California: Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection
The short answer
California gives a creditor 4 years to sue on a debt backed by a signed writing (including most credit card and written account debt) and only 2 years on a debt that's purely oral or unwritten. The clock generally starts at the date of default. A signed written acknowledgment can restart it, and for a promissory note specifically, a bare payment on it can restart the clock too, but no payment can revive a debt already time-barred. Once the deadline passes, California law doesn't just let a debtor raise it as a defense: it flatly bars the creditor from suing or even starting arbitration to collect.
Ask Ezel about your situation
This is the general rule in California. Ezel applies current California law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §§ 337, 339, 360, 361 |
|---|---|
| Written contract/debt deadline | 4 years from breach (CCP § 337(a)); written/book accounts also run 4 years |
| Oral contract/open account deadline | 2 years from breach (CCP § 339(1)) |
| When the clock starts | Date of breach/default; a multi-item written account runs from the date of the last item (§ 337(b)) |
| Can a payment or promise restart the clock? | General acknowledgment must be a signed writing; a payment on a promissory note alone restarts a still-running clock, but can't revive one already expired (§ 360) |
| Special rule for consumer debt | None: the general written/oral periods apply equally to consumer and commercial debt |
| Out-of-state debt | Applies the shorter out-of-state period unless the creditor has been a CA resident the whole time the claim existed (§ 361) |
| What expiration actually does | Bars suit or arbitration outright once the period runs, not just an affirmative defense a debtor must raise (§ 337(d)) |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Requirements one by one
Governing law
California's contract-debt deadlines live in Title 2 of the Code of Civil
Procedure, "Of the Time of Commencing Civil Actions", specifically §§ 337
(written contracts), 339 (oral contracts), 360 (acknowledgment and revival),
and 361 (the borrowing statute for debts that arose in another state).
How long you have on a written debt
Four years, running from the date of breach. This covers "any contract,
obligation or liability founded upon an instrument in writing" (§ 337(a)),
and California folds book accounts and written accounts stated into this
same 4-year bucket rather than giving them their own shorter period (§
337(b)), so a credit card balance backed by a signed cardholder agreement,
or an itemized written invoice, generally gets the full 4 years, not the
shorter oral-contract period.
How long you have on an oral or unwritten debt
Two years, half the written-contract period. Section 339(1) covers "a
contract, obligation or liability not founded upon an instrument of
writing." This is a real trap: an informal loan, a verbally modified
agreement, or any debt that was never reduced to a signed writing gets only
half the time a written version of the same debt would get.
When the clock starts
The default rule is the date of breach or default. For a multi-item written
account specifically, § 337(b) sets a different starting point: "if an
account stated is based upon an account of one item, the time shall begin
to run from the date of the item, and if an account stated is based upon an
account of more than one item, the time shall begin to run from the date of
the last item", so a running account (like a credit card) generally
starts its clock from the most recent charge or entry on it, not the first
one.
Can a payment or promise restart the clock?
It depends on what kind of debt it is and what form the acknowledgment
takes. For most debts, § 360 requires a signed writing: "no acknowledgment
or promise is sufficient evidence of a new or continuing contract ... unless
the same is contained in some writing, signed by the party to be charged."
A phone call promising to pay, or a partial payment on an ordinary account,
does not by itself restart the clock under this general rule. But § 360
carves out one specific exception: for a promissory note, "any payment on
account of principal or interest due ... shall be deemed a sufficient
acknowledgment", no writing needed, and it restarts the clock "from time
to time as any such payment is made." Either way, the statute draws a hard
line: this can only extend a clock that's still running. "No such payment of
itself shall revive a cause of action once barred", once the deadline has
already passed, nothing short of a fresh written promise (and even that is
untested for a fully-expired claim) brings the claim back.
Is there a special rule for consumer debt?
No. Unlike some states, California does not set a separate, shorter
limitations period for consumer credit transactions. The same 4-year
written / 2-year oral split applies whether the debt is a business
contract or a personal credit card balance.
What if the debt originated in another state?
Section 361 is California's borrowing statute: if a debt is already
time-barred under the law of the state (or country) where it arose,
California won't let a creditor revive it by suing here instead, "an
action thereon shall not be maintained against him in this State", unless
the person owed the debt "has been a citizen of this State, and ... has
held the cause of action from the time it accrued." In practice, that
carve-out matters more for the person who WOULD be suing (the creditor's
residency, not the debtor's), a longtime California-resident creditor
isn't cut off by a shorter foreign deadline, but a creditor who wasn't
a California resident the whole time can be.
What actually happens once the deadline passes?
More than in most states. The ordinary rule elsewhere is that expiration is
just an affirmative defense, a debtor has to raise it, and nothing stops a
creditor from filing suit anyway and hoping the debtor doesn't show up.
California's § 337(d) goes further for written debt: "a person shall not
bring suit or initiate an arbitration or other legal proceeding to collect
the debt" once the period has run. That's a direct statutory prohibition on
even trying, not just a defense waiting to be raised. The debt itself still
exists and can still be voluntarily paid or reported, expiration doesn't
erase it, but a lawsuit or arbitration demand on it is off the table.
What trips people up
Making a "goodwill" partial payment on an old promissory note can
accidentally restart the clock, even with no written acknowledgment at all, § 360's payment-on-a-note exception applies automatically, whether or not
the person paying meant to reset anything. On the other side, once a debt
is genuinely time-barred, a collector who still sues anyway isn't just
risking a losing defense, they're violating § 337(d) directly, which can
support its own claim against the collector (separate from the underlying
debt dispute). And because California doesn't carve out a shorter period
for consumer debt the way some states now do, a credit card balance here
gets the same 4 years as a signed business contract, don't assume
consumer debt is automatically shorter just because that's the trend in
other states.
Common questions
Does the 4-year or 2-year period apply to my credit card debt?
Almost always 4 years. California treats a written or book account the same
as any other written contract under § 337(b), and most credit card
agreements are backed by a signed or electronically-accepted cardholder
agreement.
I made a small payment on an old debt, did that restart the clock?
For an ordinary account or contract, no, not unless you also signed a
written acknowledgment. For a promissory note specifically, yes, a bare
payment on principal or interest restarts the clock under § 360, even
without a signed writing.
Can a debt collector still contact me after the statute of limitations
runs?
The statute itself only bars a lawsuit or arbitration demand under § 337(d);
it doesn't bar all contact. Whether a specific collection call or letter
about a time-barred debt is lawful is a separate question governed by
federal and state debt-collection-conduct law, not 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 expires is the creditor's ability to force payment through a
lawsuit or arbitration.
Statutes and sources
- Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 337, "Within four years: (a) An action upon any
contract, obligation or liability founded upon an instrument in writing...
(d) When the period in which an action must be commenced under this
section has run, a person shall not bring suit or initiate an arbitration
or other legal proceeding to collect the debt.", https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP§ionNum=337.
(accessed 2026-07-09) - Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 339, "Within two years: 1. An action upon a
contract, obligation or liability not founded upon an instrument of
writing...", https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP§ionNum=339.
(accessed 2026-07-09) - Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 360, "No acknowledgment or promise is sufficient
evidence of a new or continuing contract ... unless the same is contained
in some writing, signed by the party to be charged thereby, provided that
any payment on account of principal or interest due on a promissory note
... shall be deemed a sufficient acknowledgment...", https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP§ionNum=360.
(accessed 2026-07-09) - Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 361, "When a cause of action has arisen in
another State ... an action thereon shall not be maintained against him in
this State, except in favor of one who has been a citizen of this State,
and who has held the cause of action from the time it accrued.", https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP§ionNum=361.
(accessed 2026-07-09)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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