Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection in Iowa

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Iowa's contract-debt deadlines are principally in chapter 614. Senate File 512 amended § 614.1 in 2026 to state that the section does not alter accrual law, including the discovery rule and related statutory or common-law doctrines, and that only an act of the General Assembly may alter the listed time limits. The act did not amend the 10-year and 5-year periods quoted in § 614.1.

How long you have on a written debt

Section 614.1(5)(a) places actions founded on written contracts in a 10-year period after accrual. That paragraph is expressly subject to paragraph "b," which addresses rent claims outside this survey's ordinary-debt focus.

How long you have on an oral or unwritten debt

Section 614.1(4) places actions founded on unwritten contracts in a 5-year period after accrual. A continuous open account also has the specific accrual rule in § 614.5; its classification as written or unwritten still depends on the underlying record and is not decided by that accrual provision alone.

When the clock starts

Section 614.1 measures its periods after the cause of action accrues and now expressly preserves existing accrual doctrines. Section 614.5 is more specific for a continuous, open, current account: the cause of action is deemed to accrue on the date of the last item in the account, as proved at trial.

Can a payment or promise restart the clock?

Section 614.11 says contract claims are revived by an admission in writing, signed by the person to be charged, that the debt is unpaid, or by a like new promise to pay it. The statutory text does not list a bare payment or oral promise as a revival route.

Is there a special rule for consumer debt?

The current provisions reviewed do not set a different limitations period for a creditor's suit merely because the debt is consumer debt. Section 537.5201 does contain 1-year and 2-year deadlines, but its text gives the consumer a cause of action for specified Consumer Credit Code violations; those are not the creditor's deadline to sue on the underlying debt.

What if the debt originated in another state?

Section 614.7 recognizes a complete bar under the law of a country where the defendant previously resided, making it the same defense in Iowa as though it arose under chapter 614. The section does not apply to a cause of action that arose in Iowa.

What actually happens once the deadline passes?

Section 614.1 states that actions may be brought within its listed periods "and not afterwards." Iowa's collection-conduct statute separately says a debt collector may not use an action or threat prohibited by chapter 537 or other law. Section 537.7103 does not itself state a separate time-barred-debt period.

What trips people up

Do not confuse the last-item rule with revival. Section 614.5 supplies the accrual date for a continuous open account; § 614.11 separately describes how a contract claim is revived. Also, the 1-year and 2-year numbers in § 537.5201 concern a consumer's statutory claim for specified violations, not the creditor's contract claim.

Common questions

Does the 10-year or 5-year period apply to my account? The statutory split is between claims founded on written and unwritten contracts. Section 614.5 gives a continuous open account an accrual rule but does not by itself decide which contract category a particular account fits.

I made a payment on an old debt, did that restart the clock? Section 614.11 identifies a signed written admission that the debt is unpaid, or a like written new promise to pay, as the revival routes. It does not list a payment by itself.

Are the 1-year and 2-year periods in § 537.5201 the debt-collection deadline? No. Those periods govern a consumer's action for specified Consumer Credit Code violations, including unfair debt-collection practices, rather than a creditor's contract claim on the debt.

Statutes and sources

• Iowa Code § 614.1, "Nothing in this section shall be construed to alter the law governing when a cause of action accrues, including the discovery rule and related doctrines, as recognized by statute or common law. Actions may be brought within the times limited as follows, respectively, after their causes accrue, and not afterwards, except when otherwise specially declared, provided that such time limitations may only be altered by an Act of the general assembly:", https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/LGE/91/SF512.pdf (accessed 2026-08-12)
• Iowa Code § 614.1(4)-(5), "4. Unwritten contracts, injuries to property, fraud, other actions. Those founded on unwritten contracts, those brought for injuries to property, or for relief on the ground of fraud in cases heretofore solely cognizable in a court of chancery, and all other actions not otherwise provided for in this respect, within five years, except as provided by subsections 8 and 10. 5. Written contracts, judgments of courts not of record, recovery of real property and rent. a. Except as provided in paragraph "b", those founded on written contracts, or on judgments of any courts except those provided for in subsection 6, and those brought for the recovery of real property, within ten years.", https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/614.1.pdf (accessed 2026-08-12)
• Iowa Code § 614.5, "When there is a continuous, open, current account, the cause of action shall be deemed to have accrued on the date of the last item therein, as proved on the trial.", https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/614.5.pdf (accessed 2026-08-12)
• Iowa Code § 614.11, "Causes of action founded on contract are revived by an admission in writing, signed by the party to be charged, that the debt is unpaid, or by a like new promise to pay the same.", https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/614.11.pdf (accessed 2026-08-12)
• Iowa Code § 614.7, "When a cause of action has been fully barred by the laws of any country where the defendant has previously resided, such bar shall be the same defense here as though it had arisen under the provisions of this chapter; but this section shall not apply to causes of action arising within this state.", https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/614.7.pdf (accessed 2026-08-12)
• Iowa Code § 537.5201, "The consumer, other than a lessee in a consumer rental purchase agreement, has a cause of action to recover actual damages and in addition a right in an action other than a class action to recover from the person violating this chapter a penalty in an amount determined by the court, but not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, if a person has violated the provisions of this chapter relating to: ... (25) Prohibitions against unfair debt collection practices under section 537.7103. ... With respect to violations arising from sales or loans made pursuant to open-end credit, no action pursuant to this subsection may be brought more than two years after the violations occurred. With respect to violations arising from other consumer credit transactions, no action pursuant to this subsection may be brought more than one year after the due date of the last scheduled payment of the agreement.", https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/537.5201.pdf (accessed 2026-08-12)
• Iowa Code § 537.7103, "A debt collector shall not collect or attempt to collect a debt by means of an illegal threat, coercion or attempt to coerce. ... An action or threat to take an action prohibited by this chapter or any other law.", https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/537.7103.pdf (accessed 2026-08-12)