District of Columbia — §28-3814 debt collection + SOL

Authority

D.C. Code §28-3814, rewritten end-to-end by the Protecting Consumers from Unjust Debt Collection Practices Act of 2022 (D.C. Law 24-154, eff. Aug. 27, 2022, applicable as of Jan. 1, 2023). It is the single controlling instrument: it carries the scope definitions, the conduct rules, a hard numeric call cap, the call-time window, the documentation-before-collection regime, the pleading and evidentiary rules for collection suits, its own 3-year statute of limitations for consumer debt, and an anti-revival rule. Enforced by private action (§28-3814(u)), by the D.C. Attorney General (§28-3909), and through the Consumer Protection Procedures Act (§28-3905(k)).

There is no separate D.C. debt-collector or debt-buyer licensing statute — see Entry gate below for how that negative was established.

Verification note. code.dccouncil.gov (D.C. Council / Open Law Library — the official publisher) serves cleanly to an ordinary browser request; no WAF, no JS shell. Every quote below was pulled from that live site on 2026-08-12. The site asks scrapers to use its bulk downloads instead, and the Council publishes the whole Code and all acts as official XML at github.com/DCCouncil/law-xml — that corpus is how the negative findings on this page (no licensing act, no borrowing statute, no medical-debt code provision) were proved by full-text search.

⚠ Trap in the bulk corpus. In law-xml, the title tree (us/dc/council/code/titles/28/sections/28-3814.xml) holds a pre-2022 text — subsections (a)–(k) only. The current text lives at us/dc/council/code/titles/99/28-3814(Perm).xml (subsections (a)–(cc)). The same staleness bit §47-2851.03 and §28-3909 (the tree still says "Corporation Counsel" and a $1,000 penalty; the live section says "Attorney General" and $5,000/$10,000). Quote from the live site; use the repo only for full-text negatives. The Title 99 text and the live site were diffed byte-for-byte on all seven load-bearing numbers below and agree exactly.

Operative text

Scope — §28-3814(a), (b) (covers ORIGINAL CREDITORS and debt buyers)

(a) This section applies to conduct and practices in connection with the collection of obligations arising from any consumer debt (other than a loan directly secured on real estate or a direct motor vehicle installment loan covered by Chapter 36 of this title). — D.C. Code §28-3814(a)

(2) "Consumer debt" means money or its equivalent, or a loan or advance of money, which is, or is alleged to be, more than 30 days past due and owing, unless a different period is agreed to by the consumer, as a result of a purchase, lease, or loan of goods, services, or real or personal property for personal, family, medical, or household purposes. The term consumer debt does not include an extension of credit secured by a mortgage. (3) "Debt buyer" means a person that is engaged in the business of purchasing charged-off consumer debt or other delinquent consumer debt for collection purposes, whether it collects the consumer debt itself or hires a third party, including an attorney, in order to collect such consumer debt. … (5) "Debt collector" means a person, including an original creditor or debt buyer engaging directly or indirectly in debt collection and any person who sells or offers to sell forms represented to be a collection system, device, or a scheme or method intended or calculated to be used to collect consumer debt. (6) "Original creditor" means the person that owned a consumer debt at the date of default, or the date of charge-off for credit cards or revolving credit accounts, giving rise to a cause of action for its collection. — D.C. Code §28-3814(b) (emphasis added)

Two scope features that matter more than they look:

• "medical" sits inside the (b)(2) purpose list, so medical debt is core §28-3814 consumer debt today — no separate medical-debt statute needed for the conduct rules to bite.
• The debt must be more than 30 days past due to be "consumer debt." Pre-delinquency servicing contact is outside the section.

Call-frequency cap — §28-3814(d)(4)(A): FOUR calls per account per 7 days

(4) communicating with a consumer or any member of a consumer's family or household in such a manner that can reasonably be expected to abuse or harass the consumer or any member of the consumer's family or household or communicating with the consumer or any member of the consumer's family or household at an unreasonable hour or with unreasonable frequency, including: (A)(i) Making in excess of 4 phone calls per account, inclusive of all phone numbers the debt collector has for the consumer, in any 7-day period; except, that the limit of 4 calls per account in any 7-day period shall not apply to calls made to: (I) A debt collector by a consumer; (II) A single completed phone call made by a debt collector in response to a consumer's request for a returned phone call; (III) Calls when there is no connection or ability to leave a message; or (IV) Calls made to a wrong number that is not affiliated with the consumer or the consumer's family. (ii) After a completed call between the debt collector and consumer takes place, the debt collector shall not call the consumer back for 7 days unless otherwise requested by the consumer. (iii) The consumer may opt out of receiving phone calls in writing at any time. (iv) For purposes of this subparagraph, a completed phone call means one in which the debt collector engages in a telephone conversation with the consumer. — D.C. Code §28-3814(d)(4)(A) (emphasis added)

Electronic-message cap — §28-3814(d)(4)(B): consent gate + FIVE messages per account per 7 days

(B)(i) Sending text messages, emails, and private messages through social media platforms to a consumer prior to mailing the written notice required pursuant to subsection (m)(2)(A); (ii) After mailing the consumer the written notice required pursuant to subsection (m)(2)(A) of this section, sending text messages, emails, and private messages through social media platforms prior to obtaining a consumer's express consent to communicate via one or more of these methods; except, that a debt collector may send one email, text message, or private message to a consumer in any 7-day period for purposes of obtaining consent to communicate via the method the debt collector is using to communicate; and (iii)(I) After obtaining a consumer's consent, sending more than 5 text messages, emails, and private messages per account in any 7-day period unless otherwise agreed to by the consumer. (II) The limit of 5 … shall not apply to messages or emails sent to a debt collector by a consumer, to messages or emails sent by a debt collector in response to a consumer's request for a response, or to messages or emails sent to a wrong number or email address that is not affiliated with the consumer or the consumer's family. (III) Debt collectors must include opt-out language in all emails, text messages, and private messages, and consumers shall be able to opt-out of receiving communications from debt collectors via text message, email, or private message at any time; — D.C. Code §28-3814(d)(4)(B) (emphasis added)

In-person contact banned outright — §28-3814(d)(5)–(6)

(5) visiting or threatening to visit the household of a consumer at any time for the purpose of collecting a debt, other than for the purpose of serving process in a lawsuit; and (6) visiting or threatening to visit the place of employment of a consumer at any time, other than for the purpose of serving process in a lawsuit. — D.C. Code §28-3814(d)(5)–(6) (emphasis added)

Call-time window — §28-3814(k)

(k) No debt collector or its representatives or agents shall contact consumers by telephone or text message before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. EST or EDT, whichever time zone is in effect. — D.C. Code §28-3814(k)

ANTI-REVIVAL — §28-3814(l)

(l) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, when the applicable statute of limitations period for an action to collect consumer debt has expired, any subsequent payment toward or written or oral affirmation of such consumer debt shall not extend the limitations period. — D.C. Code §28-3814(l) (emphasis added)

Statute of limitations for consumer debt — §28-3814(o): a flat 3 years that overrides everything longer

(o) Any action for the collection of a consumer debt that is commenced on or after September 1, 2021, shall only be commenced within 3 years of accrual. This period shall apply whether the legal basis of the claim sounds in contract, account stated, open account, or other cause, and notwithstanding the provisions of any other statute of limitations unless that statute provides for a shorter limitations period. This time period also applies to contracts under seal. — D.C. Code §28-3814(o) (emphasis added)

Suing on time-barred debt is a prohibited practice — §28-3814(f)(10)

(10) initiating a cause of action to collect a consumer debt when the debt collector knows or reasonably should know that the applicable statute of limitations period has expired; and — D.C. Code §28-3814(f)(10) (emphasis added)

Documentation before collection — §28-3814(m)(1)

(1) Except as provided in paragraph (3) of this subsection, no debt collector shall collect or attempt to collect a consumer debt unless the debt collector has complete documentation of the ownership of the consumer debt, and the debt collector is in possession of or has immediate access to the following information or documents: (A) Documentation of the name of the original creditor as well as the name of the current creditor or owner of the consumer debt; (B) The consumer's last account number with the original creditor; (C)(i) A copy of the signed contract, signed application, or other documents that provide evidence of the consumer's contractual or other liability and the terms thereof. (ii) For a revolving credit account, the most recent monthly statement recording a purchase transaction, last payment, balance transfer, or extension of credit shall be deemed sufficient …; (D) The date that the consumer debt was incurred; except, that in the case of a revolving credit account, the date … shall be the date of the most recent purchase, payment, balance transfer, or last extension of credit; (E) The date and amount of the last payment by the consumer, if applicable; and (F)(i) An itemized accounting of the amount claimed to be owed, including the amount of the principal, any interest, fees, or charges, and whether the charges were imposed by the original creditor, a debt collector, or a subsequent owner of the debt. (ii) If the consumer debt arises from a credit card or revolving credit account that has been charged off, the itemized accounting shall be measured from the charge-off balance and shall include copies of the charge-off statement and the most recent monthly statement … (G) If the consumer debt has been reduced to a judgment, a copy of the judgment as originally issued, complete documentation establishing that the debt collector is the owner of the judgment, and an itemized accounting of the balance due on the judgment. — D.C. Code §28-3814(m)(1)

Critical carve-out:

(3) The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to original creditors collecting or attempting to collect their own debt. — D.C. Code §28-3814(m)(3) (emphasis added)

Mandatory first-communication notice + 15-day cease clock — §28-3814(m)(2)

Required in "the first written communication with the consumer regarding charged-off debt," in boldface, minimum 12-point type, reciting the consumer's right to request each (m)(1) item, and closing with an exempt-funds warning:

"You might have income or resources that are protected from being taken by debt collectors. These might include certain sources of income, funds, or property, including, but not limited to, Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), disability or unemployment benefits, veteran's benefits, or child support payments. If you believe your property or income may be protected, you may wish to seek legal advice, including at a legal services provider or legal aid office, before paying this debt.". — D.C. Code §28-3814(m)(2)(A)

(C) The written notice … shall be provided to the consumer in English and Spanish; except, that if a language other than Spanish is principally used in the original contract with the consumer or by the debt collector in the initial oral communication with the consumer, notice … shall be provided to the consumer in that language and English. (D) Upon receipt of the first request by a consumer for any of the information identified in paragraph (1) …, the debt collector shall send all of the information listed in paragraph (1) … to the consumer in writing within 15 days of the receipt of the request and shall cease all collection of the consumer debt until such information is provided. — D.C. Code §28-3814(m)(2)(C)–(D) (emphasis added)

Payment plans must be papered within 7 days — §28-3814(n)

(1) A debt collector who enters into a payment schedule or an agreement on terms to resolve consumer debt shall send a written copy of the payment schedule or settlement agreement to the consumer within 7 days. (2) A consumer shall not be required to make a payment on a payment schedule or agreement … until the written agreement required by paragraph (1) … has been provided by the debt collector. … — D.C. Code §28-3814(n) (emphasis added)

Litigation gates — §28-3814(p)–(t)

• (p) Before suing, the plaintiff must reasonably investigate the defendant's current address, and file with the proof of service a time-stamped photograph and readable GPS coordinates of the service.
• (q) The complaint must attach the signed contract/application and plead the (m)(1) information, the basis for interest, fees and attorney's fees, the full chain of title with dates beginning with the original creditor, and an affirmative statement "(6) That the suit is filed within the applicable statute of limitations period," plus the boldface exempt-funds notice with current legal-services phone numbers published by the Superior Court.
• (r) Before default/summary judgment or at trial, the only sufficient evidence of amount and nature is authenticated business records covering the (m)(1) items.
• (s) A debt buyer must additionally file an account-specific affidavit from the original creditor, an affidavit of sale for each assignment, and a chain-of-title affidavit.

(t)(1) In a cause of action initiated by a debt collector to collect a consumer debt, the court shall, on its own, prior to entering a judgment, review whether the plaintiff has complied with the requirements of subsections (o) through (s) of this section. If the plaintiff has not complied, the court may dismiss the case; provided, that the court shall dismiss the case with prejudice for substantial or willful noncompliance. (2) A defendant may raise any violation of this section as a defense. … — D.C. Code §28-3814(t) (emphasis added)

Remedies — §28-3814(u), (v)

(u) A debt collector that violates any provision of this section with respect to a consumer may be liable to the consumer for the following: (1) Actual damages; (2) Costs and reasonable attorney's fees; (3) Punitive damages; (4)(A) If the consumer is an individual, the court may award an additional penalty in an amount not less than $500 per violation and not to exceed $4,000 per violation; or (B) In the case of a class action, the amount for each named plaintiff as could be recovered under subparagraph (A) … and an amount as the court may determine for each class member …; and (5) Any other relief that the court determines proper. — D.C. Code §28-3814(u) (emphasis added)

(v) If the plaintiff is the prevailing party in any action to collect a consumer debt, the plaintiff shall be entitled to collect attorney's fees only if the contract or other document evidencing the indebtedness sets forth an obligation of the consumer to pay such attorney's fees … (1) If the contract … provides for attorney's fees in some specific percentage, such provision … shall be valid and enforceable up to but not in excess of 15% of the amount of the consumer debt … — D.C. Code §28-3814(v) (emphasis added)

FDCPA incorporation and the no-jail rule — §28-3814(y), (z)

(y) Notwithstanding any other law or court rule, no person shall be imprisoned or jailed for failure to pay a consumer debt, nor shall any person be imprisoned or jailed for contempt of court or otherwise for failure to comply with a court order to pay a consumer debt in part or in full. (z) A violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act … shall constitute a violation of this section. — D.C. Code §28-3814(y)–(z) (emphasis added)

§28-3814(w) additionally bars a bench warrant for civil arrest in a debt case unless the motion was personally served and the defendant failed to appear at 2 contempt hearings.

Public-health-emergency suspension + tolling — §28-3814(aa), (bb)

These two subsections reach all consumer debt, overriding the (a) carve-outs:

(aa)(1) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, subsections (aa) and (bb) of this section shall apply to any consumer debt. (2) During a public health emergency and for 60 days after its conclusion, no debt collector shall … (A) Initiate, file, or threaten to file any new collection lawsuit; (B) Initiate, threaten to initiate, or act upon any statutory remedy for the garnishment, seizure, attachment, or withholding of wages, earnings, property, or funds …; or (C) … repossession of any vehicle …; (D) Confront or communicate in person with a consumer … in any public place at any time, unless initiated by the consumer. (4) Any statute of limitations on any collection lawsuit is tolled during the duration of the public health emergency and for 60 days thereafter. — D.C. Code §28-3814(aa) (emphasis added)

(bb)(1)(A) During a public health emergency and for 60 days after its conclusion, no debt collector shall initiate any communication with a consumer via any written or electronic communication, including email, text message, or telephone. … (2) This subsection shall not apply to: … (B) Original creditors collecting or attempting to collect their own consumer debt; … — D.C. Code §28-3814(bb)

General limitations statute — §12-301 (the non-consumer baseline)

Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, actions for the following purposes may not be brought after the expiration of the period specified below from the time the right to maintain the action accrues: … (6) on an executor's or administrator's bond— 5 years; on any other bond or single bill, covenant, or other instrument under seal— 12 years; (7) on a simple contract, express or implied— 3 years; (8) for which a limitation is not otherwise specially prescribed— 3 years; … — D.C. Code §12-301(a) (emphasis added)

§12-301 draws no written/oral distinction — "simple contract, express or implied" is one 3-year bucket covering both.

Negotiable instruments — §28:3-118 (6 years, but see §28-3814(o))

(a) Except as provided in subsection (e) of this section, an action to enforce the obligation of a party to pay a note payable at a definite time must be commenced within 6 years after the due date or dates stated in the note, or, if a due date is accelerated, within 6 years after the accelerated due date. (b) … if demand for payment is made to the maker of a note payable on demand, an action … must be commenced within 6 years after the demand. If no demand for payment is made to the maker, an action to enforce the note is barred if neither principal nor interest on the note has been paid for a continuous period of 10 years. — D.C. Code §28:3-118(a)–(b) (D.C. Law 10-249, eff. Mar. 23, 1995) (emphasis added)

§28:3-118(c)–(g) follow the uniform pattern: unaccepted drafts 3 years from dishonor or 10 years from date, whichever first; certified/teller's/cashier's/traveler's checks 3 years from demand; certificates of deposit 6 years from demand; accepted drafts 6 years; conversion/warranty/residual Article 3 claims 3 years.

Tolling — §§12-302, 12-303

(a) … when a person entitled to maintain an action is, at the time the right of action accrues: (1) under 18 years of age; or (2) non compos mentis; or (3) imprisoned — he or his proper representative may bring action within the time limited after the disability is removed. — D.C. Code §12-302(a)

(a) When a person who is a resident of the District of Columbia is out of the District or has absconded or concealed himself at the time a cause of action accrues against him, the period limited for the bringing of the action does not begin to run until he comes into the District or while he is so absconded or concealed. (b) When such a person absconds or conceals himself after the cause of action accrues, the time of his absence or concealment may not be computed as a part of the period within which the action must be brought. — D.C. Code §12-303 (emphasis added)

§12-303 is expressly limited to a person who is a resident of the District — it is an absconding/concealment rule, not a general out-of-state tolling rule against nonresident debtors.

CPPA complaint tolling:

The filing of a complaint with the Department shall toll the periods for limitation of time for bringing an action as set out in section 12-301 until the complaint has been resolved … — D.C. Code §28-3905(a) (emphasis added)

Judgments — §15-101

… is enforceable, by execution issued thereon, for the period of twelve years only from the date when an execution might first be issued thereon, or from the date of the last order of revival thereof. … (b) At the expiration of the twelve-year period …, the judgment or decree shall cease to have any operation or effect. Thereafter, except in the case of a proceeding that may be then pending …, action may not be brought on it, nor may it be revived, and execution may not issue on it. — D.C. Code §15-101 (emphasis added)

A revival order under §15-103 extends the judgment another 12 years — but only if entered within the running 12-year window; §15-101(b) makes expiry absolute.

AG enforcement and the CPPA private action — §§28-3909, 28-3905(k)

§28-3909(a) names §28-3814 in the AG's injunction list:

… if the Attorney General for the District of Columbia has reason to believe that any person is using or intends to use any method, act, or practice in violation of section 28-3803, … 28-3814, … the Attorney General, in the name of the District of Columbia, may bring an action in the Superior Court … to obtain a temporary or permanent injunction … and requiring the violator to take affirmative action, including the restitution of money or property. … (b) … the Attorney General … may recover: (1) From a merchant who engaged in a first violation of section … 28-3814 …, a civil penalty of not more than $5,000 for each violation; (2) From a merchant who … subsequently repeats the same violation, a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each subsequent violation; (3) Economic damages; and (4) The costs of the action and reasonable attorneys' fees. — D.C. Code §28-3909(a)–(b) (emphasis added)

(k)(1)(A) A consumer may bring an action seeking relief from the use of a trade practice in violation of a law of the District. (2) Any claim under this chapter shall be brought in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and may recover or obtain the following remedies: (A)(i) Treble damages, or $1,500 per violation, whichever is greater, payable to the consumer; (B) Reasonable attorney's fees; (C) Punitive damages; (D) An injunction … — D.C. Code §28-3905(k) (emphasis added)

Entry gate — there is no D.C. debt-collector license

Finding: the District licenses no debt collector, collection agency, or debt buyer as such. How that negative was established (a negative is only as good as its search):

1. Full-text search of the Council's own official XML corpus (github.com/DCCouncil/law-xml, pushed 2026-08-10) shows the terms "debt collector" and "debt buyer" appear in the entire D.C. Code only in §28-3814. No licensing chapter uses them.
2. Title 26 (Banks and Other Financial Institutions — the DISB banking code), fetched live, has chapters for Check Cashers (ch. 3), Money Lenders (ch. 9), Money Transmissions (ch. 10), Mortgage Lenders and Brokers (ch. 11) and others — no collection-agency chapter.
3. §47-2851.03, fetched live, lists the eleven basic-business-license categories (Beauty and grooming; Charitable; Contractor and construction; Entertainment; Environmental; Food; General sales and services; Health; Housing and lodging; Public safety; Vehicular) — none is a collection-agency category.
4. Every "collection agency" hit in Title 47 is the District itself contracting a collector for delinquent taxes (§§47-813, 47-850.02, 47-863, 47-4405), not a licensing provision.

What remains is the general Basic Business License:

(a) A person which is required under law to obtain a license issued in the form of an endorsement to engage in a business in the District of Columbia shall not engage in such business in the District of Columbia without having first obtained a basic business license and any necessary endorsements … (b) A license shall be required for each business location. — D.C. Code §47-2851.02

DLCP's official General Business license page lists that category's activities as "Advertising, Commercial Building/Office Rental or Leasing, Consulting, Document Preparation Services, … Portfolio Management, … Other (Select Applicable NAICS Code)," priced at $49 (6 months) / $99 (2 years) / $198 (4 years). A collection agency operating from a D.C. location falls in this residual bucket rather than any collection-specific endorsement.

UNVERIFIED — bond. Compliance vendors variously claim a D.C. collection-agency license with a "$25,000" or "$5,000" surety bond. No such bond or license appears anywhere in the D.C. Code, and no official D.C. source was located supporting either figure. Treat the vendor figures as wrong until an official DISB/DLCP page says otherwise. UNVERIFIED — exact BBL endorsement for an out-of-District collector with no D.C. business location: DLCP's official pages do not resolve it. Confirm with DLCP before relying on either point.

FLAGGED — enacted but not yet in force

Medical Debt Mitigation Amendment Act of 2026 (D.C. Act 26-365)

Enacted 2026-07-02 (Bill 26-438, 73 DCR 9402); projected effective 2026-09-18, pending the 30-day congressional review. The official act page states the law is "not yet codified" because it is "not yet effective as law." It adds a new §28-3814(dd):

(dd)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a health care provider or debt collector shall not engage in medical debt collection until 180 days after the date the consumer receives the first posted medical bill and shall provide at least 90 days' notice to the patient before commencing medical debt collection; … (2) Interest on medical debt shall not exceed 3% annually; except, that a debt collector shall not charge any interest on medical debt related to services received at a health care facility-FAP if the patient is receiving financial assistance and has not defaulted. (4)(A) A health care provider or debt collector who knows or should have known about an appeal of a health insurance decision that is pending or was pending within the previous 90 days … shall not: (i) Communicate with the patient regarding the unpaid charges …; (ii) Initiate a lawsuit or arbitration proceeding …; or (iii) Refer, sell, or send the medical debt to a debt buyer. (5) A health care provider or debt collector collecting on medical debt shall not: (A) File a property lien against a patient's primary residence, or (B) Garnish the wages of a patient with an annual household income less than 500% of the federal poverty level. (6)(A) A health care provider or debt collector shall not report to a consumer reporting agency the amount or existence of any medical debt that a patient owes. — D.C. Act 26-365, §3 (adding D.C. Code §28-3814(dd)) (emphasis added)

The act also adds a new §28-3820 (medical lending products), adds §28-3820 to the AG's §28-3909(a) list, caps hospital accident liens at 33% of the award (§40-201), and amends §15-103 so that "an order of revival shall not be granted for a judgment or decree to enforce the collection of medical debt."

⚠ Do not code to this yet — two gates, not one. Beyond congressional review, §6 of the act is a D.C. subject-to-appropriations clause: "This act shall apply 6 months after the date of inclusion of its fiscal effect in an approved budget and financial plan," with the CFO certifying that date. So the operative date is at least six months after funding, and no certification has been located as of 2026-08-12. Its effective date and its applicability date are different things.

Fair Housing Practices Amendment Act of 2026 (D.C. Act 26-342)

Enacted 2026-07-02, projected effective 2026-09-04. Adds §42-3502.17(e): on termination of a tenancy the housing provider must notify the former tenant of alleged unpaid amounts within 45 days, with supporting photographs/documentation and a statement of the right to dispute; the tenant gets 30 days to dispute and the provider must respond within 10 days; and the provider must keep documentation that the tenant was served at least 60 days prior to sending the unpaid amount to a debt collector, as defined in D.C. Official Code §28-3814(b)(5). Same appropriations caveat class — verify applicability before relying on it.

Lapsed public-utility carve-outs — a live gap

The Council passed four temporary/emergency "Technical Clarification" acts (D.C. Act 25-32 and D.C. Law 25-5 in 2023; D.C. Act 25-388 and D.C. Law 25-157 in 2024) that would have defined "public utility" in §28-3814(b), applied the section to utilities as of May 2, 2023, and carved utility disconnection-notice visits out of (d)(5). All were temporary and have lapsed; the current permanent §28-3814 contains no "public utility" definition (verified: zero occurrences in the live section text). Utilities collecting past-due consumer accounts in D.C. are therefore inside §28-3814 with no carve-out. Watch for a permanent enactment.

Plain English

Interpretation — the quotes above win on any conflict.

• D.C. is the strictest jurisdiction in this compilation, and §28-3814 is nearly the whole story. One section carries scope, conduct, frequency, documentation, pleading, evidence, SOL, and anti-revival.
• First parties are fully covered. "Debt collector" is defined to include original creditors and debt buyers (§28-3814(b)(5)). Only three things exempt an original creditor: the (m) documentation regime (§28-3814(m)(3)), the (bb) public-health-emergency communication ban (§28-3814(bb)(2)(B)), and the debt-buyer-specific affidavits in (s). Everything else — the 4-call cap, the 8am–9pm window, the anti-revival rule, the 3-year SOL, the pleading rules, the $500–$4,000 penalties — binds them.
• The call cap is 4 per account per 7 days, not 3. The widely repeated "3 calls in 7 days" figure comes from press coverage of the bill; the enacted text says 4. Counting is per account, aggregated across every phone number the collector holds for the consumer. On top of that, a completed conversation triggers an absolute 7-day no-call lockout unless the consumer asks otherwise.
• Electronic messages have their own regime: no texts/emails/DMs at all before the (m)(2)(A) notice is mailed; after that, one message per 7 days solely to obtain consent; after consent, 5 per account per 7 days; opt-out language required in every message.
• No home or workplace visits, ever — the only exception is service of process.
• The SOL is a flat 3 years for consumer debt and it eats the longer statutes. §28-3814(o) reaches "contract, account stated, open account, or other cause," expressly covers contracts under seal (displacing §12-301(6)'s 12 years), and yields only to a shorter statute. So the 6-year note period in §28:3-118 does not apply to a consumer note — 3 years does. §28:3-118's 6 years survives only for non-consumer instruments.
• Nothing revives an expired consumer debt. §28-3814(l) is not merely a conduct rule: it opens "Notwithstanding any other provision of law" and states the limitations period "shall not extend." Payment, written affirmation, and oral affirmation are all named and all ineffective — and unlike Texas, the rule has no holder limitation.
• Suing (or documenting) is a much higher bar than elsewhere: chain of title pleaded with dates, contract attached, itemization from the charge-off balance, GPS-and-photograph proof of service, and a court obligated to police compliance sua sponte with mandatory dismissal with prejudice for substantial or willful noncompliance.
• Exposure is real: $500–$4,000 per violation plus punitive damages and fees under §28-3814(u); CPPA treble-or-$1,500-per-violation under §28-3905(k); AG penalties of $5,000/$10,000 per violation under §28-3909.

Traps / edge cases

• The "3 calls" myth. Verify against §28-3814(d)(4)(A)(i): it is 4. Building a counter to 3 is not conservative, it is wrong — and building to 7 (Reg F) is a violation.
• Per-account, not per-consumer. The 4-call cap is "per account, inclusive of all phone numbers" — a consumer with three placed accounts can lawfully receive 12 calls in 7 days, but a single account cannot be dialed 5 times even across 5 different numbers. The message cap (5) is likewise per account.
• The 7-day conversation lockout is separate from the cap. One completed conversation on day 1 blocks calling until day 8 even if only one call has been made that week.
• "More than 30 days past due" gates the whole section. A pre-delinquency or 15-days-late account is not "consumer debt" under (b)(2), so §28-3814 does not yet apply — including its call cap.
• The 3-year SOL runs from accrual, and §28-3814(o) does not define accrual. The statute is silent on whether a revolving account accrues at default, charge-off, or last payment. Note the tension with (m)(1)(D), which for a revolving account fixes the date the debt was "incurred" as the date of the most recent purchase, payment, balance transfer, or extension of credit — that is a documentation rule, not an accrual rule. UNVERIFIED: attorney review before modelling accrual.
• (o) covers actions "commenced on or after September 1, 2021" — it is framed by filing date, not by when the debt arose, and it displaced the older 3-year §12-301(7) analysis for consumer claims.
• Sealed instruments lose their 12 years for consumer debt only. §12-301(6) still gives 12 years for a non-consumer sealed instrument.
• §28-3814(l) is scoped to "consumer debt," so it does not reach the (a) exclusions — a loan directly secured on real estate, or a direct motor vehicle installment loan under Chapter 36. Revival for those is not addressed by any D.C. statute located.
• No D.C. statute governs what restarts a live clock. §28-3814(l) speaks only to the post-expiry case. Full-text search of the official corpus found no D.C. acknowledgment/new-promise/part-payment statute (compare Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §16.065). Pre-expiry restart in D.C. is case law. UNVERIFIED — do not model pre-expiry restart as automatic.
• No borrowing statute located in the D.C. Code by full-text search. D.C. choice-of-law for limitations is case law and out of scope for this page.
• §12-303 only tolls against D.C. residents who are out of the District or concealing themselves — it is not a general tolling rule for out-of-state debtors.
• Public-health-emergency tolling is real (§28-3814(aa)(4)) and reaches any consumer debt notwithstanding the (a) carve-outs. Any D.C. SOL computation spanning a declared emergency needs that window added.
• FDCPA violations are automatically §28-3814 violations (§28-3814(z)) — which means a federal foot-fault also unlocks the $500–$4,000 D.C. penalty and D.C. attorney's fees.
• Attorney's fees are capped at 15% of the debt (§28-3814(v)), above which a fee application with itemized time entries is required, and never in Small Claims.
• The bulk-corpus staleness trap described in the verification note above — the repo's title tree served pre-2022 §28-3814 text and a pre-amendment §28-3909. Anyone re-verifying this page from law-xml must read Title 99, or better, the live site.

Related

• ../federal/reg-f/call-frequency.md — D.C.'s 4-per-account cap is stricter than the 7-in-7 presumption
• ../federal/reg-f/time-barred-debt.md
• ../federal/fdcpa/overview.md — incorporated wholesale by §28-3814(z)
• ./tx.md — contrast: Texas's no-revival rule is debt-buyer-only; D.C.'s binds every holder
• ./ny.md · ./ma.md · ./_matrix.md