Statute of Limitations on Debt: The 50-State Payment-Revival Table
A debt does not disappear when its statute of limitations runs out. What disappears is the collector's ability to win a lawsuit over it. That single distinction, between a debt going legally uncollectible-through-court and a debt ceasing to exist, is the most misunderstood idea in consumer debt collection, and it cuts both ways: readers who think an old debt is worthless to a collector are wrong, and readers who think a collector calling about old debt is automatically breaking the law are also wrong.
Every state sets its own statute of limitations (SOL) for debt, typically 3 to 10 years depending on the state and the type of debt, and every state also has its own rule for whether a payment or a signed acknowledgment can restart that clock. Those two variables, the length of the SOL and the state's revival rule, are what this page compresses into a single table so you do not have to read fifty separate statutes to find your state's answer.
What "Time-Barred" Actually Means
A statute of limitations is a deadline for filing a lawsuit, not a deadline for the debt's existence. Once the clock runs out on a particular debt, a collector or the original creditor can no longer sue you over it and win, and under federal Regulation F (discussed below) they are not even allowed to threaten to sue. But the underlying obligation is still real in every other sense: the collector can still call, still send letters, still ask you to pay voluntarily, and can still report the debt to a credit bureau if it has not aged off the credit report on its own separate schedule.
This matters because two very different mistakes both fail readers. The first is being scared into paying an old debt out of a belief that a lawsuit is imminent when the SOL has already expired and a suit is no longer legally available. The second is ignoring a debt entirely on the theory that the SOL "makes it go away," when in many states a single payment, or even a signed letter promising to pay, can restart the clock and put a lawsuit back on the table.
The Credit-Report Conflation: Two Clocks, Not One
The single most common source of confusion is treating the statute of limitations and the credit-reporting period as the same thing. They are not, and they run independently.
The state SOL governs how long a creditor or collector has to file and win a lawsuit. It varies by state and by the type of debt, generally landing somewhere between three and ten years, occasionally longer for notes or judgments.
The credit-reporting period is federal and separate. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, most negative information, including accounts placed for collection or charged off, generally must come off a credit report seven years after the reporting clock starts, regardless of what any state's statute of limitations says. That clock does not start on the date of the original delinquency itself: 15 U.S.C. section 1681c(c)(1) starts the seven-year period 180 days after the delinquency begins, which puts the true outer limit closer to seven and a half years from the original delinquency than a flat seven.
Because these clocks are unrelated, all four combinations happen in real life. A debt can still be inside its statute of limitations while it has already aged off the credit report. A debt can be fully off the credit report while a collector can still sue over it in a state with a longer SOL. A debt can be time-barred for lawsuit purposes while still showing up on a credit report if it has not yet hit the seven-year mark. And a debt can be both time-barred and off the report at the same time. Neither clock controls the other, and a collector telling you a debt "just fell off your credit report so the SOL must be up" (or the reverse) is describing something that is not how either law works.
Reg F: Suing or Threatening to Sue on Time-Barred Debt Is Flatly Banned
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Regulation F, effective 2021, addresses the lawsuit side of old debt directly. Its text is short and unqualified: "A debt collector must not bring or threaten to bring a legal action against a consumer to collect a time-barred debt" (12 CFR 1006.26(b)). The rule defines a time-barred debt as one for which the applicable statute of limitations has expired, and as written the prohibition carries no knowledge or intent qualifier, meaning the bar applies to the act of suing or threatening to sue itself, not to whether the collector believed the debt was still within the window.
What Reg F does not do is ban collection contact on time-barred debt. Calls, letters, and requests for voluntary payment on an old debt remain legal; only the threat or filing of a lawsuit is off limits once the debt is time-barred. The separate FDCPA ban on false or misleading representations (15 U.S.C. section 1692e) reinforces this: misrepresenting the legal status of a debt, including implying a lawsuit is possible when it is not, is independently prohibited.
Does Partial Payment Restart the Clock? The State-by-State Revival Table
This is the highest-stakes question on this page, and it has no single national answer. Some states let a bare payment on an old debt restart the entire limitations period with no writing involved, meaning a $5 goodwill payment on a debt that is 29 years and 11 months old can hand the collector a brand-new multi-year window to sue. Other states require a signed written acknowledgment before anything revives. A smaller group of states have gone the other direction entirely and now bar revival altogether once a debt is time-barred, no matter what the consumer says, signs, or pays.
The table below sorts every state into these tracks based on that state's current statute and, where the statute is silent, notes it honestly as an open question rather than guessing. Because several states split the rule between "payment restarts the clock" and "only a signed writing counts as acknowledgment," the two are listed as separate columns.
| State | Does payment alone restart the clock? | Is a signed writing required to revive? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Yes, but only before the original period expires | Writing required for acknowledgment/promise (payment alone is enough on its own) | Ala. Code 6-2-16 |
| Alaska | Yes, by statute | Written acknowledgment also works | Whether this applies to an already-expired debt is unresolved in the statute's text |
| Arizona | Unclear, statute is silent on payment | Yes, for acknowledgment | Do not assume payment alone revives; case law unconfirmed |
| Arkansas | Yes | Written acknowledgment also works | Ark. Code 16-56-111(b) |
| California | No, once the debt is already time-barred | Signed writing needed while the clock is still running | Statutorily bars suit and arbitration on time-barred debt; stronger than Reg F |
| Colorado | Varies, unverified | Unverified | No revival statute located; treat as open question |
| Connecticut | No, for debt purchased by a debt buyer | Not applicable, anti-revival applies regardless of writing | Scoped to purchased consumer debt; original-creditor debt follows different rules |
| Delaware | Varies, unverified | Unverified | No revival statute located; treat as open question |
| District of Columbia | No | Not applicable | Payment or affirmation after expiration does not extend the period |
| Florida | No | Yes, required | Payment alone is not enough |
| Georgia | Only if entered on written evidence of the debt or paired with a written acknowledgment | Effectively yes | A bare payment on an oral account is not a statutory revival |
| Hawaii | Likely, under case law | Unclear | No current revival statute confirmed; treat as an open question |
| Idaho | Yes, even an unwritten payment | No | Payment alone is treated as equivalent to a new signed promise |
| Illinois | Only if made in writing | Yes | A verbal or unwritten payment does not restart the clock |
| Indiana | Unverified | Unverified | Primary source blocked this session; treat as varies/unverified |
| Iowa | No | Yes | Payment alone does not revive under the statute's text |
| Kansas | Yes | Only for acknowledgment or promise, not for payment | Payment needs no writing at all |
| Kentucky | Unverified | Unverified | No statutory revival provision located; described only in secondary sources |
| Louisiana | Acknowledgment "interrupts" and restarts the period | Unclear if oral acknowledgment is enough | Uses "interruption," not the common-law revival vocabulary |
| Maine | Unverified | Unverified | No revival statute located |
| Maryland | No, for any creditor | Not applicable | Payment or affirmation after expiration never revives, by statute |
| Massachusetts | Yes, if provable independent of the creditor's own record | Writing required only for a bare acknowledgment or promise | A written notation of payment made by the creditor alone is not enough proof |
| Michigan | Unclear whether payment alone counts as acknowledgment | Yes, for acknowledgment | Statute has no separate part-payment clause |
| Minnesota | Likely, common-law effect preserved | Yes, for acknowledgment | Precise mechanics not fully settled |
| Mississippi | No, once already time-barred (a pre-expiry payment is just an ordinary clock reset, not revival) | Only after expiration, for a new promise | The debt itself is extinguished at expiration; only a new signed promise creates fresh liability afterward |
| Missouri | Yes | Only for acknowledgment or promise | Payment needs no writing |
| Montana | Yes | Only for acknowledgment | Payment needs no writing |
| Nebraska | Yes | Only for acknowledgment or promise | Payment needs no writing |
| Nevada | Yes | No | Broadest payment-alone rule; no writing requirement anywhere |
| New Hampshire | Likely, under common law | Unclear | No revival statute; based on case-law doctrine |
| New Jersey | Unclear whether payment alone is enough | Yes, per statute | Whether bare payment also revives is an open question |
| New Mexico | Yes | No | Confirmed through a state regulation's required consumer-disclosure language |
| New York | No, for consumer credit debt | Yes, for other debt types | Consumer Credit Fairness Act bars revival entirely on consumer credit |
| North Carolina | Yes | Only for acknowledgment | Statute expressly preserves payment's restart effect |
| North Dakota | Yes | Only for acknowledgment | Payment needs no writing |
| Ohio | Yes | Yes, either one restarts the clock | Payment or a signed acknowledgment both work independently |
| Oklahoma | Likely, on a plain-text reading, but unconfirmed against case law | Only for acknowledgment or promise | The signed-writing requirement grammatically attaches to an acknowledgment or promise, not to payment, so a plain-text reading suggests payment alone restarts the clock, but that has not been confirmed against Oklahoma case law |
| Oregon | Yes | Yes, for acknowledgment | Both mechanisms exist side by side |
| Pennsylvania | Unresolved | Unresolved | No revival statute; governed by case-law doctrine |
| Rhode Island | Unverified | Unverified | No revival statute located |
| South Carolina | Yes | Unclear | Part payment alone revives the period |
| South Dakota | Likely, effect preserved | Yes, for acknowledgment | Exact mechanics of a bare payment not fully confirmed |
| Tennessee | Unverified | Unverified | Primary source access blocked this session |
| Texas | No, for debt bought by a debt buyer | Yes, for an original creditor | Debt buyers can never revive; original creditors need a signed writing |
| Utah | Yes, even a third party's payment | No | Broad statutory payment-restart rule |
| Vermont | Yes | Yes, for acknowledgment | Both mechanisms exist side by side |
| Virginia | Not confirmed as sufficient alone | Yes | Statute centers on a signed writing |
| Washington | No, once already time-barred (a pre-expiry payment is just an ordinary clock reset, not revival) | Yes, same before-expiration limit | Nothing revives an already-time-barred Washington debt |
| West Virginia | Unresolved | Yes, for a new promise | Statute is silent on payment alone |
| Wisconsin | No | Not applicable | The debt itself is extinguished at expiration, not merely time-barred |
| Wyoming | Yes, possibly even after expiration | Unclear | Case law on the post-expiration question is unconfirmed; treat with caution |
Read this table by category, not just by row. States fall into a handful of real groups: states where the debt itself legally dies at expiration (Mississippi, Wisconsin); states with a hard anti-revival rule that survives any payment or writing (Maryland, New York's consumer-credit track, Connecticut's purchased-debt track, Texas's debt-buyer track, the District of Columbia); states where only a signed writing revives a time-barred debt (Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Virginia, and others); and the largest group, states where a bare payment with no writing at all can restart the whole period (Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and roughly a dozen more). A handful of states are honest gaps in the published record, no revival statute has been located, and this page will not guess at what a court might rule.
Why the Type of Debt Changes the Answer
The SOL "for debt" in a given state is rarely a single number. States commonly split contract claims into separate buckets, written contracts, oral or open accounts, and promissory notes or negotiable instruments, and each bucket can carry its own period within the same state. A credit card balance is frequently litigated as either a written contract or an open account depending on whether the creditor produces a signed cardmember agreement, and the two characterizations can carry different limitations periods in the same state. A signed promissory note is usually governed by that state's enactment of UCC Article 3 rather than its general contract statute, which is why note periods often diverge sharply from credit-card periods, for example Iowa gives negotiable notes a materially different treatment than its general contract statute, Maine gives a witnessed note 20 years, Vermont gives one 14 years, and Maryland gives a note under seal 12 years while an ordinary note runs 6. A handful of states, including Hawaii, North Dakota, and Ohio's consumer-transaction carve-out, collapse everything into one uniform period regardless of whether the underlying obligation was written, oral, or an open account, which is the exception rather than the rule nationally.
The practical consequence: do not assume that because you found "your state's SOL" as one number online, that number governs the specific debt you have. A collector suing on old debt sometimes characterizes it favorably, arguing for whichever bucket carries the longer period, and knowing which bucket actually applies to your debt type is often the difference between a live claim and a time-barred one.
What To Do When a Collector Calls About Old Debt
Find out how old the debt actually is before you say or send anything. The clock generally runs from the date of the last payment or the last charge, not from when the account was opened, so a debt that looks old at a glance may be more recent than it seems, or vice versa.
Do not assume a small "good faith" payment is harmless. In a payment-alone-revives state, even a token payment can hand the collector a fresh limitations period on the entire remaining balance, not just the amount paid. In a state that requires a signed writing, an unwritten and unsigned payment by itself generally will not revive the debt, though the safer course is still not to pay or promise anything on a debt you have not confirmed is within the window.
Do not assume ignoring the debt is risk-free either. If the debt is still within its statute of limitations, a collector or the original creditor can still sue and, if you fail to respond to that lawsuit, can win a default judgment regardless of how weak the underlying debt might have been. A default judgment opens far more aggressive collection tools, including wage garnishment and bank account levies, than the debt collector had before suing. Silence is not a defense; it forfeits one.
If a collector sues you on a debt you believe is time-barred, the expiration of the statute of limitations is an affirmative defense you generally must raise yourself, a court will not apply it automatically on your behalf. Responding to the lawsuit and raising the time-barred defense is very different from ignoring it and hoping the case goes away.
If you are unsure whether your state's rule allows payment to revive a debt, that uncertainty is itself a reason to get the exact date of last activity and your state's specific SOL and revival rule confirmed before making any payment, written acknowledgment, or promise, however small.
Information last verified on 2026-08-12. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.
Related Resources
For state-specific detail, including your state's exact wage-garnishment cap and repossession rules alongside its debt SOL, see debt collection laws by state. If a collector is threatening your paycheck, how to stop wage garnishment covers the exemption and default-judgment process. If a vehicle is at risk, see car repossession laws, and if Social Security or another federal benefit is involved, see can Social Security be garnished. Individual state deep dives are available for Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio, and California, four states that fall into different revival categories above. If unmanageable debt is the bigger issue regardless of what is time-barred, bankruptcy laws by state explain how the automatic stay stops collection entirely while a case is pending.
Last updated: 2026-08-12.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a debt disappear once the statute of limitations runs out?
No. A statute of limitations bars a lawsuit over the debt, not the debt's existence. A collector can still contact you and ask you to pay a time-barred debt; federal Regulation F only prohibits suing or threatening to sue on it.
Is the statute of limitations the same as the 7-year credit report rule?
No, they are two separate and unrelated clocks. The statute of limitations governs how long a creditor can sue, and it varies by state. The credit-reporting period is federal, generally seven years from the original delinquency under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and runs independently of any state's lawsuit deadline.
Can a collector sue me on a debt that is past the statute of limitations?
They should not. Regulation F bans a debt collector from bringing or threatening a lawsuit on a time-barred debt. If you are sued on old debt anyway, the expiration of the statute of limitations is a defense you generally must raise yourself in court.
Will making a small payment restart the clock on an old debt?
It depends entirely on your state. In many states, any payment, even a small one, restarts the full limitations period with no writing required. In others, only a signed written acknowledgment revives a time-barred debt, and in a few states nothing revives it once expired. Check your state's rule before paying anything on old debt.
Does the statute of limitations depend on the type of debt?
Yes. Many states set different limitations periods for written contracts, oral or open accounts, and promissory notes, and credit card debt in particular is sometimes characterized differently depending on whether a signed cardmember agreement exists. The number that applies can vary even within one state depending on which category your specific debt falls into.
What should I do if a collector calls about a debt I think is too old to be sued over?
Find out the exact date of last activity and confirm your state's statute of limitations and revival rule before making any payment or written acknowledgment. Avoid paying or promising to pay until you know whether that action could restart the clock in your state.
Updates
Independently fact-checked against the cited primary sources
Sources and References
- 12 CFR 1006.26 (Regulation F), Prohibition on Collection of Time-Barred Debt(ecfr.gov).gov
- 15 U.S.C. section 1692e, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (false or misleading representations)(govinfo.gov).gov
- 15 U.S.C. section 1681c, Fair Credit Reporting Act (seven-year limit on reporting collection accounts)(govinfo.gov).gov
- N.Y. CPLR 214-i, Consumer Credit Fairness Act (absolute anti-revival for consumer credit)(nysenate.gov).gov
- Tex. Fin. Code section 392.307, Collection of Time-Barred Consumer Debt by Debt Buyers(statutes.capitol.texas.gov).gov
- Wis. Stat. section 893.05, Effect of Bar (extinguishment of the underlying right)(docs.legis.wisconsin.gov).gov
- Md. Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings section 5-1202, Consumer Debt Collection (no revival by post-expiration payment)(mgaleg.maryland.gov).gov