In Michigan, the debt collection statute of limitations is six years for nearly every consumer debt, including credit cards, medical bills, personal loans, promissory notes, and both written and oral contracts.1Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 600 – MCL Section 600.5807 After six years, the creditor loses the ability to use the courts to collect, but the debt itself doesn’t disappear. And a single misstep, sometimes as small as a $25 payment, can reset the whole clock.
What the Six Years Covers
MCL 600.5807 sets a six-year limit for contract-based claims, and the umbrella is wide. Written contracts, oral agreements, promissory notes, credit card balances, medical bills, and lines of credit all fall inside it.1Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 600 – MCL Section 600.5807 The statute carves out a few narrow categories with different periods, such as ten years for bonds of public officers and two years for surety bonds for costs, but none of those apply to ordinary consumer debt.
Some states split oral contracts from written ones, or treat credit cards differently from installment loans. Michigan doesn’t. The catch-all in subsection (9) sweeps in every breach-of-contract claim that isn’t specifically carved out, so for typical consumer or commercial debts, six years is the number.
When the Six Years Start
The clock begins when the “claim first accrued,” meaning the moment the creditor gained the right to sue.1Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 600 – MCL Section 600.5807 For most debts, that’s the date you missed a required payment. If a credit card minimum was due March 1 and you didn’t pay, the clock started March 1.
Installment loans work a little differently. Each missed payment can create its own accrual date, so a creditor may be time-barred on the oldest missed installments while still having a live claim on more recent ones. For debts due in a single lump sum, accrual is simpler: the clock starts on the due date or the date of default, depending on the agreement.
Actions That Can Restart the Clock
This is where people get burned. A small partial payment on a time-barred or nearly time-barred debt can restart the six-year period from zero. So can a written promise to pay, or signing a new repayment agreement.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Can Debt Collectors Collect a Debt That’s Several Years Old Twenty-five dollars sent in a moment of guilt on a five-year-old balance can give the creditor a fresh six years to sue.
Debt collectors know this and sometimes structure their calls to draw out a token payment or a verbal acknowledgment. If you’re anywhere near the six-year mark, be careful with any exchange that could be read as a new promise to pay. “I know I owe it but I can’t pay right now” said to the wrong collector can cause problems that a plain “I dispute this debt” wouldn’t.
What Happens After the Six Years Expire
An expired statute of limitations doesn’t erase the debt. You still technically owe the money, and it can still appear on your credit report. What changes is court access: the creditor can no longer file suit, obtain a judgment, garnish wages, or levy your bank account for that debt.
Collectors can still call, send letters, and ask you to pay voluntarily. Federal law draws the line at legal action. Under Regulation F, a debt collector who sues or threatens to sue on a time-barred debt violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, whether or not the collector knew the debt was expired.3eCFR. 12 CFR 1006.26 – Collection of Time-Barred Debts That’s a strict liability standard. “I didn’t realize it was expired” is not a defense for the collector.
The CFPB has confirmed that suing on a time-barred debt amounts to a misrepresentation that the debt is legally enforceable.4Federal Register. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (Regulation F); Time-Barred Debt If a collector does file, you may have grounds to countersue for damages under the FDCPA.
Raising the Statute as a Defense
The statute of limitations is an affirmative defense. The court will not apply it on its own. If a creditor sues you on an eight-year-old debt and you either ignore the summons or file an answer that doesn’t raise the statute, the court can enter judgment against you. That judgment is fully enforceable even though the underlying debt was time-barred when the case was filed.
To use the defense, you have to file a written answer and specifically state that the limitations period has expired. Michigan courts typically require the answer within 21 days of being served in person, or 28 days if served by mail or outside the state. Miss that deadline and you may face a default judgment, which is much harder to undo than simply raising the defense on time. If you get a summons for an old debt, respond promptly.
When the Clock Pauses
Certain circumstances toll the six-year period, giving creditors more time.
Absence From the State
If the person who owes the debt is outside Michigan when the claim accrues, the statute doesn’t start running until they enter the state, unless the creditor could have served them with process in Michigan anyway. If the debtor leaves after the claim accrues, any continuous absence longer than two months doesn’t count toward the six years, again with the same exception for creditors who could serve them.5Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 600 – MCL Section 600.5853 Modern long-arm statutes and alternative service methods often let creditors reach out-of-state defendants, which narrows the practical effect of this rule. It still matters for debtors who relocate shortly after defaulting.
Fraudulent Concealment
If a debtor actively hides the existence of a debt or conceals their identity from the creditor, the limitations period can be extended. Under MCL 600.5855, the creditor gets two years from the date they discover, or should have discovered, the concealment, even if the normal six years has already run.6Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 600 – MCL Section 600.5855 – Fraudulent Concealment of Claim or Identity of Person Liable; Discovery Ignoring collection letters or being hard to reach isn’t enough. The creditor must show intentional deception, meaning the debtor took affirmative steps to prevent the creditor from learning about the claim.
Active Military Service
Federal law adds a separate protection. Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a period of active military service cannot be counted toward any statute of limitations for civil actions brought by or against the servicemember.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3936 – Statute of Limitations Two years on active duty means two years excluded from the six-year calculation. The protection is automatic; the servicemember does not have to request it.
Judgments Run on a Longer Clock
Everything above applies to debts where no lawsuit has been filed yet. Once a creditor obtains a court judgment, the rules shift. A judgment from a Michigan court of record is enforceable for ten years from the date it was entered.8Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 600 – MCL Section 600.5809 Before those ten years expire, the creditor can file a new action on the judgment to get a fresh ten years. A diligent creditor can renew indefinitely.
A judgment creditor also has collection tools that an ordinary creditor doesn’t: wage garnishment, bank levies, and liens on real property. That’s why avoiding a default judgment on an old debt matters so much. A time-barred debt that turns into a judgment through an unanswered lawsuit is enforceable for a decade or longer.
Credit Reporting Is a Separate Clock
The statute of limitations and credit reporting are two different timelines, and mixing them up is common. A debt can be too old to sue on but still appear on your credit report, or it can drop off your report while the creditor still has time to file suit.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, most negative items, including collection accounts and charged-off debts, can appear on your credit report for up to seven years. The clock runs from the date of the original delinquency that led to the default, not from when the debt was sold to a collector or when a collection account was opened.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports Civil judgments can also be reported for seven years from the date of entry.
Paying off a collection account does not remove it from your credit report early. The entry gets updated to show a zero balance or “paid” status, but it remains visible for the full seven years. Some consumers negotiate “pay-for-delete” arrangements where the collector agrees to remove the entry in exchange for payment, but collectors aren’t required to accept those, and many won’t.