Today while I was looking at my TU report, I was double checking all of my SOL. I am in NC and then I ran across a website which said the SOL for NC was 4years for like credit cards and 5 years for promisorries etc etc... Before, I had always seen 3. How do I find out what the true SOL is??
I am still having the same problem. This website gave information similar to another, but I have come across three others with different years. It is very important because if it is only 3 years in NC then I am "ok"-- four years and I will not be okay until another 6-7 months.
Oh, o.k. I know that some people are confused about where sol is. Sol is where you signed the contract, or where you lived at the time the card was received. There are also sol for judgments. I understand what you mean about different information. I found that site and have found it to be helpful. Bumping up your post might get it to someone who could better answer your question. I tried.......... Good luck....
So in other words.. SOL is when I first received the card??? It is not when the last payment was made?? Maybe it is too late and I am just so sleepy. Now I am getting confused.
Lucky, SOL dates and the laws that concern them are specific to each state. There are many here who offer advice and whatnot concerning SOL, and all points are valid...but the cold hard truth is that if you are going to rely on the SOL for a defense you MUST research the laws that pertain to you and in your state in order to be certain you have the law on your side. Information here is good to a point, but in this area you NEED to have the facts straight. Consulting an attorney or one who knows the law in your situation, is your best bet. -Peace, Dave
I guess I am getting things confused and jumbled up in regards to the last date of activity versus the SOL date. I am not planning on beginning to try and do settlements for deletions until I get myself together (I am hoping to begin my process in late August-September). I just do not want to wake any sleeping tigers by trying to settle and they see they can see me for more. Most of my cards defaulted in 99. One says 00, but I am going to dispute it because that is an incorrect date-- but not any time soon that is the giant (well only 1,800k but still giant to me). I received the cards all in 97 and 98. So would my SOL be from the date the cards were issues and I signed a contract or when my last payments were made?
Oh goodness, it is late. I wrote that incorrectly. Nave is right!!!!!!!!! I meant, the statue of limitations for a card is dependent upon the state you were in when you signed the contract to get the card. For instance, here in Louisiana it is 3 years for open ended accounts. If I had an account that was bad/charged off in 1996, after 1999 they can't get anything from me. If they filed a lawsuit, I can answer by saying that the debt is beyond SOL and that would be my defense. I have heard SOL starts upon the date of last activity. or date last payment was made. I have seen different opinions on that. I am so sorry I answered your post backward. Again, Nave is right.........
Okay... do you know if there are better ways to find out the last date of payments? For that I truly do not have an idea except what Equifax reports as the last day of payments. I found a site http://www.nationallist.com/collect_laws.html which listed summaries for each state and this once again had NC as 3 years and had a mention of thanks to an attorney in Asheville, NC who verified the information so I am hoping this is the case. I pretty much figure that if the accounts were charged off and I had not made an payments since those times then I maybe pretty safe.
Hey, I forgot: Laws and statues change daily, so maybe the years you saw previously were valid, then they changed again. (Oh, I hope that made sense). I noticed that Transunion doesn't list the date of last activity. To find out what my dates of last activity were, I got my other 2 reports (Equifax and Experian), sat down, found the same accounts and found the dates, then went from there. On my reports, I was a little lucky that they all had the same accounts reported. I really wish I could find a site that would be definite for you concerning the definite SOL dates. As far as being safe, I would wait before I do anything until you find you what you need. I do not want to be the person who tells you to 'go for it' and you end up getting sued . I only know what worked for me. But again, good luck.........
I've done plenty of legal research on this and found it to be confusing at best. Here is a summary of what I have found. Hope it helps someone. Web sites that have SOL lists are NOT always correct. In my experience, most are outdated or incorrect in some aspect. Do not take them as correct. Always look it up in your state statutes or ask a lawyer. There are many statutes of limitations. The one you are referring to is a limitation of action on an open account or debt. It is normally found in the states code of civil procedure. Other common SOL's are time to file for medical malpractice, personal injury, wrongful arrest, etc. Each has it's own time limitation. You also need to know that SOL is what is referred to as an "affirmative defense" which means that you can only use it if they sue you, however, it may give you some leverage when negotiating settlement. Be very careful here as this negotiation process may reset the SOL if you don't word it right (see promise to pay below). The SOL makes it impossible for anyone to win a judgement against you for a debt that is barred by it. It was mainly introduced to keep cases that are "stale" from being brought when evidence is old and memories have become faded by time. Be aware that many states still hold that there is a moral obligation to a debt, even when it is beyond the SOL. Meaning, the the OC can continue to try and collect, and they can even sue you, they just won't win a judgement. Also, they can still report it on your credit for 7 years + 180 days after your first missed payment (DOLA) regardless of the debt SOL. This time period is another SOL that is found on time limits for reporting derog. info on your credit report in the FDCPA rules. The SOL begins to run when the first cause of action arises. In most states, that means when you fail to make your payment and make no other payment after that time. Some states have weird rules on installment accounts where the SOL runs seperately on each missed payment. It normally doesn't work out this way because most companies have a built in acceleration option if you default, so it starts the SOL running on the remainder of the debt. There are some tricky things to think about here though. In some states, if you leave the state, the SOL is tolled. In other words, the clock stops ticking. There are independent rules for each state. For example, in some states as long as you can be sued under their "long arm statute" the SOL is not tolled. In others, the SOL is tolled regardless, if you leave the state. There are several ways to toll the SOL. If you make a promise to pay or any payment during this time period, it tolls the SOL also. Other ways to toll the SOL are verbal agreements, acknowledgement of the debt, being incarcerated, etc. Make sure you haven't inadvertently tolled the SOL before you intend to use it. The SOL is different for oral and written contracts. You must be very careful here. Some state statutes are very ambiguous about which SOL applies to open accounts (credit cards). The OC/CA lawyer may argue that you signed a "written contract" which has a longer SOL than an oral contract or open account. Unless your state statute is specific, there is case law that supports that credit cards are subject to the same SOL as written contracts. What you need to know is if your state statutes specifically says "open accounts" have a certain SOL. You can try to use the SOL to provide leverage for settlement, but my advice would be to seek a competent lawyer to try and use this defense in court. There are many, many loopholes that you could be attacked by.
Let me clarify something. I have a collection reporting on my report for a credit card I signed for in California. I have since moved several times to several different states. Would I be correct in using the SOL for California when dealing with this account? Also, I have a few medical collection accounts which are showing up as well. They were created while in California. Am I correct in my thinking that the collection company cannot collect on these accounts because they were created in California? Thanks
The 4 year SOL in N.C. is for "sale of goods" that means if you buy something like furniture or a computer on a sales contract. A credit card account, even if you used it to buy the same furniture or computer is a 3 year SOL. Your date starts the first time you are in default, or delinquent on your account. That is when you get a late fee or extra charge for being past due.It stays the same UNLESS you have either caught up all your late payments or entered into a WRITTEN agreement with the OC that puts you "current".Here is the N.C. statute for the 3 year SOL. NORTH CAROLINA STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS (IN YEARS) Open Acct.: §1-52(1) Oral Contracts; §1-52(1) Personal Injuries; §1-52(16) Property Damage; §1-52(16) Written Contract Not Under Seal; §1-52(1) §1-52. Three years. Within three years an action - (1) Upon a contract, obligation or liability arising out of a contract, express or implied, except those mentioned in the preceding sections or in G.S. 1- 53(1).
Is credit card debt considered an open account or written contract. I live in Louisiana and of course I would rather it be open acct. If not, what is an open acct, I may have some of those as well. Thank you
An open account is actually an open-ended account. It is defined in the TILA,(truth in lending act) section 15. It is when you have an account, even one you have "signed" an application for, that is revolving, has no fixed term, and the interest rate can change. Credit card accounts, store charge accounts and mortgage loan "line of credit" accounts are all "open". A car loan, or a sales contract to purchase something that has a fixed term,and fixed interest,is a closed - ended contract and falls under written contract SOL's in most cases.
