Alabama: Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Alabama's contract-debt deadlines live in Title 6, Chapter 2 ("Limitation of
Actions") of the Code of Alabama, principally § 6-2-34 (the general 6-year
period), § 6-2-33 (the 10-year period for sealed instruments), and § 6-2-37
(the 3-year period for open/unliquidated accounts), plus § 7-2-725, the
state's own version of UCC Article 2's sale-of-goods period.

How long you have on a written debt

Six years, the same as an oral debt, and this is the point that surprises
people: a signed writing by itself doesn't buy extra time in Alabama. Section
6-2-34(4) covers "promises in writing not under seal," and subsection (9)'s
catch-all covers any other "simple contract ... not specifically enumerated,"
both at 6 years. A stated or liquidated account, one where the amount owed
has been fixed or agreed, such as after an itemized demand, also falls
under this same 6-year bucket, § 6-2-34(5). The real exceptions run the other
direction: a sealed instrument gets 10 years under § 6-2-33(1), and a debt
arising from the sale of goods gets only 4 years under § 7-2-725, regardless
of whether it's written.

How long you have on an oral or unwritten debt

The same 6 years as written debt, if it's an ordinary promise, Alabama
draws no distinction based on signature. But this is where the account
classification matters: an "open or unliquidated account", a running
balance that hasn't been fixed to a stated amount, the kind of account most
credit cards and revolving credit lines actually are, gets only 3 years
under § 6-2-37(1), regardless of whether the underlying agreement was ever
put in writing. In practice, this means the real question for a lot of
consumer debt isn't "was it written or oral" but "has the balance been
stated/liquidated, or is it still an open running account", and open
accounts are common enough that 3 years, not 6, is often the practical
deadline.

When the clock starts

The default rule is the date of breach or default. For an open or
unliquidated account specifically, § 6-2-37(1) sets a different trigger:
the clock runs "from the date of the last item of the account or from the
time when, by contract or usage, the account is due." For a debt arising
from the sale of goods, § 7-2-725(2) starts the clock at the date of breach
"regardless of the aggrieved party's lack of knowledge of the breach,"
except that a warranty explicitly extending to future performance accrues
when the breach is or should have been discovered.

Can a payment or promise restart the clock?

Yes, but Alabama draws a sharp line most other states don't state as
explicitly. Section 6-2-16 allows two things to restart the clock: "a
partial payment, made upon the contract by the party sought to be charged
before the bar is complete," or "an unconditional promise in writing signed
by the party to be charged." The phrase "before the bar is complete" is not
decorative, Alabama courts have applied it literally. In In re Templeton
(Bankr. N.D. Ala. 2015), the court held, citing the 1891 Alabama Supreme
Court decision in Chapman v. Barnes, that "partial payments made after the
bar of the statute of limitations is in place do not remove the bar." In
other words, a "goodwill" payment on a debt that's already expired does not
revive it in Alabama, a real contrast with states that allow payment to
resurrect an already-time-barred claim.

Is there a special rule for consumer debt?

No. The same 6-year (or 3-year, for an open account) periods apply whether
the debt is a business contract or a personal credit card balance; nothing
in Alabama's Deceptive Trade Practices Act or elsewhere sets a separate
limitations period specifically for consumer credit transactions.

What if the debt originated in another state?

Alabama's borrowing statute, § 6-2-17, only reaches back if the debtor was
personally a resident of the other state when the debt arose there: if that
other state's shorter deadline had already run while the debtor lived
there, Alabama applies that same bar here. This is a debtor-residency test,
different from the more common approach (used in states like California and
New York) of asking where the claim accrued regardless of anyone's
residency, so a nonresident creditor suing a debtor who was never a
resident of the state where the debt arose may not get the benefit of this
statute at all.

What actually happens once the deadline passes?

Nothing automatic. Alabama Rule of Civil Procedure 8(c) lists the statute of
limitations as an affirmative defense, meaning a debtor has to plead it in
their answer or risk losing by default even on a genuinely expired debt.
Alabama has no statute like some states' that flatly bars a creditor from
even attempting to sue once the period runs, the debt simply becomes
vulnerable to a defense the debtor must actually raise.

What trips people up

People often assume any signed agreement buys the full 6 years, but for a
running account, most credit cards and revolving credit lines, the real
question is whether the balance counts as "open/unliquidated" (3 years) or
"stated/liquidated" (6 years), not whether anything was ever signed. Making
a partial payment feels like it should always be risky, but Alabama's rule
actually cuts the other way once a debt has already expired: a payment made
after the bar is complete does not revive it, unlike states where it can.
The risk is really about payments made while the clock is still running, those genuinely do restart it.

Common questions

Does the 6-year or 3-year period apply to my credit card debt?
Often 3 years. Alabama typically classifies revolving credit card debt as an
"open account" under § 6-2-37(1), not a stated/liquidated account, so the
shorter 3-year period frequently applies even though the underlying
agreement was in writing.

I made a payment on an old debt that I think had already expired, did
that restart the clock?
Under Alabama law, no. Courts have held that a payment made after the
statute of limitations has already run does not revive the debt. Only a
payment made while the clock is still running, or a new signed written
promise, restarts it.

Can a debt collector still sue me after the Alabama deadline passes?
Nothing in Alabama law stops them from filing, and if you don't raise the
statute of limitations as a defense in your answer, a court can still enter
judgment against you.

Does moving to Alabama from a state with a shorter deadline help a
creditor sue me here?
Not automatically. Alabama's borrowing statute applies the other state's
shorter, already-expired deadline only if the debtor was a resident of that
state when the debt arose there, it doesn't reach every out-of-state debt
by default.

Statutes and sources

• Ala. Code § 6-2-34, "The following must be commenced within six years:
  ... (4) Actions founded on promises in writing not under seal; (5) Actions
  for the recovery of money upon a loan, upon a stated or liquidated account
  ...; ... (9) Actions upon any simple contract or speciality not
  specifically enumerated in this section.", https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-6/chapter-2/article-2/section-6-2-34/
  (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Ala. Code § 6-2-33, "The following actions must be commenced within 10
  years: (1) Actions founded upon any contract or writing under seal.", https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-6/chapter-2/article-2/section-6-2-33/
  (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Ala. Code § 6-2-37, "The following must be commenced within three years:
  (1) Actions to recover money due by open or unliquidated account, the time
  to be computed from the date of the last item of the account or from the
  time when, by contract or usage, the account is due;", https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-6/chapter-2/article-2/section-6-2-37/
  (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Ala. Code § 7-2-725, "(1) An action for breach of any contract for sale
  must be commenced within four years after the cause of action has
  accrued. ... (2) A cause of action accrues when the breach occurs,
  regardless of the aggrieved party's lack of knowledge of the breach.", https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-7/article-2/part-7/section-7-2-725/
  (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Ala. Code § 6-2-16, "No act, promise, or acknowledgment is sufficient to
  remove the bar to an action ... except a partial payment, made upon the
  contract by the party sought to be charged before the bar is complete or
  an unconditional promise in writing signed by the party to be charged
  thereby.", https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-6/chapter-2/article-1/section-6-2-16/
  (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Ala. Code § 6-2-17, "When the statute of limitations of another state or
  foreign country has created a bar to an action upon a contract made or act
  done in such state or country while the party sought to be charged
  thereby was a resident of such state or country, the bar thus created is
  effectual in this state ...", https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-6/chapter-2/article-1/section-6-2-17/
  (accessed 2026-07-09)