Can a creditor put in for a warrent for your arrest for a debt?
Question Details:
Depends on what type of debt. Car dealers in IL have a statute that provides for crimminal prosecution for NSF check deposits on new or used cars. Judgment creditors can have you held in contempt and arrested if the judgment debtor fails to appear for Citation to Discover Assets, Rule to Show Cause. Please feel free to contact me for a Free Consult. Best Regards,
Peter S Grain Esq Tel 847-843-2920 Email iccgrain@aol.com PO Box 3517 Barrington, IL 60011 Website http://internationalcreditcorp.homestead.com
You cannot be arrested just for having or owing a debt, no, even once a judgment has been taken against you.
What will get a warrant out for you is, once a judgment is entered, ignoring a citation or rule against you. This is not a warrant specifically for the debt, it's a warrant for ignoring the court. The simple way to avoid this is to never ignore court cases!
If the debt is part of a more complex situation that also gives rise to criminal liability, you could also face a warrant that way.
Generally, no. It is not a crime to fail to pay a debt, so a debtor cannot be arrested for this. The only exception would be if the "debt" was actually fraud: for example, a debtor used false documentation (like fake income or asset statements) to get a loan, or took out a debt with provably no intention of ever repaying it. Then there's a criminal act, but the crime is committing fraud, not being unable to repay.
