Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection in Arkansas

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Arkansas's contract-debt deadlines live in Ark. Code Ann. Title 16, Chapter 56, Subchapter 1, "General Provisions", primarily § 16-56-111 (written obligations) and § 16-56-105 (unwritten contracts), along with § 16-56-127 (mutual open accounts), § 16-56-122 (the verbal-acknowledgment bar), and § 16-56-106 (a separate period specifically for medical-service debt).

How long you have on a written debt

Five years, running from accrual. Section 16-56-111(a) covers "written obligations, duties, or rights," with a narrow carve-out for a specific type of instrument governed elsewhere in the code (§ 4-4-111, the Uniform Commercial Code's rule for a note payable on demand).

How long you have on an oral or unwritten debt

Three years. Section 16-56-105 covers "any contract, obligation, or liability not under seal and not in writing" and, separately, "any contract or liability, expressed or implied." An ordinary open account or store charge account not backed by a signed writing typically falls in this shorter bucket.

When the clock starts

The default is the date the cause of action accrues, ordinarily the date of breach or default. For a mutual, open, current account specifically, § 16-56-127 sets a different trigger: the claim "shall be deemed to have accrued from the time of the last item proved in the account", so a running charge account's clock resets with each new item, not the first one.

Can a payment or promise restart the clock?

It depends on whether the underlying debt is written or unwritten, and Arkansas treats the two very differently. For a WRITTEN obligation, § 16-56-111(b) is genuinely permissive: "partial payment or written acknowledgment of default shall toll this statute of limitations", the word "or" means either one works on its own, so a bare partial payment restarts a written debt's clock with no signed writing required at all. For an UNWRITTEN ("simple contract") debt, § 16-56-122 goes the other direction: "no verbal promise or acknowledgment ... shall be deemed sufficient evidence to take any case out of the operation of this act", a spoken promise to pay does not revive or restart an oral debt's clock.

Is there a special rule for consumer debt?

Not for consumer credit generally, the same 5-year written / 3-year unwritten split in §§ 16-56-105 and 16-56-111 applies to a credit card balance the same as a business contract. Medical-service debt is the one real exception: § 16-56-106 sets its own separate period, running not from Chapter 56's general accrual rule but "from the date the services were performed or provided or from the date of the most recent partial payment for the services, whichever is later," and caps it at 2 years for services performed after March 31, 1985 (an earlier, narrower 18-month period still governs older, pre-1985 charges).

What if the debt originated in another state?

Nothing changes. Arkansas's limitations chapter contains no borrowing statute, no provision that imports a shorter out-of-state deadline the way many other states' laws do. Arkansas's own 5-year or 3-year period applies to a debt sued on in Arkansas regardless of where the debt originated.

What actually happens once the deadline passes?

The ordinary default. Arkansas follows the common-law rule: expiration is an affirmative defense the debtor has to raise (under Ark. R. Civ. P. 8(c)), not an independent bar the creditor violates just by filing. Arkansas's own Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (Ark. Code Ann. §§ 17-24-501 to -512) closely mirrors the federal FDCPA's conduct rules for licensed collectors, but doesn't add a standalone state-law ban on suing or threatening suit specifically because a debt is time-barred beyond what federal law already requires.

What trips people up

Because Arkansas lets a bare, unwritten partial payment restart a WRITTEN debt's clock, a small "good faith" payment toward an old signed loan or credit agreement can reset the full 5 years without the person paying ever signing anything or being told that's what happened, a real trap for someone trying to chip away at old debt. The reverse trap exists for an unwritten debt: because § 16-56-122 blocks only a "verbal promise or acknowledgment," and doesn't address a bare payment on an oral debt the way § 16-56-111(b) does for a written one, whether a payment alone (as opposed to a spoken promise) restarts an unwritten debt's clock isn't answered by the statute's plain text, treat that as an open question rather than assuming either answer.

Common questions

Does the 5-year or 3-year period apply to my credit card debt? It depends on whether the account is backed by a signed written agreement. An unwritten or open account typically falls under the 3-year period in § 16-56-105; a debt clearly founded on a signed written instrument falls under the 5-year period in § 16-56-111.

I made a payment on an old written debt, did that restart the clock? Yes, under § 16-56-111(b), a partial payment restarts a written debt's clock even without any signed writing. For an unwritten debt, the statute only addresses a verbal promise (which does not restart the clock); it doesn't separately address a bare payment.

Can a debt collector still contact me after the statute of limitations runs? Arkansas's limitations statute doesn't itself bar contact or even a lawsuit, expiration is a defense the debtor must raise. Federal FDCPA rules and Arkansas's own mirroring Fair Debt Collection Practices Act govern what a licensed collector may otherwise say or do, which is outside this 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 changes is that a court will dismiss a lawsuit on it if the debtor raises the time-bar as a defense.

Statutes and sources

• Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-111, "Actions to enforce written obligations, duties, or rights... shall be commenced within five (5) years after the cause of action shall accrue. ... [P]artial payment or written acknowledgment of default shall toll this statute of limitations.", https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-56/subchapter-1/section-16-56-111/ (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-105, "The following actions shall be commenced within three (3) years after the cause of action accrues: (1) All actions founded upon any contract, obligation, or liability not under seal and not in writing...", https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-56/subchapter-1/section-16-56-105/ (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-127, "the cause of action shall be deemed to have accrued from the time of the last item proved in the account.", https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-56/subchapter-1/section-16-56-127/ (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-122, "No verbal promise or acknowledgment in any action founded on a simple contract shall be deemed sufficient evidence...", https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-56/subchapter-1/section-16-56-122/ (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-106, "No action shall be brought to recover charges for medical services performed or provided after March 31, 1985, by a physician or other medical service provider after the expiration of a period of two (2) years from the date the services were performed or provided or from the date of the most recent partial payment for the services, whichever is later.", https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-56/subchapter-1/section-16-56-106/ (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 17-24-501, enacted by Act 1455 of 2009, verbatim: This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Arkansas Fair Debt Collection Practices Act"., https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2009%2FPublic%2F&file=1455.pdf&ddBienniumSession=2009%2FR (accessed 2026-08-14)