The First Judicial District of Pennsylvania is rolling out a Consumer Credit Card Collection Diversion Pilot Program that adds a mandatory conciliation step to credit card debt suits filed against individuals in Philadelphia, a shift that will change how creditors and debt buyers litigate in one of the country’s busiest civil courts.
Every consumer credit card collection action naming an individual defendant will be automatically scheduled for a conciliation conference. The court said credit card filings have continued to climb, straining judicial resources, and that the program is meant to move cases through its mandatory arbitration system more efficiently.
What changes, and when:
- Cases filed on or after June 1, 2026 must be identified as consumer credit card collection matters and include a certification form. They enter diversion at filing, no arbitration date is set initially, and pleading deadlines are deferred while the case sits in the program.
- Cases filed before June 1 will be screened at arbitration. If a matter is not ready to proceed, the arbitration is paused and a conciliation conference is scheduled.
The certification form raises the documentation bar. Plaintiffs must verify the statute of limitations has not expired and identify the current debt holder, the date the original credit agreement was signed, and the date of default. They must also be prepared to produce the cardmember agreement, a billing statement showing the balance calculation, and written proof of any assignments. False statements carry penalties under Pennsylvania’s unsworn falsification statute.
Counsel will need to show up ready to deal. At the conference, plaintiff’s attorneys must have authority to discuss a settlement, or an authorized representative must be available by phone. Fail to appear with that authority and the case can be relisted or face a rule to show cause for dismissal. If the defendant is the no-show and the plaintiff has complied, the matter can be sent to arbitration.
The model is not new to the state. Lancaster County launched a credit card diversion program in 2022 that pairs credit counseling with court-supervised conciliation, and Philadelphia already runs a mortgage foreclosure diversion program built around a pre-judgment conference.
For collection operations, the practical takeaways are front-loaded documentation and live settlement authority. Firms filing in Philadelphia will want their account-level records and chain of title ready before the complaint goes out, not after.
