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did not read this until I settled, hope I save someone else some money...! Update! In April 2010, New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, confirmed that the statute of limitations that applies to a credit card debt may beshorter than six years, depending on where the credit card issuer is based. (See here for the Court’s decision, from Portfolio Recovery Associates v. King.) Here’s how it works: New York has a law stating that the statute of limitations on a credit card debt is six years. But New York law alsostates that a creditor cannot take advantage of NY’s six-year statute of limitations if the creditor’s home state has a shorter statute of limitations. (This is what New York’s highest court recently confirmed.) Some of the biggest creditors – such as Chase, Bank of America, and Discover – have home states with three-year statutes of limitations. If you are sued on a Chase, Bank of America, or Discover credit card debt, a three-year statute of limitations will generally apply. Example #1: Let’s say you had a Big Bank credit card. The last time you made a payment was in January 2007. You therefore “defaulted” in February 2007 (you usually “default” on a credit card debt about 30 days after your last payment). The statute of limitations starts running from your default, in February 2007. Big Bank sues you in a New York court in August 2010. Big Bank is based in Delaware, which has a three-year statute of limitations for credit card debts. Question: Has Big Bank waited too long to sue you? Answer: YES. Since Big Bank is based in Delaware, which has a three-year statute of limitations for credit card debts, New York law says that Delaware’s three-year statute of limitations must apply. Big Bank cannot take advantage of New York’s longer six-year statute of limitations just because it sued you in New York. Because Big Bank waited more than three years to sue you on the credit card debt, the statute of limitations has expired, and the court must dismiss the case. This same rule applies even if you are sued by a debt buyer on a credit card debt and not by the original creditor. Example #2: The same facts as in Example #1, except now, instead of Big Bank suing you, a debt buyer called XYZ Funding has sued you on your Big Bank credit card. Question: Has XYZ Funding waited too long to sue you? Answer: YES. You still look at where the original creditor is based – the debt buyer does not get any more time to sue you than the original creditor would have had. In Example #2, the statute of limitations that applies is still Delaware’s three-year statute of limitations, since Big Bank is based in Delaware. (It doesn’t matter where XYZ Funding is based.) Since XYZ Funding waited more than three years to sue on the Big Bank credit card debt, the statute of limitations has expired, and the court must dismiss the case.