You need to read your local court rules. Most states will specify when the statute starts to run; many say that the clock starts ticking when you made your very last payment to the account (defaulted).

If you made a payment in May, skipped four months and paid it again in September, then September would start it. You could have stopped it in May, but made another payment which starts the clock running again.

It is unwise to go by your credit report for the date of the last payment because creditors charge off the account and specify a date which can be six months later than the actual date you last paid.

The best way to figure out when you made last payment to your account is by going through your old credit card statements. If you are being sued, you need to request this documentation from the creditor suing you or junk debt buyer. This is a joke in itself because these companies usually don’t have any credit card statements.

I’ve read all over the internet never to go by your credit report because the dates do not match up. For instance, I made the last payment to a credit card according to the creditor’s statements in May but my credit report is reflecting a date of November as last payment.

I am going to have to dispute this on my credit report because they have the wrong date listed, but that’s another story for another time.

Check your own statements or checking account for the very last payment you made to this account and you will then have verified the last date and can then accurately determine if this debt is time barred under your state’s statute of limitations.