Statute of Limitations by state

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Understanding credit laws namely the the statute of limitations in your state is vital to both credit repair and debt settlement for two reasons.

1) Too often people pay off debts they shouldn't when the Statute of Limitations (SOL) has expired for that debt.

2) If it’s past your state’s SOL it gives you a lot of bargaining power with debt settlement arrangements.


When does the Statute of Limitations start ticking? Actually, there are two times the statute of limitations (SOL) can start

1) As soon as you miss a scheduled payment.

2) When the credit card company sends you a demand letter for the full amount.

Here's why:

The SOL starts when there is "cause of action" i.e. missing payments or demand letter.

If your creditor has included a acceleration cluase, that clause must be triggered for the credit card company to have a cause of action. If they send you a demand for payment letter and it has a specific date in which you must pay the credit card balance off and fail to do so by that date - that is when your clock begins.

If your credit card company DOES NOT have an acceleration clause in the contract, then the clock starts as soon as you miss a scheduled payment.

Make Sense? If so, you can use the tables below to start calculating your SOL. *****at the time of writing this, these statutes were accurate. They could have changed since then, make sure you check your state's current SOL before you take any action

STATE	WRITTEN	ORAL
ALABAMA	6	6
ALASKA	3	3
ARIZONA	6	3
ARKANSAS	5	5
CALIFORNIA	4	2
COLORADO	6	6
CONNECTICUT	6	3
DELAWARE	3	3
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA	3	3
FLORIDA	5	4
GEORGIA	6	4
HAWAII	6	6
IDAHO	5	4
ILLINOIS	10	5
INDIANA	10	6
IOWA	10	5
KANSAS	5	3
KENTUCKY	15	5
LOUISIANA	10	10
MAINE	6	6
MARYLAND	3	3
MASSACHUSETTS	6	6
MICHIGAN	6	6
MINNESOTA	6	6
MISSISSIPPI	3	3
MISSOURI	10	10
MONTANA	8	5
NEBRASKA	5	4
NEVADA	6	4
NEW HAMPSHIRE	3	3
NEW JERSEY	6	6
NEW MEXICO	6	4
NEW YORK	6	6
NORTH CAROLINA	3	3
NORTH DAKOTA	6	6
OHIO	15	6
OKLAHOMA	5	3
OREGON	6	6
PENNSYLVANIA	4	4
RHODE ISLAND	10	10
SOUTH CAROLINA	3	3
SOUTH DAKOTA	6	6
TENNESSEE	6	6
TEXAS	4	4
UTAH	6	4
VERMONT	6	6
VIRGINIA	5	3
WASHINGTON	6	3
WEST VIRGINIA	10	5
WISCONSIN	6	6
WYOMING	10	8