Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Maryland

Re: Paid in Full Charge-Offs, does the 7-year clock restart?

There are multiple issues about which you should be concerned: (1) if you make a payment then the 7 year clock will start over again; (2) depending upon the law applicable to your credit contract (which may apply the law of some state other than Maryland) the statute of limitations may already have passed for collection of the debt by filing a suit in court.

If the creditor has not already obtained a judgment, and the statue of limitations has passed, then there is no way for the creditor to collect (but a person would need to be certain of the statute issue -- in maryland it's generally three years, but there are exceptions in md, and other states have different rules).

If the creditor has missed the statute of limitations, and the 7-year credit reporting period will be ending in 2 years, then it might not make sense from a legal perspective to make a payment at this point in time.

MAKE SURE TO HAVE AN ATTY EVALUATE THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS ISSUE

Lawrence R. Holzman, Esquire

Joseph, Greenwald & Laake, P.A.

6404 Ivy Lane, Suite 400

Greenbelt, MD 20770

(301) 220-2200

fax (301) 220-1214

Disclaimer: Please note that the posting of this response is not intended to constitute legal advice. You should contact an attorney to obtain information applicable to your situation. This posting is not confidential or privileged and does not create an attorney/client relationship.