Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Maryland

Not exactly. In Maryland, the statute of limitations requires that a law suit be filed within 3 years for written contracts, and 3 years for open accounts, such as credit cards. For credit card debt it means the date of the last activity on the account or the date the account was written off as a bad debt was at least 3 years ago. This means that if your account is older than 3 years you can raise the statute of limitations as a defense to the complaint. However, the statute of limitations only covers the right of the creditor to sue you in court. It does not restrict the creditor from reporting the debt to the credit reporting agencies or contacting you to collect the debt. Once a judgment is entered against you, the creditor has 12 years to collect it. Of course if you file for bankruptcy and receive a discharge, the creditor may not take any action against you personally to collect on the debt even if a judgment was entered (unless the creditor is owed child support, or the debt involves a student loan, or other non-dischargeable debts).

Unless you affirmatively raise the defense that the statute of limitations has expired, the court will not know that it has expired and may rule in favor of the creditor. It is therefore critical that you answer the complaint and raise the issue. You will need to show the judge that the statute of limitations has expired. You can do this by showing a copy of the debt on your credit report, which should show the date of the last activity or the date the debt was charged off. The creditor will then have to prove to the court that it has not expired.

Best of luck.*****The above is for informational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client privilege.*******