Iowa: Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Iowa's contract-debt deadlines live in Iowa Code chapter 614, "Limitations
of Actions", primarily § 614.1 (the general period-setting section),
along with § 614.5 (open accounts), § 614.7 (the out-of-state bar), and §
614.11 (revival by written admission or new promise). In 2026, SF 512 added
a new opening sentence to § 614.1 confirming the statute doesn't change when
a cause of action accrues (preserving the discovery rule and related common-
law doctrines) and a closing clause specifying that only the General
Assembly, not a court, may alter these time limits. Signed 2026-06-02
and effective 2026-07-01, this amendment does not change any of the actual
period lengths described below; it addresses who has the power to change
them.

How long you have on a written debt

Ten years, running from accrual. Section 614.1(5)(a) covers "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,"
with a separate 5-year period carved out just for claims for rent
(§ 614.1(5)(b)).

How long you have on an oral or unwritten debt

Five years. Section 614.1(4) covers "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." An unwritten
credit-card or open-account balance falls in this 5-year bucket, half the
time a written version of the same debt would get, confirmed in practice
by Gemini Capital Group v. New, where an Iowa appeals court applied the
5-year unwritten period to a delinquent, unwritten credit-card account
balance rather than the 10-year written period a debt buyer argued for.

When the clock starts

The default is the date the cause of action accrues, ordinarily the date
of breach or default, and the 2026 amendment to § 614.1's opening
paragraph expressly preserves whatever accrual rule (including a discovery
rule) already applies under existing statute or common law, rather than
changing it. For a continuous, open, running account specifically, § 614.5
sets a different, more concrete trigger: the clock runs "from the date of
the last item therein, as proved on the trial", so a credit card or
running charge account starts its clock from the most recent charge or
entry, not the first one.

Can a payment or promise restart the clock?

Only if it's in writing and signed. Section 614.11 states plainly: "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." Iowa's Supreme Court has applied this to
written admissions, signed tax returns and deposition testimony
acknowledging a note was unpaid, in the decades-long Schroedl v. McTague
litigation, not to a bare unwritten payment or a spoken promise. A
"goodwill" payment made with no signed writing accompanying it does not, by
the statute's own terms, revive or restart the claim.

Is there a special rule for consumer debt?

No. Iowa's general contract-limitations statute does not carve out a
separate period for consumer credit transactions; the same 10-year written
/ 5-year unwritten split in § 614.1 applies whether the debt is a business
contract or a personal credit card balance. (Iowa's Consumer Credit Code,
ch. 537, separately lets a consumer sue a creditor for certain statutory
violations within 1-2 years of the violation under § 537.5201, but that's
a different claim, brought by the consumer against the creditor for
misconduct, not the creditor's deadline to sue on the debt itself, which is
this survey's scope.)

What if the debt originated in another state?

Iowa's version, § 614.7, doesn't key on where the debt arose the way most
states' borrowing statutes do, it keys on where the defendant (the debtor)
has lived. If a claim is "fully barred by the laws of any country where the
defendant has previously resided," that bar is a defense in Iowa too, "but this section shall not apply to causes of action arising within this
state." Iowa courts have read this to reach a bar arising under another
STATE's law (not just a foreign country's) and to cover both the debtor's
current and prior residences, so long as the debt itself didn't arise in
Iowa.

What actually happens once the deadline passes?

The ordinary default. Iowa's own debt-collection-conduct statute, the Iowa
Debt Collection Practices Act (Iowa Code § 537.7103), bars specific abusive
tactics, threats of violence, false accusations, harassment, and the
like, but does not include a provision like some states' flat statutory
ban on suing or even threatening suit once a debt is time-barred. In Iowa,
expiration works the way it does in most states: it's an affirmative
defense the debtor has to raise, not an independent bar on the creditor's
attempt. The debt itself still exists after the deadline passes and can
still be voluntarily paid or reported, it just can't be forced through a
lawsuit if the debtor raises the defense.

What trips people up

A running account (a credit card, a store charge account) resets its own
accrual date every time a new charge posts, under § 614.5's "date of the
last item" rule, so the 5-year clock on an open account can look like it
keeps moving even without any payment, simply because new charges were still
being made. Separately, because Iowa's revival rule (§ 614.11) requires a
signed writing for either an admission or a new promise, an unwritten
partial payment on an old Iowa debt does not carry the same clock-resetting
risk it does in states that treat a bare payment as sufficient, but don't
assume that protection follows the debt if it's later sued on somewhere
else; a state with a payment-alone revival rule could still apply if that
state's law governs the contract.

Common questions

Does the 10-year or 5-year period apply to my credit card debt?
Almost always 5 years. A credit card balance is typically an unwritten
open account under § 614.1(4)/§ 614.5, not a signed written contract, even
though the cardholder agreement itself may be a writing, see Gemini
Capital Group v. New, where an Iowa court applied the 5-year period to a
credit-card account balance.

I made a payment on an old debt, did that restart the clock?
Not by itself. Under § 614.11, only a signed written admission that the
debt is unpaid, or a similar written new promise to pay, restarts the
clock. A payment made without a signed writing does not.

Can a debt collector still contact me after the statute of limitations
runs?
Iowa's limitations statute doesn't itself bar contact or even a lawsuit, expiration is a defense the debtor must raise. Separate federal and state
debt-collection-conduct law governs what a collector may 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

• Iowa Code § 614.1, "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...
  Those founded on unwritten contracts... within five years... Except as
  provided in paragraph 'b', those founded on written contracts... within
  ten years.", https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/LGE/91/SF512.pdf (accessed
  2026-07-09)
• 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 2026-07-09)
• 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 2026-07-09)
• 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 2026-07-09)