Arizona: Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Arizona's contract-debt deadlines sit in Title 12, Chapter 5 of the Arizona
Revised Statutes ("Limitations of Actions"): § 12-548 sets the six-year
period for in-state written contracts and credit cards, § 12-543 sets the
three-year period for oral debt and open accounts, § 12-544(3) sets a
separate four-year period for a written instrument executed outside
Arizona, § 12-508 governs revival by acknowledgment, and § 12-506 is
Arizona's borrowing statute.

How long you have on a written debt

Six years, running from the date of breach, but only for "a contract in
writing that is executed in this state" (§ 12-548(A)(1)). A written
contract signed somewhere else doesn't qualify for this six-year period at
all; instead it falls under § 12-544(3)'s four-year period for "an
instrument in writing executed without the state." Separately, § 12-548(A)(2)
gives credit card debt the full six years regardless of where or whether a
cardholder agreement was signed, Arizona added this rule by statute in
2011 (HB 2412) specifically to pull credit card debt into the longer
bucket, since courts might otherwise have questioned whether a card
agreement counted as a signed writing at all.

How long you have on an oral or unwritten debt

Three years. Section 12-543(1) covers "debt where the indebtedness is not
evidenced by a contract in writing," and § 12-543(2) gives stated or open
accounts the same three years (with an exception for ongoing merchant-to-
merchant trade accounts, which run from the date dealings between the
parties stop).

When the clock starts

The date of breach or default. For an installment note, Arizona courts
apply a bright-line rule: each missed installment accrues its own separate
six-year clock on its own due date (Navy Fed. Credit Union v. Jones, 187
Ariz. 493 (App. 1996)), unless the note has an optional acceleration
clause, in which case the clock for the full remaining balance doesn't
start until the creditor actually exercises that option and declares the
whole debt due (Mertola, LLC v. Santos, 244 Ariz. 488 (2018)). A lender
can't sit on an unaccelerated note forever and then accelerate it just
before the deadline on the final installment, but each individual missed
payment still has to be sued on within six years of when it came due.

Can a payment or promise restart the clock?

Not by a bare payment alone, Arizona is stricter here than many states.
Section 12-508 requires "the acknowledgment ... in writing and signed by
the party to be charged" before any acknowledgment can be used to take an
action out of the limitations bar. The Arizona Court of Appeals confirmed
in Cheatham v. Sahuaro Collection Service, Inc. that a series of partial
payments made over several years, without more, did not lift the bar of §
12-548: "part payment does not, in itself, avoid the bar." What Arizona
does allow, unlike some stricter states, is using a signed writing to
revive a claim that has already fully expired, not just to extend one still
running, § 12-508's own text applies to an action already "barred by
limitation."

Is there a special rule for consumer debt?

Yes, but it runs the opposite direction from a typical carve-out. Rather
than shortening the period for consumer debt, § 12-548(A)(2) lengthens it:
credit card debt gets the full six-year written-contract period even
without a signed writing, instead of risking classification as an
unwritten open account under the shorter three-year rule in § 12-543.

What if the debt originated in another state?

Arizona's borrowing statute, § 12-506(A), is framed around the debtor's own
move to Arizona, not around where the underlying contract was made: "No
action shall be maintained against a person removing to this state from
another state or foreign country to recover upon an action which was
barred by the law of limitations of the state or country from which he
migrated." In other words, if a debt was already time-barred in the state
someone moved from, a creditor can't revive it just by suing them after
they relocate to Arizona.

What actually happens once the deadline passes?

The ordinary common-law default applies. Nothing in Arizona's limitations
chapter or its Collection Agency Act (A.R.S. § 32-1001 et seq.) bars a
creditor from filing suit on a stale claim, expiration is an affirmative
defense the debtor has to raise, not an independent statutory prohibition
on suing. A 2013 bill (HB 2614) that would have added a suit-barring rule
for licensed collection agencies never became law; current § 32-1051's
"Duties of licensees" contains no such provision.

What trips people up

Making a "goodwill" payment on an old debt is safer in Arizona than in many
other states, it does not by itself restart the clock, so someone who
pays a little on a still-running debt without signing anything hasn't
extended their exposure. The flip side is a genuine trap: a signed written
acknowledgment (an email admitting the debt, a signed payment plan) can
revive a claim that has ALREADY expired, something several other states
flatly forbid. And a written contract signed on a trip out of state, or
with an out-of-state lender who had the borrower sign remotely outside
Arizona, can lose two years of the deadline a reader might expect, falling to § 12-544(3)'s four years instead of § 12-548's six.

Common questions

Does the 6-year or 3-year period apply to my credit card debt?
Six years, almost always. Section 12-548(A)(2) puts credit card debt in the
six-year bucket by statute, regardless of whether there's a signed
cardholder agreement.

I made a small payment on an old debt, did that restart the clock?
No, not by itself. Arizona requires a signed written acknowledgment under §
12-508 to affect the clock at all; a bare payment, standing alone, doesn't
restart or revive anything (Cheatham v. Sahuaro).

Can a debt collector still sue me after the statute of limitations
runs?
Yes, technically, Arizona has no statute barring the lawsuit itself. You
would need to raise the expired deadline as a defense in court. (Separately,
suing on a truly time-barred debt without disclosure can violate the
federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which is outside this state-law
survey's scope.)

Does the debt just disappear once the time limit passes?
No. The underlying debt still exists and can still be voluntarily paid or
reported; what expires is the creditor's ability to force payment through a
lawsuit.

Statutes and sources

• A.R.S. § 12-548, "An action for debt shall be commenced and prosecuted
  within six years after the cause of action accrues ... if the
  indebtedness is evidenced by or founded on either of the following: 1. A
  contract in writing that is executed in this state. 2. A credit card...", https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/00548.htm (accessed 2026-07-09)
• A.R.S. § 12-543, "There shall be commenced and prosecuted within three
  years after the cause of action accrues ... 1. For debt where the
  indebtedness is not evidenced by a contract in writing...", https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/00543.htm (accessed 2026-07-09)
• A.R.S. § 12-544, "There shall be commenced and prosecuted within four
  years after the cause of action accrues ... 3. Upon a judgment or decree
  of a court rendered without the state, or upon an instrument in writing
  executed without the state.", https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/00544.htm
  (accessed 2026-07-09)
• A.R.S. § 12-508, "When an action is barred by limitation no
  acknowledgment of the justness of the claim ... shall be admitted in
  evidence to take the action out of the operation of the law, unless the
  acknowledgment is in writing and signed by the party to be charged
  thereby.", https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/00508.htm (accessed 2026-07-09)
• A.R.S. § 12-506, "No action shall be maintained against a person
  removing to this state from another state or foreign country to recover
  upon an action which was barred by the law of limitations of the state or
  country from which he migrated.", https://www.azleg.gov/ars/12/00506.htm (accessed 2026-07-09)