The Statute of Limitations is a defense that debtors can use against creditor collection efforts: If a debt is outside the statute of limitations, the creditor can no longer legally enforce payment of the debt. In Illinois, the length of the statute of limitations depends largely on the type of debt owed.
Open Accounts
The Illinois statute of limitations on open accounts, such as credit card and charge accounts, depends on whether there was a written contract between creditor and debtor. If the creditor can show that there was a written contract, the statute of limitations is 10 years. If there was no written contract, the statute of limitations is five years.
Oral Contracts
The statute of limitations on oral contracts in Illinois is five years.
Written Contracts
Written contracts have a statute of limitations of 10 years in Illinois.
Judgements
The statute of limitations to collect judgments is 20 years in Illinois. It is also possible for the creditor to ask a judge to renew the statute of limitations on a judgment at the end of that time.
Bad Checks
Checks that have "bounced" or that have been returned for non-sufficient funds (NSF) have a statute of limitations of three years after the check was returned, or 10 years after the check was written, whichever is first.
Warnings
Statutes of limitations on collecting debt is different than the laws that govern reporting debt to credit bureaus. Federal law allows the reporting of negative credit information for up to seven years after the account become delinquent and never became current again.
A creditor can also "toll" your debt if you leave the state of Illinois during the statute of limitations. This means that the period of time that you spent out of state does not count toward the statute of limitations.
0 comments:
Post a Comment