Statute of limitations on debt

The period depends on your state and the kind of agreement. A written contract — including most credit-card agreements — usually gets the longest period; an oral contract is often shorter. The table below shows the states we have verified against their primary statute; the calculator above covers all 50 states plus DC. Click a state for its full cited page.

For most consumer debt the limitations clock starts on the date of your last activity on the account — typically your last payment, or the date the account first went delinquent and was never brought current. It does not restart every month just because a balance is still owed, and it does not start over when a debt is sold to a collector: a buyer takes the debt with the same clock that was already running.

This is why the single most useful date is the day you last paid. Pull the account's payment history, find that date, enter it in the calculator above, and add your state's period. If you cannot find it, a debt collector must — on request — tell you information about the debt, and your credit report shows a "date of first delinquency" that anchors the timeline.

In most states, yes — and this is the trap that costs people their strongest defense. A partial payment, a written promise to pay, or even a written acknowledgment that the debt is yours can reset the clock to zero, a process called re-aging. A debt that was months from becoming time-barred can suddenly have years back on it because of one "good-faith" payment or a recorded phone admission.

The rule and its form vary: some states require the acknowledgment to be in writing and signed to revive the debt, while others give effect to a partial payment alone. Because the stakes are the loss of a complete legal defense, treat any old debt as fragile: find out whether the period has already run before you pay anything, promise anything, or confirm the debt in writing.

Once the limitations period expires the debt is time-barred. The money is still legally owed — but a court can no longer be used to force you to pay it, provided you raise the expired deadline. That defense is not automatic: if a collector sues and you ignore it, you can lose by default judgment even though the debt was time-barred. Show up and raise the statute of limitations, and the case is dismissed.

Federal law backs this up. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq.), a debt collector who sues or threatens to sue on a debt they know or should know is time-barred is engaging in a false, deceptive, or unfair practice. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Regulation F also requires certain disclosures before collecting time-barred debt. Separately, a time-barred debt can still appear on your credit report for up to seven years from the first delinquency — the credit-reporting clock and the lawsuit clock are different things.

The category controls the period. A written contract — a signed loan, most credit-card agreements, a promissory note — usually gets the longest period, often four to ten years. An oral contract (nothing signed) is frequently shorter. Some states use a separate "open account" or "account stated" period for revolving balances like credit cards, and a promissory note may fall under yet another rule.

Credit cards are the common gray area: most courts treat them as written contracts or as open accounts, but which applies — and which state's law governs when you moved or the card agreement names another state — can decide whether a suit is timely. When two periods could apply, do not assume the longer one; the shorter often controls, and a collector will argue for whichever keeps its suit alive.

The statute of limitations is an affirmative defense — it works only if you assert it. If you have been served, do not ignore the suit and do not admit the debt or offer a payment before you have checked the dates: silence risks a default judgment, and an admission or payment can re-age the debt. Confirm the last-payment date, apply your state's period with the calculator above, and if the suit was filed after the deadline, raising that in your written answer is typically a complete defense.

The state contract periods in the table are cited to each state's primary statute and were verified on July 21, 2026; the federal debt-collection and credit-reporting rules are cited to the U.S. Code and CFPB regulations. Periods for states not in the table are shown in the calculator as general figures and are not individually cited.