have you tried to search for this company by phone number yet (google, whocalled.us, this site, etc...)?

Great advice from Morningstar. I would also get the name of the person who called you, and document, document, document. The more information you can get on these crooks, the better. I would even call your police department and confirm that there are no warrants for your arrest, and tell the crooks that the next time they call.
Besides, if they get you fired, then noone's getting paid, right? How stupid is that?

I didnt see a phone number?