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. A: Sorry I can’t give you a definite answer, but if the Alabama courts have found credit cards to be a form of