Credit Card
Credit Card
How is a credit card considered a written contract instead of an open account?
I am being sued by a collection agency for an old (over 3 years) Visa credit card debt. I live in Alabama and the Statue of Limitations on Open Accounts is 3 years. I hired an attorney but he says that I probably will have to settle because it is not an open account but a written contract account which has a SOL of 6 years. He says this because the collection agency produced a piece of paper that I signed when I opened the account (basically it’s the credit card application). I researched on my own and most information that I found says that Credit Cards are always open accounts. I did find one place (Wiki Answers) where someone said that credit cards could be written contracts. Is my attorney wrong or can this indeed be a written contract in some way. I really need to know before I go to court. Please give me some type of solid backup to your answer and not just your opinion.
Sorry I can’t give you a definite answer, but if the Alabama courts have found credit cards to be a form of a written contract, then article 2 of the UCC would be irrelevant. I’ve found anecdotal evidence to suggest this is the case, but nothing firm. I did find examples of other cases in other states where the courts ruling seemed contraindicative of the UCC, and was based partly on UCC limitations – meaning it looks like there definitely is a chance (depending on EXACTLY what was included in that signed piece of paper the collection agency produced) that your credit card account qualifies as a written contract.
If you’re unsure, you could try contacting another attorney from Legal Aid for a free second opinion, although I doubt your attorney would give such seriously erroneous information. I know that there legal fees are ginormous, but why not ask him to spell it out to you, show you previous cases where this ruling was upheld, etc.