Massachusetts — AGO 940 CMR 7.00, DOB licensing + 209 CMR 18.00, c. 93 §49, SOL

Authority

Two regulators, layered:

1. Attorney General (AGO) — 940 CMR 7.00 Debt Collection Regulations, issued under G.L. c. 93A §2(c). Defines unfair/deceptive collection acts and applies to "creditors" broadly — including first-party creditors and debt buyers. Home of the strictest call-frequency rule in the US (2-in-7). Statutory companion: G.L. c. 93 §49 (unfair collection by creditors = c. 93A violation).
2. Division of Banks (DOB) — G.L. c. 93 §§24–28 (debt collector licensing + bond) and 209 CMR 18.00 (conduct rules for licensed debt collectors, student loan servicers, and third-party loan servicers) — comprehensively amended effective September 26, 2025 to incorporate Reg F, while keeping the Massachusetts 2-in-7 call cap.

SOL: G.L. c. 260 §2 — 6 years on contract.

Verification note: mass.gov and sec.state.ma.us block automated fetching (WAF), so the two CMR texts were verified against Internet Archive captures of the official mass.gov PDFs: 940 CMR 7.00 captured 2026-01-08 (text confirmed identical to the official 2017-09-13 mass.gov copy — the regulation is unchanged over that whole span); 209 CMR 18.00 "Final Amendments — Effective 9/26/25" captured 2025-09-13. Statute text is direct from malegislature.gov. UNVERIFIED item: the promulgation date of the current 940 CMR 7.00 version (commonly cited as the March 2, 2012 amendments) could not be confirmed against the Massachusetts Register — the text is verified; the date label is not. Re-verify both CMRs against live mass.gov when a browser session is available.

Operative text

DOB licensing — G.L. c. 93 §24A, bond §25, penalties §28

Section 24A. (a) No person shall directly or indirectly engage in the commonwealth in the business of a debt collector, or engage in the commonwealth in soliciting the right to collect or receive payment for another of an account, bill or other indebtedness, or advertise for or solicit in print the right to collect or receive payment for another of an account, bill or other indebtedness, without first obtaining from the commissioner a license to carry on the business, nor unless the person or the person for whom he or it may be acting as agent has on file with the state treasurer a good and sufficient bond. (b) A person shall not directly or indirectly engage in the commonwealth in the business of a third party loan servicer without registering with the commissioner. … (d) The commissioner may from time to time establish regulations pertaining to the conduct of the business of a debt collector or a third party loan servicer as he considers necessary. — G.L. c. 93 §24A ("commissioner" = commissioner of banks, §24)

Section 25. The bond required under section 24 shall run to the state treasurer and shall cover an indeterminate period but it may be cancelled at any time as provided in section 26. The bond shall be in the sum of $25,000. … — G.L. c. 93 §25

Whoever fails to comply with any provision of this section or sections twenty-four to twenty-seven, inclusive, or any regulation promulgated in accordance with the provisions of section twenty-four, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than three months, or both. Failure to comply … shall constitute an unfair or deceptive act or practice under the provisions of paragraph (a) of section two of chapter ninety-three A. — G.L. c. 93 §28

§24's "debt collector" definition tracks the FDCPA (business whose principal purpose is debt collection, or who regularly collects debts "owed or due … another", plus security-interest enforcers), with FDCPA-style exclusions including "(a) an officer or employee of a creditor while, in the name of the creditor, collecting debts for the creditor" and "(g) attorneys-at-law collecting a debt on behalf of a client."

DOB conduct — 209 CMR 18.00 (as amended eff. 2025-09-26)

The amended regulation adopts Reg F wholesale ("Compliance with 12 CFR 1006.x constitutes compliance with 209 CMR 18.x") except it overrides the federal 7-in-7 with the Massachusetts 2-in-7:

18.14: Harassing, Oppressive, or Abusive Conduct – Debt Collection Compliance with 12 CFR 1006.14 constitutes compliance with 209 CMR 18.14; provided, however, that, for purposes of compliance with 209 CMR 18.14, a debt collector may not place a telephone call to a consumer in connection with a particular debt in excess of two calls in a seven-day period; nor within a period of seven consecutive days after having had a telephone conversation with the person in connection with the debt. — 209 CMR 18.14 (eff. 2025-09-26)

Coverage of licensing-exempt entities:

(2) Coverage. (a) Persons exempt from the licensing and registration provisions pursuant to M.G.L. c. 93, § 24A(c) who conduct the business of a debt collector or third party loan servicer as defined in 209 CMR 18.02, shall be subject to the provisions governing fair debt collection and third party loan servicing practices at 209 CMR 18.06, 209 CMR 18.10 through 18.22, 18.30(3), 18.30(6), 18.34, 18.38, 18.40, and 18.41 … — 209 CMR 18.01(2)(a) (eff. 2025-09-26)

Time-barred debt: "Compliance with 12 CFR 1006.26 constitutes compliance with 209 CMR 18.26." (209 CMR 18.26.)

AGO regulations — 940 CMR 7.00 (applies to creditors, incl. first-party)

Scope/definitions (7.02–7.03):

7.02: Scope — 940 CMR 7.00 applies only to the collection of debts, as defined in 940 CMR 7.00, and no conduct which is not the collection of debts or any part thereof is affected. — 940 CMR 7.02

Creditor means any person and his or her agents, servants, employees, or attorneys engaged in collecting a debt owed or alleged to be owed to him or her by a debtor and shall also include a buyer of delinquent debt who hires a third party or an attorney to collect such debt … — 940 CMR 7.03 (definition of "Creditor")

THE call-frequency rule — 940 CMR 7.04(1)(f) (2 in 7, per debt):

(1) It shall constitute an unfair or deceptive act or practice for a creditor to contact a debtor in any of the following ways: … (f) Initiating a communication with any debtor via telephone, either in person or via text messaging or recorded audio message, in excess of two such communications in each seven-day period to either the debtor's residence, cellular telephone, or other telephone number provided by the debtor as his or her personal telephone number and two such communications in each 30-day period other than at a debtor's residence, cellular telephone, or other telephone number provided by the debtor as his or her personal telephone number, for each debt, provided that for purposes of 940 CMR 7.04(1)(f), a creditor may treat any billing address of the debtor as his or her place of residence, and provided further, that a creditor shall not be deemed to have initiated a communication with a debtor if the communication by the creditor is in response to a request made by the debtor for said communication; — 940 CMR 7.04(1)(f)

Call times:

(g) Placing telephone calls at times known to be times other than the normal waking hours of a debtor, or if normal waking hours are not known, at any time other than between 8:00 A.M. and 9:00 P.M. eastern time; — 940 CMR 7.04(1)(g)

Workplace rules:

(h) Placing any telephone calls to the debtor's place of employment if the debtor has made a written or oral request that such telephone calls not be made at the place of employment, provided, that any oral request shall be valid for only ten days unless the debtor provides written confirmation postmarked or delivered within seven days of such request. A debtor may at any time terminate such a request by written communication to the creditor; (i) Failing to send the debtor the following notice in writing within 30 days after the first communication to a debtor at his or her place of employment regarding any debt, provided that a copy of the notice shall be sent every six months thereafter so long as collection activity by the creditor on the debt continues … "NOTICE OF IMPORTANT RIGHTS — YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE A WRITTEN OR ORAL REQUEST THAT TELEPHONE CALLS REGARDING YOUR DEBT NOT BE MADE TO YOU AT YOUR PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT. …" — 940 CMR 7.04(1)(h)–(i)

Home visits are capped too: "in no event shall such visits, initiated by the creditor, exceed one in any 30-day period for each debt" (940 CMR 7.04(1)(j)).

Time-barred debt disclosure (creditors):

(24) Collecting or attempting to collect from any person payment of any debt that the creditor knows, or has reason to know based on a good faith determination, is a time-barred debt, or seeking or obtaining from any person an admission, affirmation, acknowledgement of a new promise to pay, or any waiver of legal rights or defenses with regard to any debt that the creditor knows or has reason to know is a time-barred debt, unless the creditor discloses that the debt may be unenforceable through a lawsuit … [safe-harbor text:] "WE ARE REQUIRED BY REGULATION OF THE MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL TO NOTIFY YOU OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION. THIS INFORMATION IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE: THIS DEBT MAY BE TOO OLD FOR YOU TO BE SUED ON IT IN COURT. …" — 940 CMR 7.07(24) (written: min 8-point type, front page; oral: immediately before/after first payment request)

Validation by creditors (stricter trigger than federal):

(1) It shall constitute an unfair or deceptive act or practice for a creditor to fail to provide to a debtor or an attorney for a debtor the following within five business days after the initial communication with a debtor in connection with the collection of a debt … (c) A statement that unless the debtor, within 30 days after receipt of the notice, disputes the validity of the debt … (d) … the creditor will obtain verification of the debt … (2) If the debtor … notifies the creditor in writing within the 30-day period … the creditor shall cease collection of the debt, or any disputed portion thereof, until the creditor verifies the debt and provides the debtor … [documents bearing the debtor's signature; a ledger/account statement of payments, credits, balances, charges; name and address of the original creditor; any judgment] — 940 CMR 7.08(1)–(2)

Creditor UDAP statute — G.L. c. 93 §49

Section 49. No one who is a creditor or an attorney for a creditor, or an assignee of a creditor, of a natural person present or residing in Massachusetts who has incurred a debt primarily for personal, family or household purposes shall collect or attempt to collect such debt in an unfair, deceptive or unreasonable manner. … (c) The creditor communicates with the alleged debtor in such a manner as to harass or embarrass the alleged debtor, including, but not limited to communication at an unreasonable hour, with unreasonable frequency, by threats of violence, by use of offensive language, or by threats of any action which the creditor in the usual course of business does not in fact take. … Failure to comply with the provisions of this section shall constitute an unfair or deceptive act or practice under the provisions of chapter ninety-three A. — G.L. c. 93 §49

Statute of limitations — G.L. c. 260 §2

Section 2. Actions of contract, other than those to recover for personal injuries, founded upon contracts or liabilities, express or implied, except actions limited by section one or actions upon judgments or decrees of courts of record of the United States or of this or of any other state of the United States, shall, except as otherwise provided, be commenced only within six years next after the cause of action accrues. — G.L. c. 260 §2

Promissory notes — G.L. c. 106 §3-118 (6 years, same as c. 260 §2)

(This subsection and the revival subsection below added 2026-08-12, fetched directly from malegislature.gov — the statute site, unlike mass.gov, does not block automated fetch. The rest of this page carries the 2026-07-03 last_verified date.)

Massachusetts adopted Revised UCC Article 3, so notes have their own period — which happens to match the six-year contract period, so MA has no note/contract split to model:

Section 3–118. (a) Except as provided in subsection (e), an action to enforce the obligation of a party to pay a note payable at a definite time must be commenced within six years after the due date or dates stated in the note or, if a due date is accelerated, within six years after the accelerated due date. (b) Except as provided in subsection (d) or (e), if demand for payment is made to the maker of a note payable on demand, an action to enforce the obligation of a party to pay the note must be commenced within six 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 ten years. — G.L. c. 106 §3-118(a)–(b)

Demand notes: no clock until demand, then six years from the demand, with an absolute 10-year no-payment backstop. §3-118(c)–(g) give the usual shorter periods for drafts (3 years from dishonor or 10 years from the date of the draft, whichever expires first), certified/teller's/cashier's/traveler's checks (3 years from demand), certificates of deposit (6 years from demand), accepted drafts (6 years), and conversion/warranty/residual Article 3 claims (3 years from accrual).

Revival — G.L. c. 260 §§13–14 (the cite behind "payment revives in MA")

Acknowledgment or new promise must be in a signed writing:

Section 13. No acknowledgment or promise shall be evidence of a new or continuing contract whereby to take an action of contract out of the operation of this chapter or to deprive a party of the benefit thereof, unless such acknowledgment or promise has been made by, or is contained in, a writing signed by the party chargeable thereby. — G.L. c. 260 §13 ("Acknowledgment or new promise; effect")

Part payment is expressly carved out of that writing requirement:

Section 14. The preceding section shall not alter or impair the effect of a payment of principal or interest made by any person; but no endorsement or memorandum of any such payment, written or made upon a promissory note, bill of exchange or other writing by or on behalf of the party to whom such payment has been or purports to have been made, shall be sufficient proof of the payment to take the case out of the provisions of this chapter. — G.L. c. 260 §14 ("Part payment; effect")

Plain English (interpretation — the quotes win). This is the statutory basis for the page's "payments can revive the SOL in MA" statement, and it is a preservation, not a codification:

• Acknowledgment / new promise: signed writing only (§13). An oral admission or a recorded call does not restart a Massachusetts period.
• Part payment: exempt from the writing rule (§14, first clause). §14 is what makes MA the mirror image of CA/FL/TX-debt-buyer — but note what it does and does not say. It preserves "the effect of a payment," and leaves the content of that effect to common law. UNVERIFIED: no Massachusetts statute states that a part payment restarts or revives the period; §14 only declines to abolish whatever effect payment has. The revival rule itself is case law — attorney review before any automatic re-aging, and do not present it in a public tool as a statutory rule.
• Proof limit that cuts against the collector (§14, second clause): the creditor's own endorsement or memorandum of the payment — including one written on the note itself — is not sufficient proof of the payment. A ledger entry or a note annotation created by the holder cannot, by itself, carry a §14 revival argument; independent evidence of the payment is needed. This is a real evidentiary trap for debt-buyer files reconstructed from seller data.

Plain English

Interpretation — the quotes above win on any conflict.

• Two overlapping regimes. Third-party agencies need a DOB license + $25,000 bond and follow 209 CMR 18 (now ≈ Reg F + MA 2-in-7). Creditors (first-party, and debt buyers using third parties/attorneys) are covered by the AGO's 940 CMR 7.00 and c. 93 §49. An agency collecting as the creditor's agent sits inside the 940 CMR 7.03 "creditor" definition too — in practice both rulebooks bind collection work in MA.
• The 2-in-7 rule: no more than two collector-initiated telephone contacts (calls, texts, or recorded messages) per 7-day period, per debt, at the debtor's residence/cell/personal number — plus max two per 30 days at any other number (e.g., workplace). Debtor-requested calls don't count. 209 CMR 18.14 (2025) states it for licensees as: max two calls in 7 days, and no call within 7 consecutive days after a telephone conversation about the debt.
• This is far stricter than Reg F's 7-calls-in-7-days presumption — for MA debtors the operative limit is 2, not 7, and the count includes text messages under 940 CMR 7.04(1)(f).
• Call window: normal waking hours, defaulting to 8:00am–9:00pm Eastern — same clock as federal, but note it's pinned to eastern time / known waking hours, not "consumer location convenience."
• Time-barred debt: collecting on it is prohibited unless the prescribed disclosure is given (940 CMR 7.07(24)); payments can revive the SOL in MA — which is exactly what the mandated notice warns about. The statutory hooks are G.L. c. 260 §13 (acknowledgment/new promise needs a signed writing) and §14 (part payment is exempt from that writing rule, though the revival rule itself is common law — see the revival subsection). Licensed collectors also get Reg F §1006.26's no-suit rule via 209 CMR 18.26.
• Validation: MA requires validation-style notice within 5 business days of initial communication and full documentary verification (signed docs + ledger) on written dispute — and this applies to creditors, not just agencies.
• SOL on contract debt: 6 years.

Traps / edge cases

• Per-debt counting: 2-in-7 counts per debt, not per consumer — but multiple debts don't multiply workplace/other-number contacts past 2-in-30 per debt either. Texts and ringless/recorded messages count as telephone communications; an unanswered call still counts as an initiated communication (the reg says "initiating a communication," not "conversation").
• 209 CMR 18.14's second clause adds a cooling-off: after an actual telephone conversation about the debt, a licensee may not call again for 7 consecutive days.
• The workplace "NOTICE OF IMPORTANT RIGHTS" must be re-sent every six months while collection continues (940 CMR 7.04(1)(i)) — a recurring scheduled obligation, easy to miss.
• Oral stop-work-calls requests expire after 10 days without written confirmation (7.04(1)(h)).
• The 940 CMR 7.08 verification duty requires producing signature documents and an itemized ledger; if the creditor can't obtain them after reasonable efforts, collection stays ceased.
• Amendment watch: the 2023–2025 Massachusetts rulemaking activity was the DOB's (209 CMR 18, finalized eff. 2025-09-26). No finalized amendment to the AGO's 940 CMR 7.00 was found as of 2026-07-03 (text unchanged 2017→2026); treat law-firm claims of "new MA AGO rules" against that baseline.

Related

• ../federal/reg-f/call-frequency.md
• ../federal/reg-f/time-barred-debt.md
• ../federal/fdcpa/overview.md
• ./ca.md · ./ny.md · ./tx.md · ./fl.md · ./_matrix.md