Debt statute of limitations by state
Pick your state to see how long you can be sued over an old debt, for written contracts and for credit cards.
Written contracts
Credit cards and open accounts
Be careful with payments: in most states, even a small payment on an old debt, or acknowledging it in writing, can start the clock over from the beginning. Don’t pay anything on an old debt until you know where the clock stands. (Some states, such as New York, Washington, and Texas as to debt buyers, bar reviving expired debt. Don’t assume yours does.)
What the statute of limitations means for you
- The debt doesn’t disappear. After the limitations period, the debt still exists and collectors can still ask you to pay. What they can’t do is win a lawsuit if you raise the expired statute as a defense. (Exceptions: in Wisconsin and Mississippi the debt is legally extinguished, and North Carolina bars debt buyers from suing or collecting on time-barred debt at all.)
- You have to raise the defense yourself. If you ignore a lawsuit on an expired debt, the collector can still win by default judgment. Answer the suit and state that the statute of limitations has run.
- Suing, or threatening to sue, on time-barred debt is illegal. Federal Regulation F (12 CFR §1006.26) prohibits debt collectors from suing or threatening suit on time-barred debt, whether or not they knew it had expired. That gives you a counterclaim, not just a defense.
- The clock usually starts at default, generally around the first missed payment you never caught up on, not when the account was opened.
- Which state’s clock applies can be complicated. It may be your state, the state named in the contract’s fine print, or the state where you’re sued. When in doubt, expect the collector to argue for the longest period that could plausibly apply, and get the collector to state the date of default in writing (a validation letter does this).
- Credit reporting runs on a separate clock. Most negative items come off your credit report after about 7 years, whatever the lawsuit deadline. An expired statute doesn’t clear your report, and a recent entry on your report doesn’t mean they can still sue.
Kits For That is not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice. Periods are summaries of state statutes. Courts in several states disagree on how to treat credit cards (shown as “courts split”), and laws change. This lookup is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney: confirm a period before you rely on it, and talk to a lawyer if you’ve been sued. Facts verified against official sources in July 2026.