Sued by your credit card company for unpaid debt? Whether or not you choose to hire a lawyer to represent you in court, you need to familiarize yourself with debt collection laws in your state. One such debt collection laws to determine the debt statutes of limitation on your account.You will need to get your credit reports from all three credit reporting bureaus because from the credit report, you will determine the last time you made a payment on your account. Compare all three reports to see if all information is accurate.

If you see that certain data is incorrect, you need to cross check with your bank statements, and search for the supposed payment. These documents may be requested from the bank. If things don't add up, it's possible that your account has been re-aged by your creditor.

Re-Aging CC Debts: What is the concept behind this practice?

Re-aging debts refer to out of statutes debt that has been re-aged to make it fall within the statutes of limitation in a certain area. In some cases, junk debt buyers or debt collectors who purchased debt accounts that are out of statutes will be re-aged so they can still go after said debtors.

For the debtors, re-aging an account is a double edged sword because 1) it will appear that the debt in dispute is still in the statute and 2) the debt will stay on their credit report for years and this will damage the credit score.

If you are reviewing the debt collection laws in your area, you will know that out of statute debts cannot be collected. If you found that your credit card account was re-aged, you need to list this one as your number one Affirmative Defense in your Answer. Don't forget to make extra copies of the proof with the DOLA highlighted and bring these evidence to court if the credit card lawsuit pushes through.

If, on the other hand, your account is still in the statute but the account has been re-aged, you will also need documented proof of the evidence and bring it to court. This is a pretty heavy accusation so make sure you got all the evidence you need to prove your complaint once the credit card lawsuit reaches court.

Proving that your credit card account was re-aged is a powerful defense especially in case of arbitration. But you can only do so if you know how to prove the conflicted dates through your credit reports, bank statements, etc. If the court agrees that there is conflict with the account, the plaintiff cannot expect an easy win through default judgment.