Last reviewed 14 August 2026
Pick your state, the type of debt and the date it went into default, and the calculator works out whether the limitation period has run. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, with the statute cited for each.
The statute of limitations on debt is the deadline for a creditor to sue you, not a deadline for the debt to disappear. It runs from 3 to 10 years depending on your state and the type of debt, and the clock normally starts on the date of default rather than the date you opened the account.
Once it has run the debt is time-barred: it still exists and can still be asked for, but a lawsuit over it will fail if you show up and raise the statute as a defense.
Click a state for its limitation period. The shading follows the type of debt selected below, so changing the type re-colors the map.
Credit card or open account
3 years or less4 to 5 years6 years7 to 9 years10 years or moreThree answers give you the date the limitation period runs out in your state.
Enter a real date that is not in the future.
Key takeaways
Limitation period
1y left to sue
Still enforceable
The 4-year period on credit card or open account debt in California runs out on September 3, 2027. Until then a creditor can still sue.
If you are the business that is owed the money, Paidnice automates reminders, statements and late fees in Xero and QuickBooks.
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General information, not legal advice. This page explains how limitation periods generally work and cites the statute for each state. It is not advice about your situation and no attorney-client relationship is created by reading it.
Limitation periods turn on facts this calculator cannot see: which state's law governs, how your debt is classified, when the cause of action actually accrued, and whether anything has already restarted or paused the clock. A written contract, an open account and a promissory note can carry three different periods in the same state.
Before you act on a number here, and before you pay or sign anything on an old debt, speak to an attorney licensed in your state. In most states a part payment or written acknowledgement restarts the period from zero, so a small payment on a debt that was almost time-barred can hand the creditor several more years.
A statute of limitations is a deadline on the lawsuit, not on the debt. When it expires the money is still owed. What changes is that the creditor can no longer force you to pay through a court.
Three things decide your answer, and people usually get the third one wrong:
Normally the state where you live when the suit is filed. Many credit card agreements name another state instead, commonly Delaware, South Dakota, Utah or Virginia, and courts often enforce that clause. Borrowing statutes in many states then apply the shorter of the two periods.
Written contract, open account, oral agreement and promissory note carry different periods, and the gap can be large. Louisiana runs 3 years on an open account and 10 on a written contract. Whether a credit card counts as written or open is itself litigated in some states.
The date of default, which is normally your last payment or the first missed payment never made up. It is not the date you opened the account. Selling the debt to a collector does not restart it, and a collector quoting a later date is not evidence that the clock started then.
The trap. In most states a partial payment, or a written promise to pay, restarts the limitation period from zero. A $20 good faith payment on a debt with three months left on the clock can give the creditor the full period again. This is why buyers of old debt ask for a small payment rather than the balance. The calculator above shows the new expiry date a payment today would create.
Almost every page on this subject blurs these together, and the difference decides whether a payment costs you years or costs you nothing.
None of that is a reason to make a payment on an old debt without advice. It is a reason to find out which rule your state applies before you do.
Periods in years, by debt type, with the governing statute. Filter by state or sort the table by any column.
| State | Credit card / open | Written contract | Oral | Promissory note | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 3 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Ala. Code § 6-2-34 |
| Alaska | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Alaska Stat. § 09.10.053 |
| Arizona | 6 | 6 | 3 | 6 | Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 12-543, § 12-548 |
| Arkansas | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | Ark. Code § 16-56-105, § 16-56-111 |
| California | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 337, § 339 |
| Colorado | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-103.5 |
| Connecticut | 6 | 6 | 3 | 6 | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-576, § 52-581 |
| Delaware | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Del. Code tit. 10 § 8106 |
| District of Columbia | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | D.C. Code § 12-301 |
| Florida | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | Fla. Stat. § 95.11 |
| Georgia | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 | Ga. Code § 9-3-24, § 9-3-25 |
| Hawaii | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 657-1 |
| Idaho | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | Idaho Code § 5-216, § 5-217 |
| Illinois | 5 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 735 ILCS 5/13-205, 5/13-206 |
| Indiana | 6 | 10 | 6 | 10 | Ind. Code § 34-11-2-7, § 34-11-2-9 |
| Iowa | 5 | 10 | 5 | 10 | Iowa Code § 614.1 |
| Kansas | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | Kan. Stat. § 60-511, § 60-512 |
| Kentucky | 5 | 10 | 5 | 10 | Ky. Rev. Stat. § 413.120, § 413.160 |
| Louisiana | 3 | 10 | 3 | 5 | La. Civ. Code art. 3494, 3498, 3499 |
| Maine | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 14 § 752 |
| Maryland | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Md. Cts. & Jud. Proc. Code § 5-101 |
| Massachusetts | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 260 § 2 |
| Michigan | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.5807 |
| Minnesota | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Minn. Stat. § 541.05 |
| Mississippi | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Miss. Code § 15-1-29, § 15-1-49 |
| Missouri | 5 | 10 | 5 | 10 | Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.110, § 516.120 |
| Montana | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | Mont. Code § 27-2-202 |
| Nebraska | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-205, § 25-206 |
| Nevada | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 | Nev. Rev. Stat. § 11.190 |
| New Hampshire | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | N.H. Rev. Stat. § 508:4 |
| New Jersey | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | N.J. Stat. § 2A:14-1 |
| New Mexico | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 | N.M. Stat. § 37-1-3, § 37-1-4 |
| New York | 3 | 6 | 6 | 6 | N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 213, § 214-i |
| North Carolina | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-52 |
| North Dakota | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | N.D. Cent. Code § 28-01-16 |
| Ohio | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.06, § 2305.07 |
| Oklahoma | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | Okla. Stat. tit. 12 § 95 |
| Oregon | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Or. Rev. Stat. § 12.080 |
| Pennsylvania | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5525 |
| Rhode Island | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-13 |
| South Carolina | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | S.C. Code § 15-3-530 |
| South Dakota | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | S.D. Codified Laws § 15-2-13 |
| Tennessee | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Tenn. Code § 28-3-109 |
| Texas | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.004 |
| Utah | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 | Utah Code § 78B-2-307, § 78B-2-309 |
| Vermont | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Vt. Stat. tit. 12 § 511 |
| Virginia | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | Va. Code § 8.01-246 |
| Washington | 3 | 6 | 3 | 6 | Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.040, § 4.16.080 |
| West Virginia | 5 | 10 | 5 | 10 | W. Va. Code § 55-2-6 |
| Wisconsin | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Wis. Stat. § 893.43 |
| Wyoming | 8 | 10 | 8 | 10 | Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-105 |
No state matches that name.
Compiled from the published state statutes cited in each row and reviewed August 2026. Ohio and Montana were corrected in this review: Ohio cut its written contract period from 8 years to 6 and its oral period from 6 to 4 in 2021, and Montana cut written contracts from 8 years to 6 in 2025. Limitation periods are amended by state legislatures and reinterpreted by state courts, sometimes with retroactive effect. Confirm the current text of the statute before relying on it.
One caveat on the promissory note column. It shows each state's general contract period. If your note is a negotiable instrument payable at a definite time, the Uniform Commercial Code as adopted in your state normally overrides that with a flat 6 years under UCC 3-118(a), which can be longer or shorter than the figure in the table. Check the UCC article 3 section in your own state before relying on the promissory column.
The written contract period is the one most often quoted as "the" statute of limitations for a state, because it is the longest of the four in most places.
Alaska, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina
California, Pennsylvania, Texas
Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Virginia
Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Wyoming
Credit card debt is the single most searched category here, and it is usually treated as an open account rather than a written contract, which in many states gives it the shorter period.
The shortest credit card periods in the country are the 3-year statutes in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington. The longest is Rhode Island at 10 years, with Wyoming next at 8.
New York is the change worth knowing about. The Consumer Credit Fairness Act cut the period on consumer credit debt from 6 years to 3 with effect from 2022, which moved a large volume of New York card debt out of reach of the courts.
Paidnice is accounts receivable software for businesses, so it is not the answer to a personal debt problem and we will not pretend otherwise. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publishes free guidance on debt collection, sample response letters and how to answer a summons, and your state bar can refer you to a consumer attorney.
CFPB debt collection guidanceA time-barred debt does not vanish. Four things stay true after the clock runs:
These two are constantly mixed up, and they are unrelated.
| Statute of limitations | Credit reporting limit | |
|---|---|---|
| Set by | State law, varies by state and debt type | Federal law, the same everywhere |
| Length | 3 to 10 years | 7 years from first delinquency |
| Cite | See the state statute in the table above | Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681c |
| What ends | The right to win a lawsuit | The entry on your credit file |
| Can it restart | Yes, in most states, by payment or acknowledgement | No. Paying does not reset the 7 years |
So a debt can be off your credit report and still suable, which is the case in Wyoming and the nine 10-year written-contract states. It can equally be time-barred and still sitting on your report for another two years, which is the more common situation.
Most consumer debt suits are small enough for small claims court, where the dollar cap decides the forum rather than the limitation period. The caps range from $2,500 in Kentucky to $25,000 in Tennessee.
| State | Small claims limit | Notes on how the statute works |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $6,000 (District Court) | Alabama distinguishes between open accounts and written contracts, with open accounts falling under the shorter 3-year period. Partial payment restarts the clock. |
| Alaska | $10,000 | Alaska has one of the shortest SOLs in the country, applying a uniform 3-year period to most contract debts regardless of type. Favorable to debtors. |
| Arizona | $3,500 | Arizona treats credit card debt as a written contract, giving creditors a full 6 years. Oral agreements receive only 3. |
| Arkansas | $5,000 | Arkansas applies the 3-year statute to credit card debt and open accounts, with written contracts getting the longer 5-year term. |
| California | $12,500 (individuals), $6,250 (entities) as of 2024 | California has one of the shortest oral-agreement statutes in the country at just 2 years. The 4-year written statute applies to most B2B invoices. |
| Colorado | $7,500 | Colorado applies a uniform 6-year statute to all contract-based debt actions. Straightforward to apply. |
| Connecticut | $5,000 | Connecticut treats credit card debt as a written contract under § 52-576, giving creditors the full 6-year period. |
| Delaware | $25,000 (Justice of the Peace Court) | Delaware applies a uniform 3-year SOL to contract debts. Note: many credit card agreements name Delaware as the governing state, which means this short statute often applies to out-of-state cardholders. |
| District of Columbia | $10,000 | D.C. applies a 3-year statute uniformly, making it one of the most debtor-favorable jurisdictions in the country. |
| Florida | $8,000 | Florida was reduced from 5 to 4 years for open accounts and credit cards in 2019. Written contracts retain the 5-year period. |
| Georgia | $15,000 (Magistrate Court) | Georgia applies 4 years to credit cards as open accounts and 6 years to written contracts. Acknowledgment must be in writing to restart the clock. |
| Hawaii | $5,000 | Hawaii applies a uniform 6-year statute to contract debts. |
| Idaho | $5,000 | Idaho applies 5 years to written contracts and 4 to open accounts and oral agreements. |
| Illinois | $10,000 | Illinois has one of the longest written-contract statutes in the country at 10 years. Credit cards fall under the shorter 5-year open-account period. |
| Indiana | $10,000 | Indiana's 10-year statute on written contracts is one of the longest nationally. |
| Iowa | $6,500 | Iowa distinguishes written contracts (10 years) from open accounts and oral agreements (5 years). |
| Kansas | $4,000 | Kansas has one of the lower small claims thresholds in the country. |
| Kentucky | $2,500, the lowest in the US | Kentucky's written-contract SOL of 15 years was reduced to 10 for contracts made after July 2014. |
| Louisiana | $5,000 (Justice of the Peace) | Louisiana uses civil-law terminology called "prescription" rather than "statute of limitations" but the function is the same. |
| Maine | $6,000 | Maine applies a uniform 6-year statute. |
| Maryland | $5,000 | Maryland's 3-year statute is one of the shortest in the country and applies uniformly across debt types. |
| Massachusetts | $7,000 | Massachusetts applies a uniform 6-year SOL. State courts have held acknowledgment must be a clear new promise in writing. |
| Michigan | $7,000 (rising to $8,000 under recent legislation) | Michigan applies 6 years uniformly. |
| Minnesota | $15,000 (Conciliation Court) | Minnesota applies 6 years to all debt categories. |
| Mississippi | $3,500 (Justice Court) | Mississippi has one of the shortest uniform SOLs in the country. |
| Missouri | $5,000 | Missouri has one of the longer statutes for written contracts, though credit cards are treated as open accounts with a 5-year period. |
| Montana | $12,000 (Justice Court) | Corrected August 2026. Montana cut the written contract period from 8 years to 6 by Ch. 174, Laws of 2025. The 3-year period in subsection (3) covers obligations that are not a contract, account or promise, so an oral debt runs 5 years under subsection (2), not 3. |
| Nebraska | $3,900 | |
| Nevada | $10,000 | Nevada distinguishes between written contracts (6 years) and open accounts or oral agreements (4 years). |
| New Hampshire | $10,000 | New Hampshire applies a short 3-year SOL uniformly. |
| New Jersey | $5,000 (Small Claims); $20,000 (Special Civil Part) | New Jersey applies 6 years uniformly. |
| New Mexico | $10,000 (Magistrate Court) | |
| New York | $10,000 (NYC and some cities), $5,000 (elsewhere) | The Consumer Credit Fairness Act of 2022 reduced the statute on consumer credit debt from 6 to 3 years, a significant change for credit card and medical debt. |
| North Carolina | $10,000 | North Carolina has one of the shortest and most uniform SOLs in the country. |
| North Dakota | $15,000 | North Dakota applies 6 years uniformly. |
| Ohio | $6,000 | Corrected August 2026. Senate Bill 13 cut the written contract period from 8 years to 6 and the oral period from 6 years to 4, effective June 2021. Ohio also sets its own start date for consumer debt: under § 2305.07(C) the clock starts 30 calendar days after the last charge or payment, whichever is later, so enter that later date above rather than the default date. |
| Oklahoma | $10,000 | |
| Oregon | $10,000 | Oregon applies 6 years uniformly. |
| Pennsylvania | $12,000 (Magisterial District Court) | Pennsylvania applies a uniform 4-year statute. |
| Rhode Island | $5,000 | Rhode Island has the longest uniform SOL in the country at 10 years across all debt types. |
| South Carolina | $7,500 | South Carolina applies a short 3-year statute uniformly. |
| South Dakota | $12,000 | South Dakota applies 6 years uniformly. Notable because many credit card agreements name South Dakota as governing law. |
| Tennessee | $25,000 (General Sessions Court), one of the highest in the nation | |
| Texas | $20,000 (Justice Court) | Texas applies a uniform 4-year statute. Acknowledgment requires a signed writing under § 16.065. |
| Utah | $15,000 | |
| Vermont | $10,000 | Vermont applies 6 years uniformly. |
| Virginia | $5,000 (General District Court $25,000) | Virginia distinguishes between written contracts and unwritten. |
| Washington | $10,000 (individuals); $5,000 (entities) | Washington draws a sharp distinction between written contracts and open accounts, with a 3-year statute for the latter. |
| West Virginia | $10,000 (Magistrate Court) | |
| Wisconsin | $10,000 | Wisconsin is notable for not permitting the statute to be revived by acknowledgment once it has run, a unique debtor protection. |
| Wyoming | $6,000 (Circuit Court) | Wyoming has one of the longest SOLs in the country across all debt categories. |
Small claims thresholds change more often than limitation periods and several states set different caps by court or by claimant type. Check your local court before filing.
The same statutes apply when you are the creditor. An invoice against signed terms is normally a written contract, and an invoice against a running account is normally an open account, which in states like Louisiana, Washington and Virginia is a much shorter period.
In practice the limitation period is almost never what stops a business collecting. The realistic collection window closes long before the statute does: recovery rates fall steeply within the first year past due, so a debt that is still legally suable at year six is rarely worth suing over.
The useful response is earlier, not longer. Track DSO so the trend is visible, watch the aging buckets for balances drifting past 60 days, and put reminders on a fixed schedule instead of chasing when someone remembers. Net 30 terms and late payment interest are the levers that move the date you actually get paid.
It depends on the state and the debt type. In the nine 10-year written-contract states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wyoming), written contracts and promissory notes can still be sued on 10 years after default. In every other state a 10-year-old written-contract debt is normally time-barred. Credit card debt at 10 years old is time-barred in nearly every state. A collector may still ask you to pay a time-barred debt, and in most states making a partial payment or acknowledging the debt in writing restarts the clock.
In every US state a 20-year-old consumer debt is well past the statute of limitations, because the longest consumer limitation period in any state is 10 years. A collector may still contact you and ask for payment, but under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act they cannot sue or threaten to sue on a time-barred debt. Avoid making a payment or signing any acknowledgement, either of which can restart the statute in most states. Federal student loans are the main exception: they have no statute of limitations.
Two different clocks run, and they are often confused. The statute of limitations decides how long a creditor can sue you, and runs from 3 years in the shortest states to 10 years in the longest. The credit reporting clock is federal: under the Fair Credit Reporting Act most negative information must come off your credit report 7 years from the date of first delinquency, whatever your state statute says. A debt can be off your credit report and still suable, and it can be time-barred and still on your report.
After 7 years the debt normally drops off your credit reports under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, along with the collection account, charge-off and late payments. Removal from the credit report does not cancel the debt and does not stop a lawsuit. If your state limitation period is longer than 7 years, which means Wyoming and the nine 10-year written-contract states, a creditor can still file suit on a debt that no longer appears on your credit file.
In most US states, yes. A partial payment is normally treated as an acknowledgement of the debt and restarts the limitation period from the date of that payment. This is why buyers of old debt sometimes ask for a small good faith payment. Some states are stricter. New York, California, Texas, Mississippi and Wisconsin all require the acknowledgement to be in a signed writing before it counts. And restarting a period that is still running is not the same as reviving one that has already expired: Wisconsin extinguishes the right itself once the period runs, New York bars revival of expired consumer debt under CPLR 214-i, and California provides that a payment does not revive a barred claim. Check your own state before paying anything on an old account.
A time-barred debt is one where the statute of limitations has expired. The debt still exists and you still owe the money, but the creditor has lost the right to win a lawsuit over it. If they sue anyway, the statute of limitations is an affirmative defense you have to raise yourself: a court will not apply it for you, and if you do not turn up and raise it the creditor can still get a default judgment. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act a collector cannot sue or threaten to sue on a time-barred debt.
Usually the state where you live when the lawsuit is filed, or the state named in the original contract choice-of-law clause. Credit card agreements commonly name Delaware, South Dakota, Utah or Virginia, and courts often enforce those clauses. Many states also have borrowing statutes that apply the shorter of the two potentially applicable periods when the debtor has moved or the debt crosses state lines. If two states could apply to your debt, do not assume the longer one governs, and do not assume the shorter one does either. This is the point to get advice.
No. It runs from the date the cause of action accrued, which for most consumer debt is the date of default: normally your last payment, or the first missed payment that was never made up. It is not the date you opened the account and not the date the debt was sold to a collector. Selling a debt does not restart the clock. Getting the start date right matters more than anything else in this calculation, so check it against your own statements rather than against a collector letter.
For a business chasing an unpaid invoice the same state statutes apply, and the category that usually governs is the written contract period if you have a signed agreement or accepted terms, or the open account period if you simply invoiced against a running account. That is 3 to 10 years depending on the state, most commonly 4 to 6. The practical point is that limitation periods are far longer than the window in which an invoice is realistically collectable, so the statute is rarely what stops you: waiting is.
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