Being sued in Florida - old debt

[nj2miami]

What is the name of your state? Florida

My wife was sued for a debt that went delinquent in Sept '99. All of the research I have done on this matter have pointed me to believe that the Statute of Limitations for the state of Florida in the recovery of a credit card debt is 4 years.

Armed with this information, I went to court with my wife to defend ourselves in Civil court and when I posed this defense to the judge, he stated that the SoL for credit card debt is 5 years.

I was under the impression that written contracts had a 5 year SoL and open ended contracts fell into the 4 year SoL category. I also was under the impression that credit cards fell under the open-ended contract category.

Do credit cards fall into the written contract category in the State of Florida?

I would really like to get some feedback on this since the judge denied my request to dismiss the case based on the SoL defense. I then felt obligated at that time to enter into mediation to repay the debt.

I would like to get a solid answer to this question!

Thanks,
Arthur

 

[Tayla]

Credit cards fall under the "revolving line of credit" thereby "open ended".
Seek a lawyer and see if the decision can be overturned. Refrain from making a payment til you do have representation. LadyNRed from this site would be a valuable asset to seek advice on this or point you in the right direction for information.

 

[Ladynred]

This seems to be a real problem issue in FL as it has come up a lot recently on several boards. Credit cards are specifically defined as open-ended by the Federal Truth in Lending Act. They do not fit the definition of a closed-ended contract such as a written contract for a car loan - there is no set period of repayment, you get to re-use the credit when you make payments, finance charges are computed on the unpaid balance (with written contracts the interest is computed and added into the total and payments go to interest first, then principal). Also, you do not sign a credit card 'contract', the only thing you ever really sign is the credit card application ! The application also does NOT fill the requirements of a 'contract' like a mortgage or car loan where you DO sign the contract itself.

You might be interested in reading the documents from a woman's SOL case - one she WON and got the thing dismissed. Its not FL, its IA, but some of her arguments may be helpful to you in forming your own.

http://whychat.5u.com/pinklady.html