Time is one of the most important factors of credit card debt. Your level of delinquency, the state of your credit report, whether you can be successfully sued for what you owe: each of these things depends on time. This in itself is not confusing; however, the nuances and U.S. state-by-state variations of the relationship between debt and time are.

Various time frames are important to debt, but one of the most significant is its statute of limitations. This is essentially the time during which debt is relevant under the law. Before the statute of limitations expires, you can be successfully sued for amounts owed. Once it runs out however, suit can be initiated, but it will be thrown out of court if you make it clear that the debt is “time barred,” or older than the statue of limitations.

As we all know, all throughout 2009 credit card issuers raised interest rates on millions of consumers. The way you tackle high interest rates on credit card debt depends on your specific situation. If you have good credit, the first thing you want to consider is a balance transfer. Typically, you need a credit score of 660 or higher in order to be approved for a balance transfer credit card, and a score of 720 or higher to get the best offers. Once you are approved for one of these credit cards, you can transfer your balance from a credit card with a high interest rate to the new credit card with a lower rate. Most balance transfer credit cards offer 0 percent interest on the transferred balance for the first year of the agreement, but generally will charge a fee between 3 and 5 percent of your balance.

While the introductory rate is usually 0 percent, you also need to consider what the regular interest rate is after the introductory period is over. The key to determining how important the regular interest rate is for your situation depends on how long it will take you to pay off your debt. You can determine this by using a credit card payoff calculator. If you are able to pay off your debt before the introductory period is over, the regular interest rate is not of much significance to you. However, if you know it will take you much longer, you should carefully consider how much the regular interest rate will cost you over time.

If you don’t have the money to handle your credit card debt, first call your credit card company and try and work out an arrangement that is both affordable for you and reasonable to them.  If this is impossible you have three options.

The first is debt management and should be considered if you are barely able to make the minimum payment on your credit card account.  If you opt for debt management, your card issuer will close your account and reduce your fees and/or the APR.  Debt management will also have a marginally negative impact on your credit.

If you are less than 180 days delinquent, meaning that your account has not been charged off yet, you can simply call your credit card company (their phone number is on the back of your card) and tell them that you want to make a payment.  Keep in mind that because your account has gone into collections, you have some leverage, and can negotiate with your credit card issuer to get them to waive fees, lower the interest rate on your account, offer an affordable monthly payment plan, oreven settle for an amount less than you owe.

If your account has been charged off (i.e. more than 180 days delinquent), it is likely that your credit card issuer has sold the debt associated with your account to a third party – i.e. a collections agency.  Therefore, you need to call back the collections agency that has been contacting you.  You still have leverage if you want to pay the debt off, and can negotiate with a collections agency the same way you would with your credit card issuer.  A collections agency may also be willing to put you on a monthly payment plan, similar to what you were responsible for prior to your account being charged off.  As you decide how to best handle your credit card debt with any collections agency, remember that they will continue to harass you until you satisfy the debt or make arrangements to do so.