Pennsylvania — Fair Credit Extension Uniformity Act + SOL (42 Pa.C.S. ch. 55)

Authority

Pennsylvania has no collection-agency licensing statute and no debt-collection regulations. The entire state layer is one short act: the Fair Credit Extension Uniformity Act (FCEUA), Act of Mar. 28, 2000, P.L.23, No.7. It does two things — §4(a) makes any FDCPA violation by a debt collector a state violation, and §4(b) writes a parallel (and freestanding) rulebook for creditors, who are outside the FDCPA. §5(a) routes every FCEUA violation into the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (UTPCPL), Act of Dec. 17, 1968, P.L.1224, No.387, which supplies the remedies: AG/District Attorney injunctions and civil penalties, plus a consumer private action with treble-damage discretion.

The FCEUA also repealed the Attorney General's debt-collection regulations (37 Pa. Code ch. 303) — that chapter is now [Reserved], so there is no Pennsylvania administrative code layer on collections.

Statute of limitations on debt: 42 Pa.C.S. §5525 — four years, for every contract flavor a collector encounters. Two carve-outs matter: negotiable notes run six years under 13 Pa.C.S. §3118 (the UCC §3-118 analog, which §5501(b) makes controlling over ch. 55), and instruments under seal run twenty years under §5529(b).

Verification note. palegis.us (which legis.state.pa.us now redirects to) is a JS app that loads statute text into an iframe; the text below was pulled from the official iframe endpoint …/view-statute?96&iFrame=true&txtType=HTM&ttl=<t>&div=<d>&chpt=<c> on the same official host, on 2026-08-11. 73 P.S. is unconsolidated — Pennsylvania has never consolidated the FCEUA or the UTPCPL into the Pa.C.S., and the Commonwealth publishes no official 73 P.S. codification; the official text is the session law, served at legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/US/HTM/<year>/0/<act>..HTM. That is what is quoted here, cited by act section. The 73 P.S. §2270.x numbers in the headings are the widely used unofficial commercial parallel cite (Purdon's), given only so the citations match how PA courts and briefs refer to the act — they are not the source of record.

Operative text

SOL — four years on contract, 42 Pa.C.S. §5525

§ 5525. Four year limitation. (a) General rule.-- Except as provided for in subsection (b), the following actions and proceedings must be commenced within four years: (1) An action upon a contract, under seal or otherwise, for the sale, construction or furnishing of tangible personal property or fixtures. (2) Any action subject to 13 Pa.C.S. § 2725 (relating to statute of limitations in contracts for sale). (3) An action upon an express contract not founded upon an instrument in writing. (4) An action upon a contract implied in law, except an action subject to another limitation specified in this subchapter. (5) An action upon a judgment or decree of any court of the United States or of any state. (6) An action upon any official bond of a public official, officer or employee. (7) An action upon a negotiable or nonnegotiable bond, note or other similar instrument in writing. Where such an instrument is payable upon demand, the time within which an action on it must be commenced shall be computed from the later of either demand or any payment of principal of or interest on the instrument. (8) An action upon a contract, obligation or liability founded upon a writing not specified in paragraph (7), under seal or otherwise, except an action subject to another limitation specified in this subchapter. — 42 Pa.C.S. §5525(a)

Every bucket a consumer debt could land in — written contract (a)(8), oral/unwritten express contract (a)(3), quasi-contract (a)(4), UCC goods sale (a)(2), note (a)(7) — is four years. There is no separate "open account" statute in Pennsylvania.

The scope rules that override §5525 — 42 Pa.C.S. §5501

§ 5501. Scope of chapter. (a) General rule.-- An action, proceeding or appeal must be commenced within the time specified in or pursuant to this chapter unless, in the case of a civil action or proceeding, a different time is provided by this title or another statute or a shorter time which is not manifestly unreasonable is prescribed by written agreement. (b) Uniform Commercial Code.-- The provisions of Title 13 (relating to commercial code), to the extent that they are inconsistent with this chapter, shall control over the provisions of this chapter. — 42 Pa.C.S. §5501

Sealed instruments — twenty years, 42 Pa.C.S. §5529(b)

§ 5529. Twenty year limitation. … (b) Instruments under seal.-- (1) Notwithstanding section 5525(7) (relating to four year limitation), an action upon an instrument in writing under seal must be commenced within 20 years. (2) (Deleted by amendment). — 42 Pa.C.S. §5529(b) (subsec. (b)(2) deleted by Act 46 of 2018, eff. June 25, 2018)

UCC §3-118 analog — six years on notes, 13 Pa.C.S. §3118

§ 3118. Statute of limitations. (a) Note payable at definite time.-- 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) Note payable on demand.-- 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. (c) Unaccepted draft.-- Except as provided in subsection (d), an action to enforce the obligation of a party to an unaccepted draft to pay the draft must be commenced within three years after dishonor of the draft or ten years after the date of the draft, whichever period expires first. — 13 Pa.C.S. §3118

Division 3 is limited to negotiable instruments:

(a) Applicability.-- This division applies to negotiable instruments. It does not apply to money, to payment orders governed by Division 4A (relating to funds transfers) or to securities governed by Division 8 (relating to investment securities). — 13 Pa.C.S. §3102(a)

Accrual — 42 Pa.C.S. §5502(a)

(a) General rule.-- The time within which a matter must be commenced under this chapter shall be computed, except as otherwise provided by subsection (b) or by any other provision of this chapter, from the time the cause of action accrued, the criminal offense was committed or the right of appeal arose. — 42 Pa.C.S. §5502(a)

Borrowing statute — 42 Pa.C.S. §5521

§ 5521. Limitations on foreign claims. (a) Short title of section.-- This section shall be known and may be cited as the "Uniform Statute of Limitations on Foreign Claims Act." (b) General rule.-- The period of limitation applicable to a claim accruing outside this Commonwealth shall be either that provided or prescribed by the law of the place where the claim accrued or by the law of this Commonwealth, whichever first bars the claim. — 42 Pa.C.S. §5521

Tolling — absence and concealment, 42 Pa.C.S. §5532

(a) General rule.-- If, when a cause of action accrues against a person, he is without this Commonwealth, the time within which the action or proceeding must be commenced shall be computed from the time he comes into or returns to this Commonwealth. If, after a cause of action has accrued against a person, he departs from this Commonwealth and remains continuously absent therefrom for four months or more, or he resides within this Commonwealth under a false name which is unknown to the person entitled to commence the action or proceeding, the time of his absence or residence within this Commonwealth under such a false name is not a part of the time within which the action or proceeding must be commenced. (b) Exception.-- Subsection (a) does not apply in any of the following cases: (1) While there is in force a designation, voluntary or involuntary, made pursuant to law, of a person to whom process may be delivered within this Commonwealth with the same effect as if served personally within this Commonwealth. (2) While a foreign corporation has one or more officers or other persons in this Commonwealth on whom process against such corporation may be served. (3) While jurisdiction over the person of the defendant can be obtained without personal delivery of process to him within this Commonwealth. — 42 Pa.C.S. §5532

Other tolling in the same subchapter — minority, and the effect of a prior action:

(b) Infancy.-- (1) (i) If an individual entitled to bring a civil action is an unemancipated minor at the time the cause of action accrues, the period of minority shall not be deemed a portion of the time period within which the action must be commenced. Such person shall have the same time for commencing an action after attaining majority as is allowed to others by the provisions of this subchapter. (ii) As used in this paragraph, the term "minor" shall mean any individual who has not yet attained 18 years of age. — 42 Pa.C.S. §5533(b)(1)

(a) Termination of prior matter.-- (1) If a civil action or proceeding is timely commenced and is terminated, a party, or his successor in interest, may, notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, commence a new action or proceeding upon the same cause of action within one year after the termination and any other party may interpose any defense or claim which might have been interposed in the original action or proceeding. (2) Paragraph (1) does not apply to: (i) An action to recover damages for injury to the person or for the death of an individual … (ii) An action or proceeding terminated by a voluntary nonsuit, a discontinuance, a dismissal for neglect to prosecute the action or proceeding, or a final judgment upon the merits. (b) Stay of matter.-- Where the commencement of a civil action or proceeding has been stayed by a court or by statutory prohibition, the duration of the stay is not a part of the time within which the action or proceeding must be commenced. — 42 Pa.C.S. §5535

FCEUA scope — who is covered

"Consumer." A natural person residing in this Commonwealth who owes or is alleged to owe a debt or one who has incurred or is alleged to have incurred liability for the debt within this Commonwealth, including, but not limited to, a comaker, guarantor, surety or parent if the consumer is under 18 years of age. The term includes the consumer's guardian, executor or administrator. "Creditor." A person, including agents, servants or employees conducting business under the name of a creditor and within this Commonwealth, to whom a debt is owed or alleged to be owed. "Debt." An actual or alleged past due obligation, claim, demand, note or other similar liability of a consumer to pay money, arising out of a single account as a result of a purchase, lease or loan of goods, services or real or personal property for personal, family or household purposes or as a result of a loan of money or extension of credit which is obtained primarily for personal, family or household purposes, provided, however, that money which is owed or alleged to be owed as a result of a loan secured by a purchase money mortgage on real estate shall not be included within the definition of debt. The term also includes any amount owed as a tax to any political subdivision of this Commonwealth. … Debt does not include any such amount owed to the United States or the Commonwealth. — FCEUA §3 (73 P.S. §2270.3)

"Debt collector." (1) A person not a creditor conducting business within this Commonwealth, acting on behalf of a creditor, engaging or aiding directly or indirectly in collecting a debt owed or alleged to be owed a creditor or assignee of a creditor. (2) The term does not include: … (iii) A person while collecting or attempting to collect any debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or due to another to the extent such activity: … (B) concerns a debt which was originated by such person; (C) concerns a debt which was not in default at the time it was obtained by such person; … Persons included within this subparagraph shall be considered creditors and not debt collectors for purposes of this act. (3) The term does include: (i) A creditor who, in the process of collecting his or her own debt, uses a name other than his or her own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect the debt. (ii) An attorney, whenever such attorney attempts to collect a debt, as herein defined, except in connection with the filing or service of pleadings or discovery or the prosecution of a lawsuit to reduce a debt to judgment. … — FCEUA §3 (73 P.S. §2270.3)

This act establishes what shall be considered unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices with regard to the collection of debts. — FCEUA §2 (73 P.S. §2270.2)

FCEUA §4(a) — the FDCPA import (debt collectors)

(a) By debt collectors.--It shall constitute an unfair or deceptive debt collection act or practice under this act if a debt collector violates any of the provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (Public Law 95-109, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq.). — FCEUA §4(a) (73 P.S. §2270.4(a))

FCEUA §4(b) — the creditor rulebook

Creditors are not FDCPA "debt collectors," so §4(b) restates the federal conduct rules and applies them directly to first-party creditors. Call-time window:

(2) Without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the creditor or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, a creditor may not communicate with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt: (i) at any unusual time or place or a time or place known or which should be known to be inconvenient to the consumer. In the absence of knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, a creditor shall assume that the convenient time for communicating with a consumer is after 8 a.m. and before 9 p.m. local time at the consumer's location; (ii) if the creditor knows the consumer is represented by an attorney with respect to such debt and has knowledge of or can readily ascertain such attorney's name and address unless the attorney fails to respond within a reasonable period of time to a communication from the creditor or unless the attorney consents to direct communication with the consumer; or (iii) at the consumer's place of employment if the creditor knows or has reason to know that the consumer's employer prohibits the consumer from receiving such communication. — FCEUA §4(b)(2) (73 P.S. §2270.4(b)(2))

Harassment — an intent standard, no numeric call cap:

(4) A creditor may not engage in any conduct the natural consequence of which is to harass, oppress or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this paragraph: (i) The use or threat of use of violence or other criminal means to harm the physical person, reputation or property of any person. (ii) The use of obscene or profane language or language the natural consequence of which is to abuse the hearer or reader. (iii) The publication of a list of consumers who allegedly refuse to pay debts, except to a consumer reporting agency or to persons meeting the requirements of section 1681a(f) or 1681b(a)(3) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act … (iv) The advertisement for sale of any debt to coerce payment of the debt. (v) Causing a telephone to ring or engaging any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse or harass any person at the called number. (vi) Except as provided in paragraph (1), the placement of telephone calls without meaningful disclosure of the caller's identity. — FCEUA §4(b)(4) (73 P.S. §2270.4(b)(4))

Fees — the incidental-charge rule:

(6) A creditor may not use unfair or unconscionable means to collect or attempt to collect any debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this paragraph: (i) The collection of any amount, including any interest, fee, charge or expense incidental to the principal obligation, unless such amount is expressly authorized by the agreement creating the debt or permitted by law. (ii) The acceptance by a creditor from any person of a check or other payment instrument postdated by more than five days unless such person will be notified in writing of the creditor's intent to deposit such check or instrument not more than ten nor less than three business days prior to such deposit. … (vii) Communicating with a consumer regarding a debt by postcard. (viii) Using any language or symbol, other than the creditor's address, on any envelope when communicating with a consumer by use of the mails or by telegram, provided that a creditor may use its business name. — FCEUA §4(b)(6) (73 P.S. §2270.4(b)(6))

Misrepresentation — §4(b)(5) lists thirteen practices tracking FDCPA §1692e, including:

(ii) The false representation of the character, amount or legal status of any debt. … (v) The threat to take any action that cannot legally be taken or that is not intended to be taken. … (viii) Communicating or threatening to communicate to any person credit information which is known or which should be known to be false, including the failure to communicate that a debt is disputed. — FCEUA §4(b)(5) (73 P.S. §2270.4(b)(5))

FCEUA §5 — enforcement, the two-year clock, and the anti-stacking rule

(a) Unfair trade practices.--If a debt collector or creditor engages in an unfair or deceptive debt collection act or practice under this act, it shall constitute a violation of the act of December 17, 1968 (P.L.1224, No.387), known as the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. (b) Jurisdiction.--An action to enforce any liability created by this act may be brought in any court of competent jurisdiction in this Commonwealth within two years from the date on which the violation occurs. (c) Remedies.--Remedies available for violation of this act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (Public Law 95-109, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq.) shall not be cumulative, and debt collectors who violate this act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act shall not incur cumulative penalties. (d) Defenses.--A debt collector or creditor may not be held liable in any action for a violation of this act if the debt collector or creditor shows by a preponderance of the evidence that the violation was both not intentional and: (1) resulted from a bona fide error, notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adapted to avoid any such error; or (2) resulted from good faith reliance upon incorrect information offered by any person other than an agent, servant or employee of the debt collector or creditor. — FCEUA §5 (73 P.S. §2270.5)

FCEUA §6 — the regulations are gone

Section 6. Repeal. The provisions of 37 Pa. Code Ch. 303 (relating to debt collection trade practices) are repealed. — FCEUA §6 (73 P.S. §2270.6)

Confirmed against the Pennsylvania Code itself:

CHAPTER 303. [Reserved] … reserved May 25, 2001, effective May 26, 2001, 31 Pa.B. 2685. § § 303.1—303.9. [Reserved] — 37 Pa. Code ch. 303

UTPCPL remedies — the teeth behind the FCEUA

AG / District Attorney injunctive authority:

Section 4. Restraining Prohibited Acts.--Whenever the Attorney General or a District Attorney has reason to believe that any person is using or is about to use any method, act or practice declared by section 3 of this act to be unlawful, and that proceedings would be in the public interest, he may bring an action in the name of the Commonwealth against such person to restrain by temporary or permanent injunction the use of such method, act or practice. — UTPCPL §4 (73 P.S. §201-4)

Civil penalties:

Section 8. Civil Penalties.--(a) Any person who violates the terms of an injunction issued under section 4 of this act or any of the terms of an assurance of voluntary compliance duly filed in court under section 5 of this act shall forfeit and pay to the Commonwealth a civil penalty of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each violation. … (b) In any action brought under section 4 of this act, if the court finds that a person, firm or corporation is wilfully using or has wilfully used a method, act or practice declared unlawful by section 3 of this act, the Attorney General or the appropriate District Attorney … may recover … a civil penalty of not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) per violation … Where the victim of the wilful use of a method, act or practice declared unlawful by section 3 of this act is sixty years of age or older, the civil penalty shall not exceed three thousand dollars ($3,000) per violation … — UTPCPL §8 (73 P.S. §201-8)

Private right of action:

Section 9.2. Private Actions.--(a) Any person who purchases or leases goods or services primarily for personal, family or household purposes and thereby suffers any ascertainable loss of money or property, real or personal, as a result of the use or employment by any person of a method, act or practice declared unlawful by section 3 of this act, may bring a private action to recover actual damages or one hundred dollars ($100), whichever is greater. The court may, in its discretion, award up to three times the actual damages sustained, but not less than one hundred dollars ($100), and may provide such additional relief as it deems necessary or proper. The court may award to the plaintiff, in addition to other relief provided in this section, costs and reasonable attorney fees. — UTPCPL §9.2(a) (73 P.S. §201-9.2(a))

Restitution is available on a permanent injunction under §4.1, and §9 allows the court to order dissolution or forfeiture of the right to do business for injunction violations.

Entry gate — no license, no registration, no bond

There is no Pennsylvania collection-agency licensing act. Three independent official checks:

1. The FCEUA — the only PA act regulating debt collectors — imposes no license, registration, or bond. It is a conduct statute only (§2, quoted above).
2. A full-text keyword search of the Commonwealth's unconsolidated statutes for "debt collector" returns hits in exactly three acts: the FCEUA, the Debt Management Services Act (Act 117 of 2008, whose §14(11) bars its licensees from acting as a collection agency), and the Local Tax Enabling Act (excluding tax officers from the FCEUA). A search for "collection agency" returns hits scattered across the Judicial Code (private collection of court costs and fines), the Crimes Code, the Vehicle Code, the Tax Reform Code, the Public Welfare Code, the Credit Reporting Agency Act, and the Debt Management Services Act — every one of them a provision using or restricting collection agencies, none of them licensing one. The act-name index likewise contains no collection-agency act.
3. The Department of Banking and Securities lists its complete non-bank licensee roster — check cashers, consumer discount companies, debt management and debt settlement services, credit services loan brokers, money transmitters, mortgage licensees, motor vehicle sales finance companies, pawnbrokers. Debt collectors and collection agencies do not appear.

The Pennsylvania Department of Banking & Securities licenses 28,450 non-bank ("non-depository") lenders, including mortgage brokers, originators, lenders and servicers; auto sales finance companies; debt management and debt settlement companies; check cashers; consumer discount companies; credit services loan brokers; pawnbrokers; and money transmitters. — PA DoBS, Non-Bank Licensees

Note the adjacent gate that does exist: debt settlement and debt management services require a DoBS license via NMLS (Debt Settlement Services Act, Act 118 of 2014; Debt Management Services Act, Act 117 of 2008) — a different business from third-party collection, and the DMSA expressly forbids its licensees from collecting.

Plain English

Interpretation — the quotes above win on any conflict.

• Everything is four years. Written contract, oral contract, credit card, quasi-contract, goods sale — §5525 puts them all at four years, and Pennsylvania has no separate open-account statute. Unlike most states, you do not need to win the "was the cardholder agreement produced?" fight to know the period: every candidate subsection of §5525 lands on the same number. (Which subsection applies is a case-law question; the period is not.)
• Two escapes from four years, both statutory. A negotiable note payable at a definite time gets six years under 13 Pa.C.S. §3118(a), because §5501(b) makes Title 13 control over ch. 55 where they conflict. An instrument under seal gets twenty years under §5529(b)(1), "notwithstanding" §5525(7).
• The FCEUA covers original creditors. This is the headline for first-party work. §4(a) catches third-party collectors by importing the FDCPA wholesale; §4(b) writes out a near-identical rulebook and aims it at creditors, who are otherwise outside federal law. Anyone the debt-collector definition excludes is expressly "considered a creditor" — so §4(b) catches them instead. There is no gap.
• No license, no registration, no bond. Pennsylvania is a clean-entry state for third-party collection.
• No call-frequency cap. §4(b)(4)(v) is an intent-to-annoy standard, not a number. Reg F's 7-in-7 presumption is the operative frequency limit in PA.
• No stricter call window. §4(b)(2)(i) uses the same 8 a.m.–9 p.m. local-time assumption as the FDCPA. Its significance is who it binds — creditors — not when.
• No time-barred-debt disclosure and no statutory suit bar. Pennsylvania has nothing like Texas §392.307. Suing on a stale PA debt is exposure through the FDCPA (imported by §4(a)) and the UTPCPL, not through a state statute that names the practice.
• Two years to sue, and no stacking. FCEUA claims get two years (§5(b)) — double the FDCPA's one — but §5(c) forbids cumulative FDCPA + FCEUA penalties.
• Revival is common law, not statute. Chapter 55 contains no acknowledgment or part-payment revival provision. The one statutory exception is §5525(a)(7)'s special accrual rule for demand instruments.

Traps / edge cases

• Negotiable vs. nonnegotiable notes split 6/4. §5525(a)(7) covers "a negotiable or nonnegotiable bond, note or other similar instrument" at four years, but §5501(b) subordinates ch. 55 to Title 13, and Title 13 Division 3 applies only to negotiable instruments (§3102(a)). So the same paper runs six years if it satisfies §3104's negotiability test and four years if it does not — and §3104(d) lets an issuer opt out of negotiability with a conspicuous "not negotiable" legend. Negotiability is a document question that has to be answered per instrument; do not default a PA note to either number.
• Demand instruments re-age by statute. §5525(a)(7)'s second sentence computes the four years "from the later of either demand or any payment of principal of or interest on the instrument." For demand paper this is a statutory payment-restart — the opposite of the common-law revival question, and it applies without any acknowledgment analysis. §3118(b) does the parallel work for negotiable demand notes (six years from demand; ten years of no payment with no demand ever made).
• A contract can shorten the period. §5501(a) honors "a shorter time which is not manifestly unreasonable … prescribed by written agreement." A PA claim can be out of stat before four years if the underlying agreement says so. UNVERIFIED (interpretation): where the outer bound of "manifestly unreasonable" sits is case law we have not pulled.
• Revival by acknowledgment or part payment is judge-made in PA. Labeled interpretation. Pennsylvania follows the common-law rule that a clear, unequivocal, unconditional written acknowledgment of the debt, or a part payment from which a promise to pay the balance can be inferred, restarts the clock. No statute in ch. 55 says this — we searched the chapter for acknowledgment, revival, and part-payment language and found none outside §5525(a)(7)'s demand-instrument rule. Treat any revival call on PA paper as attorney-review territory, and do not encode automatic payment-based re-aging for non-demand PA debt.
• The §4(a) import names the FDCPA statute, not Reg F. Interpretation. §4(a) reaches violations of "the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (Public Law 95-109, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq.)." Whether a Reg F–only violation (a 12 CFR 1006 requirement with no statutory analog, such as the 7-in-7 presumption or the validation-notice content rules) is thereby an FCEUA violation is not answered by the text. Build to Reg F on federal authority; do not assume a state cause of action rides along.
• §4(b) has no validation-notice analog. The creditor rulebook mirrors FDCPA §§1692b–1692f but not §1692g. PA creditors get no state-law validation obligation — that gap is federal-only, and for first-party creditors federal law does not fill it either.
• The borrowing statute cuts both ways and is short-period-wins. §5521(b) applies "whichever first bars the claim" to any claim accruing outside Pennsylvania. A PA-filed suit on a claim that accrued in a two-year state is barred at two years, not four.
• §5532 absence tolling is mostly switched off in practice. §5532(b)(3) suspends the tolling "while jurisdiction over the person of the defendant can be obtained without personal delivery of process" — which modern long-arm jurisdiction usually satisfies. Do not model automatic tolling for an out-of-state PA debtor.
• The state regulations are repealed, not merely dormant. 37 Pa. Code ch. 303 is [Reserved]. Any vendor summary or older compliance manual citing §303.3 practice rules is describing law repealed by FCEUA §6 in 2001.
• The UTPCPL private action requires a purchase and an ascertainable loss. §9.2(a) runs to a person who "purchases or leases goods or services primarily for personal, family or household purposes and thereby suffers any ascertainable loss." That is a narrower gate than the FDCPA's statutory damages, which need no loss at all — so the FCEUA/UTPCPL route is not simply a longer-limitations superset of an FDCPA claim.
• 73 P.S. section numbers are unofficial. Pennsylvania publishes no official codification of unconsolidated statutes. Cite the act section (FCEUA §4(b)(6)(i)) alongside the commercial parallel cite (73 P.S. §2270.4(b)(6)(i)); if the two ever diverge, the session law controls.

Related

• ../federal/fdcpa/overview.md — the body of law FCEUA §4(a) imports wholesale
• ../federal/reg-f/call-frequency.md — governs PA; no state cap
• ../federal/reg-f/time-barred-debt.md — governs PA; no state disclosure
• ./tx.md — contrast: statutory suit bar, no-revival rule, and mandatory time-barred notice, none of which PA has
• ./oh.md · ./ny.md · ./ma.md · ./_matrix.md