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Iowa Debt Statute of Limitations Calculator (2026)
Enter your last payment or activity date to see when the Iowa limitations period would run out for your debt type — credit-card debt runs 5 years, a written contract 10 years (§614.1(5)). Every result flags revival.
Iowa debt statute-of-limitations calculator
These are the Iowa 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).
Under Iowa Code §614.11, a barred contract debt is revived only by an admission in writing, signed by the person charged, that the debt is unpaid, or by a like new promise to pay it. A verbal admission does not count. On an open account, a payment can create a new last item and reset the accrual date under §614.5, so avoid making a payment or signing anything on an old debt until you know where the clock stands.
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.
- Debt type
- Credit-card debt
- Time limit to sue (SOL period)
- 5 years
- Last payment / activity
- Not entered
- Period runs out
- —
- Revival
- Only a signed writing revives it
Plain-language summary, 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 Iowa debt statute-of-limitations reference, cited to Iowa Code §614.1(4); §614.1(5); §614.11.
How the Iowa debt clock works
Iowa splits its debt clock sharply by whether the deal was in writing. A written contract signed by the borrower carries a long 10-year limitations period under Iowa Code §614.1(5), while an oral or unwritten contract, and an open account, runs out in 5 years under §614.1(4). That gap is where most Iowa credit-card fights happen. Courts have generally treated a routine card account as an unwritten or open account on the 5-year clock, and in Gemini Capital Group v. New (2011) the Iowa Court of Appeals held that without a signed cardholder agreement the debt is not a written contract. A collector who can actually produce a signed agreement may push for the 10-year period, so the classification, not just the calendar, decides the case. One more Iowa trap: a signed written acknowledgment can revive a debt that had already run out.
This tool applies the Iowa 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 Iowa debt statute-of-limitations reference.
Debt statute-of-limitations tools for other states
Same tool, each with its own periods and revival rule.