What is the best weapon to beat an old credit card debt? The answer is time or said in fancy legalese, the Statute of Limitations. The Statute of Limitations is a deadline you have to sue someone. The Statute of Limitations is different for every type of lawsuit and varies from state to state. For example, in the state of Tennessee the Statute of Limitations for an open account or contract is six years. That means that a company has six years to file a lawsuit against from the day you default on your agreement. One day beyond that six years, and their lawsuit is barred by the Statute of Limitations. So the questions are; what Statute of Limitations applies and When did default occur. The most applicable Statute of Limitations will likely either be one for contract (may be for breach of contract) or for open account. An open account is essentially a line of revolving credit. You can find your state's appropriate Statute of Limitation from a link on the right side of this blog entitled "Debt Law for All 50 States". Once you know how long the right Statute of Limitations is for your state, then you need to determine when did default occur. If you are being sued for an old credit card debt that has been sold several times, then it is likely that the current owner has no idea or more importantly, no proof, of when you defaulted. You should argue that your default
occur ed the day your first payment was due that you did not pay. Hopefully, you have some written evidence of that; a past due bill, a collection letter, etc. If you do not, then file an
affidavit alleging the date and then the burden will shift to the debt purchaser to prove that the suit was not brought in violation of the Statute of Limitations.