New York Laws on the Statute of Limitations for Credit Card Debt

If you live in New York and have some bad credit card debt, check the dates on your account. It may be that your debt is past the statute of limitations, which provides you with a defense against a lawsuit. It is important to remember, though, that the statute of limitations does not prevent a creditor, or a collection agency, from continuing to contact you about the debt.

Credit Card Debt

New York's statute of limitations for collecting credit card debt is six years. This six-year time period begins 30 days after you made the last payment on your account. Within this six-year period, a creditor or a debt collector can use all legal means to collect the debt, which may include assigning or selling your debt to a third-party collection agency or even filing a lawsuit against you. After this time period expires, it is very unlikely that a creditor will file a lawsuit against you. If the creditor does do this, you can ask the court to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that the debt is past the statute of limitations.

Judgments

The statute of limitations on judgments is a different matter than the statute of limitations on debt. If a credit card company does file a lawsuit against you and does win its case, you will have a judgment against you. This is an amount of money that the creditor has the right to collect from you via legal means, which includes garnishing your wages and bank account, plus seizing your property and assets. The statute of limitations on collecting a judgment in New York is 20 years, and it can be renewed by a judge upon request by the creditor.

Collection Efforts

While most collection agencies and creditors are unlikely to try and collect a debt once it is past the statute of limitations, some will try anyway. In some cases, a creditor or collection agency will file a lawsuit even if the debt is past the statute of limitations. If this happens, be sure to go to court and ask that the case be dismissed. If you don't go to court, the creditor or collection agency can be awarded a default judgment against you.