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The FDCPA was designed to protect consumers from abusive collection practices, and it applies to “debt collectors” – defined in the Act as someone who regularly collects consumer debts owed to others. Citing a “deluge” of “[c]onsumer debt buyers – armed with hundreds of delinquent accounts purchased from creditors” who file “proofs of claim on debts deemed unenforceable under state statutes of limitations[,]” the Eleventh Circuit found that a creditor who filed a proof of claim in a bankruptcy case on a debt that would not be collectible in state court because it was time barred, had violated the FDCPA. The Court issued this ruling despite the fact that the Bankruptcy Code permits creditors to file a proof of claim on a debt that is no longer collectible in a state court – even one that is barred by the applicable statute of limitations. If a claim is filed on a time barred debt, it is then incumbent upon the debtor (or in the case of a Chapter 13 case such as Crawford – the Chapter 13 Trustee) to object to the proof of claim. |