No. Not paying a debt to a pay-day-loan company is not a criminal offense. You may have a claim against the collection agency for a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act for threatening criminal prosecution and jail. You should contact a local consumer law attorney to see what rights you may have in bringing suit against the collections agency and determine what actions may be taken against you for not paying on the loan.
This is not intended to be legal advice, and is general in its nature. No attorney-client relationship exists or is formed by this information. Furthermore, this does not represent the views or opinions of LexisNexis or its affiliated companies.
Answered on May 03rd, 2012 at 2:10 PM