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Colorado Debt Statute of Limitations Calculator (2026)

Enter your last payment or activity date to see when the Colorado limitations period would run out for your debt type — credit-card debt runs 6 years, a written contract 6 years. Every result flags revival.

Cited to C.R.S. §13-80-103.5; §13-80-101; §13-80-113Source: Colorado General Assembly (C.R.S.).

Colorado debt statute-of-limitations calculator

Debt statute of limitations · Colorado
Colorado rule applied to your dates
Limitations period
6 years
Credit-card debt in Colorado: 6 years. Six years. Colorado sends debt for a "liquidated debt or an unliquidated, determinable amount of money" to §13-80-103.5 (6 years) and carves it out of the 3-year contract catch-all in §13-80-101. A credit-card balance is a determinable amount, so most Colorado courts apply 6 years. A few consumer sites still quote 3 years by treating the card as a plain contract, but the statutory carve-out and cases like Portercare Adventist Health System v. Lego (2012) and Rotenberg v. Richards (1995) support the longer period. If you are being sued, do not assume 3 years applies.
Period would run out
Enter your last payment or activity date to see the date.

These are the Colorado figures applied to the date you entered — a plain summary of the period, not a determination that any debt is or is not time-barred (too old to sue over).

A payment can restart the clock

A partial payment can restart the whole clock in Colorado. Under §13-80-113, a bare verbal acknowledgment does not revive a debt (a new promise must be in writing and signed), but the same statute says it "shall not alter the effect of a payment of principal or interest." In plain terms, a voluntary payment resets the 6-year period even when a spoken promise would not. Do not make a payment on an old Colorado debt without advice.

The date above assumes no new activity. A statute of limitations does not erase the debt or remove it from your credit report — it is a defense you must raise if you are sued after the period runs. In many states a partial payment or a signed written acknowledgment can restart the clock entirely, so be careful before paying or signing anything on an old account. Revival rules are complex and this is informational only, not legal advice.

Informational only, not legal advice. The statute of limitations is complex, classification-dependent, and revival can reset it — this tool cannot decide your case. See the full breakdown and citations on the Colorado debt statute-of-limitations reference, cited to C.R.S. §13-80-103.5; §13-80-101; §13-80-113.

How the Colorado debt clock works

Colorado is unusual because it routes most consumer debt to a longer clock than the contract rule suggests. The general contract limit in §13-80-101 is 3 years, but §13-80-103.5 pulls out any "liquidated debt or an unliquidated, determinable amount of money" and gives it 6 years. A credit-card balance, a medical bill, an open account, and a promissory note all have amounts you can compute, so they land on the 6-year side. Only a pure oral agreement with no fixed or calculable sum stays at 3 years. That split is the single most misquoted thing about Colorado debt, and several consumer sites still list credit cards as 3 years. Reviving a barred Colorado debt is also easy to trip over: a spoken acknowledgment does nothing, but a single voluntary payment can restart the entire period.

This tool applies the Colorado periods to the date you enter and assumes no new activity. It is informational only and not legal advice — revival can reset the clock and classification can change the period. For the full four-type breakdown, revival rule, and citations, see the Colorado debt statute-of-limitations reference.

Debt statute-of-limitations tools for other states

Same tool, each with its own periods and revival rule.