BARNES, J.
Jason Smither appeals the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Asset Acceptance, LLC (“Asset”) [the bank that issued a credit card to Smither]. We reverse and remand.
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The parties proceed upon the assumption that the proper statute of limitations in this case is Indiana Code Section 34-11-2-9, which provides in part, “An action upon promissory notes, bills of exchange, or other written contracts for the payment of money executed after August 31, 1982, must be commenced within six (6) years after the cause of action accrues.” We are not convinced, however, that this statute of limitations applies to attempts to collect credit card debt. Instead, the more appropriate statute appears to be Indiana Code Section 34-11-2-7(1), which governs “[a]ctions on accounts and contracts not in writing.” Although this statute also contains a six-year limitations period, labeling Smither’s debt as one related to an “account” or unwritten contract as opposed to a written contract for the payment of money affects the commencement of the running of the statute of limitations.
The Illinois Appellate Court recently addressed whether an action to collect credit card debt was governed by that state’s statute of limitations for “actions on unwritten contracts,” or the statute of limitations for “actions on bonds, promissory notes, bills of exchange, written leases, written contracts, or other evidences of indebtedness in writing . . . .” Portfolio Acquisitions, LLC v. Feltman, 909 N.E.2d 876, 881 (Ill. App. Ct. 2009). The Feltman court began by noting the nature of credit card transactions. Essentially, when a consumer uses a bank-issued credit card to make a purchase, the bank pays the merchant on behalf of the consumer, and that amount is treated as a loan by the bank to the consumer, with repayment contractually governed by the terms of the credit card agreement. See Feltman, 909 N.E.2d at 881 (citing Harris Trust & Sav. Bank v. McCray, 316 N.E.2d 209, 211 (Ill. App. Ct. 1974)). The issuance of a credit card and accompanying cardholder agreement “is a standing offer to extend credit that may be revoked at any time.” Id. Additionally, “each time the credit card is used, a separate contract is formed between the cardholder and bank.” Id.
With this background, the Feltman court concluded that the statute of limitations for unwritten contracts governed credit card accounts. It noted that a written credit card application and/or generic terms of agreement do not by themselves establish the existence of a contract; the contract creating indebtedness is formed only when the customer accepts the bank’s offer of credit by using the card. See id. at 883. The court also observed that many credit card transactions are purely electronic and do not require any kind of physical writing to consummate. See id. at 884. Furthermore, credit card account statements are merely demands for payment based on the alleged prior use of the card that may be disputed by the debtor; by themselves, statements are not complete agreements or considered written contracts. See id. at 885-86.
Feltman is highly instructive. It establishes that credit card accounts are unlike promissory notes or installments loans, such as mortgages, student loans, and car loans. In those types of written debt obligations, the total amount of indebtedness and a defined schedule of repayment, including precise dates for payment and the amount of each payment until the debt is fully repaid, typically are included in the loan document from the outset. With a credit card, although a credit limit may be established, the precise amount of debt that a consumer may undertake is unknown at the outset and fluctuates, depending on how the card is used. Instead, the creditor sends monthly statements to the debtor indicating the amount of that month’s required minimum payment, which may vary depending upon how much the card has been used, whether the creditor has imposed fees of different kinds, whether the interest rate for the card is variable, and how previous payments have been made. Long-standing Indiana law also holds, “’The mere existence of any written document associated with a cause of action does not enable a claimant to avoid [the] statute of limitations for unwritten contracts [and actions on account]. The written document must in fact be the basis for the claim being pressed.’” McMahan v. Snap on Tool Corp., 478 N.E.2d 116, 123 (Ind. Ct. App. 1985) (quoting In re Widau, 177 Ind. App. 215, 222, 378 N.E.2d 936, 940 (1978)); see also Falmouth & Lewisville Turnpike Co. v. Shawhan, 107 Ind. 47, 48, 5 N.E. 408, 409 (1886) (holding that statute of limitations governing unwritten contract applies where contract is partially in writing and partially based on parol evidence).
With Feltman’s observations and our own, we note that credit card accounts would appear to closely resemble the common law definition of an “open account.”
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. . . This definition encompasses credit card agreements: the precise amount of indebtedness that a customer may incur is unknown and fluctuating and the account is kept open in anticipation of future transactions, unless one of the parties decides to close it. See also Nelson v. Board of Comm’rs of Posey County, 105 Ind. 287, 288, 4 N.E. 703, 704 (1886) (“The primary idea of „account’ is some matter of debit and credit, or of a demand in the nature of debit and credit between parties, arising out of contract, or of a fiduciary relation, or some duty imposed by law.”).
Thus, we will treat Smither’s debt as an open account debt for statute of limitations purposes. The general rule is that the statute of limitations for an action on an open account “commences from the date the account is due.” 1 Am. Jur. 2d Accounts & Accounting § 22 (2005). It is also clear that when the last activity on an open account, such as the charging of an item or the making of a payment on the account, has occurred beyond the statutory limitations period, any action as to the entire balance of the account or any part of the balance is time-barred. See Hawkins v. Barnes, 661 So.2d 1271, 1272-73 (Fla. Ct. App. 1995). There is no indication in case law or other authorities that a creditor can indefinitely postpone the commencement of the statute of limitations by continuing to send additional statements demanding payment after the first demand has gone unpaid.
Here, the statements in the record indicate that Smither last made a payment on the account on February 9, 2000, and thereafter Providian requested a minimum payment of $45.00 on the account due March 11, 2000. Smither never made that payment, nor any other, and made no additional charges to the account. Whether we consider the statute of limitations to have begun running on the date of Smither’s last payment or the next payment due date thereafter, Asset’s lawsuit filed on May 30, 2006, was more than six years after both dates.
Asset contends that it essentially was entitled to delay the running of the statute of limitations because the credit card agreement governing Smither’s account contained an optional acceleration clause. Asset further argues that Providian exercised this option in September 2000, when it “charge[d] off” Smither’s account. Appellant’s App. p. 75. It is true that if an installment loan contract or promissory note has an optional acceleration clause, by which a creditor may (but is not required) to declare all future installments on the loan immediately due and payable after a debtor’s default, the statute of limitations to collect the entire debt does not begin to run immediately upon the debtor’s default, but only when the creditor exercises the optional acceleration clause. See Griese-Traylor Corp. v. Lemmons, 424 N.E.2d 173, 183 (Ind. Ct. App. 1981).
Having already concluded that a credit card account is more akin to an open account or unwritten contract than a promissory note or installment loan contract, it is not clear to us that we ought to incorporate the law regarding optional acceleration clauses into this case. Nonetheless, even if we were to assume that a credit card company could delay the running of the statute of limitations by waiting to invoke an optional acceleration clause, the simple fact here is that Providian never invoked it. Asset provides us with no authority equating a debt “charge off” with the exercise of an optional acceleration clause, nor have we discovered any in our own research. In fact, we cannot conclude that they are equivalent. A “charge off” is defined generally as “[t]o treat (an account receivable) as a loss or expense because payment is unlikely; to treat as a bad debt.” Black’s Law Dictionary p. 227 (7th ed. 1999). Under this definition, a “charge off” appears to be an accounting device that has no bearing upon the question of whether an optional acceleration clause has been invoked.
On the other hand, as indicated both by case law and the express language of the Providian Mastercard agreement, an acceleration requires a declaration that the full amount of the existing debt is immediately due and payable, thus revoking an earlier agreement to pay the debt gradually over time.
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Here, even if Providian internally believed it was invoking the optional acceleration clause when it “charged off” Smither’s debt, it never took any “affirmative action” to notify Smither of that fact. Such notification plainly is a requirement for invoking an optional acceleration clause. Indeed, for several months after Providian “charged off” Smither’s debt and supposedly invoked the optional acceleration clause, it continued sending him monthly statements requesting minimum payment(s) of considerably less than the full amount of his indebtedness. The final bill in the record, sent in December 2000, requested a minimum payment of $670.00 on a total balance of $2152.67. This request is fatally inconsistent with Asset’s contention that Providian had already invoked the optional acceleration clause in September 2000. We conclude that Providian’s September 2000 “charge off” of Smither’s debt was not the same as exercising its rights under the optional acceleration clause.
In fact, the first instance in the record upon which either Asset or Providian requested immediate and full payment of Smither’s outstanding indebtedness was when Asset filed this suit in May 2006. By that time, Smither had been in default on his account for over six years. Clearly, waiting until after the statute of limitations has passed following default before making demand for full and immediate payment of a debt is per se an “unreasonable” amount of time to invoke an optional acceleration clause and cannot be given effect.5 See Newsom v. Board of Comm’rs, 103 Ind. 526, 530, 3 N.E. 163, 165 (1885) (holding that parties cannot avoid the running of the statute of limitations by waiting until after the limitations period has passed before demanding payment).
Viewing Smither’s credit card account as an open account, Providian and its successor Asset had, at the very latest, six years from March 11, 2000, to file suit against Smither seeking collection of any part the debt he incurred. Even if we were to assume Providian could have invoked the optional acceleration clause at a later date and thereby delay the running of the statute of limitations, it never did so. Thus, Asset’s lawsuit filed on May 30, 2006, is completely time-barred.
We observe that, although this is an appeal from the grant of Asset’s motion for summary judgment, “When any party has moved for summary judgment, the court may grant summary judgment for any other party upon the issues raised by the motion . . . .” Ind. Trial Rule 56(B). It is clear not only that the grant of summary judgment in favor of Asset must be reversed, but also that Smither is entitled to summary judgment on remand because of our resolution of the statute of limitations issue.
Asset’s claim to any portion of Smither’s Providian credit card balance is barred by the statute of limitations. We reverse the grant of summary judgment in favor of Asset and remand for the trial court to enter summary judgment in favor of Smither.
Reversed and remanded.
NAJAM, J., and KIRSCH, J., concur.