Consumer Debt · Statute of Limitations
Statute of Limitations on Debt by State
How many years a creditor or debt collector has to sue you, state by state, for credit-card and contract debt — and when a payment can restart the clock, each cited to the official statute.
Shortest credit-card clocks
Where a credit-card lawsuit becomes time-barred soonest. Conditional states use the shorter (unsigned-account) period.
Shortest credit-card SOL
Watch out for
Arizona & Georgia put credit cards on the long written-contract clock (6 years), not a short open-account one. New York cut consumer debt to 3 years in 2022. Florida and Virginia are conditional — the period depends on whether a signed cardholder agreement exists.
Pick your state
Credit-card period and revival rule shown on each card; full matrix inside.
How to read a debt statute of limitations
The statute of limitations is the deadline for a creditor or collector to sue you over a debt. Each state sets different periods for written contracts, oral contracts, open accounts, and promissory notes, usually 3 to 10 years. Credit-card debt is the most-searched — and the most classification- dependent, because states disagree on whether a cardholder agreement is a "written" or an "open" account.
Two cautions matter everywhere. First, the deadline does not erase the debt; it is an affirmative defense you must raise if you are sued after the period runs. Second, in many states a partial payment or a signed written acknowledgment can restart the clock — so a small payment on an old account can undo years of protection. Every figure here links to the official statute, and pages still pending final statute verification say so plainly. This is legal information, not legal advice.