Can a Creditor Come After You After the Statute of Limitations?

When a debt goes unpaid, the creditor who owns the debt attempts to collect the money that is owed plus any late charges or other fines that have been added to the debtor's account. If the collection attempts are unsuccessful, the creditor can continue trying to collect on the debt for several years after the debt was created.

Collection Attempts

When attempting to collect on a debt, a creditor may contact the debtor who owes the debt by mail or phone. If the creditor feels that the debt is worth pursuing, a lawsuit may be filed against the debtor to try and gain a court order to ensure payment of the debt. Creditors may not harass a debtor, disclose information about the debt to anyone other than the debtor or make threats, such as threatening to take the debtor to court or have him arrested. The creditor may sell the debt to a credit collection agency, giving the agency the right to attempt collection on the debt instead of the original creditor.

Statute of Limitations

The statute of limitations on debts is the amount of time that a creditor or debt collector has to collect on an unpaid debt. The length of the statute of limitations varies depending on the state where you live and the type of debt account that collection attempts are being made on. Collection attempts or lawsuits filed after the statute of limitations has expired are not considered valid because they were not made within the time frame allowed by your state. The statute of limitations begins at the point that the debt was charged off by the creditor or when the last payment was made on the debt, whichever is later.

Actions After Expiration

Credit collection agencies may still attempt to take legal action after the statute of limitations has expired. If a lawsuit is filed on a debt that has exceeded the statute of limitations in the state where the defendant lives, the debtor should ask the court to dismiss the case on the basis that the statute has expired. The court will review the case, and upon determination that the statute is truly expired, the court should dismiss the suit. If collection attempts continue, the debtor should send a notice to the creditor via certified mail stating that the statute of limitations has expired and asking not to be contacted again about the debt.

Resetting the Statute

Making payments on a debt that is in the collection process typically resets the statute of limitations; this is often the reason that debt collectors will aggressively pursue debts nearing their expiration in hopes that the debtor will make a payment. The sale of a debt to a collection agency by the original creditor generally does not reset the statute, though some creditors or collection agencies will attempt to do so by misreporting the starting date of the debt as the date that it was sold. Debtors have the legal right to sue credit agencies who "re-age" the debts they purchase in this manner as the practice is illegal in many jurisdictions.