Debt collectors in New York

Credit cards: Statute settles it. CPLR 214-i (Consumer Credit Fairness Act, L. 2021 ch. 593; eff. April 7, 2022): 'an action arising out of a consumer credit transaction where a purchaser, borrower or debtor is a defendant' must be commenced within 3 years. Consumer credit card debt is a 'consumer credit transaction' under CPLR 105(f): credit extended to an individual primarily for personal, family or household purposes. This applies to original creditors and debt buyers alike.

Payments and acknowledgments: (a) Before expiry: GOL 17-101 requires a signed writing for an acknowledgment or promise but 'does not alter the effect of a payment of principal or interest.' Under Lew Morris Demolition Co. v. Board of Educ., 40 N.Y.2d 516 (1976), a part payment restarts the period only if it is a payment of part of an admitted debt, 'accompanied by circumstances amounting to an absolute and unqualified acknowledgment' of more being due. (b) After expiry: for consumer credit transactions, CPLR 214-i provides that 'when the applicable limitations period expires, any subsequent payment toward, written or oral affirmation of or other activity on the debt does not revive or extend the limitations period.' This binds all plaintiffs, both creditors and debt buyers. The ban is in CPLR 214-i itself; GOL 17-101 was NOT amended (the official text was last revised 2014-09-22, and the CCFA bill S153 does not touch it).

Judgments: CPLR 211(b): a money judgment is presumed paid 20 years after the creditor was first entitled to enforce it. The presumption is defeated by the debtor's signed written acknowledgment or a payment within that time; property taken by levy counts as a payment. Income executions and bank levies are available within the 20 years. The real-property judgment lien lasts 10 years from filing the judgment-roll (CPLR 5203(a)) and can be extended by court order only in limited sale or stay situations (5203(b)). To renew the lien, the creditor brings an action for a renewal judgment under CPLR 5014 during the year before the 10-year mark; the renewal judgment's lien starts when the original lien expires.

Medical debt, 3 years: Action on a medical debt by a hospital licensed under Public Health Law art. 28 or a health care professional licensed under Education Law title 8: 3 years from treatment. (CPLR 213-d)

Other rules: CPLR 214-i exceptions: the 3-year period does not displace CPLR 213-a, UCC article 2 (sale-of-goods contracts: 4 yrs under UCC 2-725), or GBL article 36-B. Because the 3-year period has been in force since Apr. 7, 2022, every consumer credit claim that accrued before then is now past 3 years, whether measured from accrual or from the effective date. written_contract and oral_contract show the general 6-year CPLR 213(2) figure; for consumer credit debts the 3-year 214-i period controls. The promissory_note field is 3 because a consumer note is a consumer credit transaction under CPLR 105(f); a non-consumer note is 6. The DFS model notice (23 NYCRR 1.3(c), 2014) still says a payment may restart the SOL, which is outdated for consumer credit debts after CCFA. There is no state statute expressly banning suit on time-barred debt; CCFA pleading and affidavit rules make the plaintiff show the claim is timely. NYC DCWP debt collection rules were not checked. CPLR 202 (borrowing statute for claims accruing outside NY to nonresidents) was not read. Federal Reg F bars FDCPA collectors from suing or threatening suit on time-barred debt. CPLR 213-d (read on nysenate.gov): medical-debt suits by hospitals and licensed health professionals must be brought within 3 years of treatment.

• open account: CPLR 214-i; CPLR 105(f)
• written contract: CPLR 213(2) (6 yrs, 'except as provided in section ... two hundred fourteen-i')
• oral contract: CPLR 213(2)
• promissory note: CPLR 214-i (3 yrs where the note is a consumer credit transaction); non-consumer notes: CPLR 213(2) (6 yrs; New York has not adopted revised UCC 3-118)
• judgment: CPLR 211(b); CPLR 5203(a)-(b); CPLR 5014
• payment restarts: CPLR 214-i (post-expiry revival ban); GOL 17-101; Lew Morris Demolition Co. v. Board of Educ., 40 N.Y.2d 516 (1976)
• other: Consumer Credit Fairness Act, L. 2021 ch. 593 (S153, signed Nov. 8, 2021; 214-i effective 150th day = Apr. 7, 2022; 214-i text revised 2022-04-08 by a chapter amendment); CCFA also added CPLR 306-d (additional notice), 3016(j) (complaint contents), 3215(j) (default affidavits), 7516; 23 NYCRR 1.3 (DFS, eff. Dec. 3, 2014): third-party collectors and debt buyers must keep procedures to determine the SOL and give a prescribed disclosure before accepting payment on possibly time-barred debt

Sources: nysenate.gov · nysenate.gov · nysenate.gov