Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection in Maryland

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Maryland's contract-debt deadlines sit mainly in the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article (CJP): § 5-101 sets the general 3-year period covering both written and oral debt, § 5-102 carves out a much longer 12-year period for a narrow category of sealed "specialty" instruments, and a dedicated subtitle, §§ 5-1201 to 5-1204, adds consumer-debt-specific suit-bar and proof rules on top of the general period. A sale-of-goods debt instead falls under the Commercial Law Article's UCC provision, § 2-725, with its own 4-year period.

How long you have on a written debt

Three years, the same as an oral debt, unless the writing qualifies as a "specialty" under § 5-102: a promissory note or other instrument under seal, a bond, a judgment, a recognizance, or a contract under seal. A specialty gets 12 years, running from accrual or from the death of the last surviving principal debtor or creditor, whichever comes first. Modern consumer credit agreements and promissory notes are rarely executed "under seal" in the formal sense this statute requires, so most everyday written debt, a personal loan agreement, a credit card contract, lands in the ordinary 3-year bucket alongside oral debt, not the 12-year one. Separately, a debt arising from the sale of goods gets its own 4-year period under Commercial Law § 2-725, Maryland's version of the Uniform Commercial Code's statute of limitations.

How long you have on an oral or unwritten debt

Also three years, under the same § 5-101 that governs ordinary written debt. Maryland is one of the states that draws no distinction at all between written and oral contract debt for limitations purposes, the dividing line that matters here isn't writing versus no writing, it's whether the instrument qualifies as a formal sealed specialty under § 5-102.

When the clock starts

Generally, the date of breach. Maryland's highest court has stated the ordinary contract rule plainly: "the period of limitations begins to run from the date of the breach, for it is then that the cause of action accrues and becomes enforceable" (Himelfarb v. American Express Co., 301 Md. 698, 703 (1984)). Layered on top of that default, Maryland's discovery rule, extended to all civil actions in Poffenberger v. Risser, 290 Md. 631 (1981), can delay accrual until the creditor knew, or reasonably should have known, of the breach, if the breach wasn't immediately apparent. For an ordinary missed-payment debt, a creditor typically knows about the default right away, so the practical effect is usually the same as a straightforward breach-date rule. One narrow exception: for a negotiable instrument payable on demand under the UCC, Maryland courts have declined to apply the discovery rule at all absent fraudulent concealment, reasoning that a payee can determine its rights simply by reading the instrument (Fitzgerald v. Bell, 248 Md. App. 692 (2020)).

Can a payment or promise restart the clock?

It depends on the debt. For consumer debt, CJP § 5-1202(b) is explicit: any payment, written or oral affirmation, or other activity after limitations has expired "does not revive or extend the limitations period."

Outside that consumer-debt subtitle, the common-law rule is conditional. Himelfarb explains that part payment does not by itself defeat limitations. A payment can revive an open-account item only when it was made on that item, or when the debtor knew of the barred charges and made the payment while recognizing their validity. Himelfarb rejected revival where the debtor's payments matched other current charges and the debtor consistently disputed the old item.

Is there a special rule for consumer debt?

Yes, though it doesn't change the number of years, it changes what a creditor or collector is legally allowed to do once the general 3-year (or applicable) period has run. CJP §§ 5-1201 through 5-1204, a subtitle specifically addressing "consumer debt collection actions," flatly bars initiating a consumer debt collection action after the statute of limitations has expired (§ 5-1202(a)), bars any post-expiration activity from reviving the claim (§ 5-1202(b)), and separately imposes detailed documentary proof requirements on debt buyers before a court may enter judgment in their favor (§ 5-1203), including a full chain-of-title showing every prior owner of the debt.

What if the debt originated in another state?

Nothing changes, Maryland has no borrowing statute at all. An independent survey of state borrowing legislation lists Maryland among a handful of states (along with Connecticut, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, and others) that have none. Maryland courts treat the statute of limitations as strictly procedural for choice-of-law purposes, meaning Maryland's own limitations period always applies as the forum state's law, regardless of where the debt originated or which state's substantive contract law otherwise governs the agreement (Lewis v. Waletzky, 422 Md. 647 (2011)). A debt that would already be time-barred somewhere else gets no automatic benefit from that fact in a Maryland court, and, conversely, a debt that's still alive elsewhere but would be time-barred under Maryland's own 3-year period is barred here regardless.

What actually happens once the deadline passes?

For consumer debt, expiration is more than an affirmative defense, it's an outright statutory bar on filing suit at all. CJP § 5-1202(a) makes it unlawful for a creditor or collector to "initiate a consumer debt collection action after the expiration of the statute of limitations." Separately, the Maryland Consumer Debt Collection Act's general prohibition on "claim[ing], attempt[ing], or threaten[ing] to enforce a right with knowledge that the right does not exist" (Com. Law § 14-202(8)) provides an additional legal hook, reaching both third-party collectors and original creditors, not just consumer-debt-collection-action defendants specifically.

What trips people up

Maryland's written/oral non-distinction is easy to get backwards if you're used to states that give written debt more time, in Maryland, a signed loan agreement gets the same 3 years as a verbal promise, and only a rare, formally sealed instrument gets meaningfully longer. Revival is also easy to overgeneralize: consumer debt cannot be revived after expiration, but a nonconsumer open-account payment may restart limitations if it recognizes the barred item or a larger admitted balance. And because Maryland has no borrowing statute, assuming a shorter out-of-state deadline will help (or that a longer out-of-state deadline will hurt) is a mistake: Maryland's own period controls.

Common questions

Does the 3-year period apply to my credit card debt? Almost always yes, since a credit card agreement is not typically executed "under seal" in the formal sense § 5-102 requires. A sale-of-goods debt (a retail installment purchase, for instance) is the main exception, governed instead by the UCC's 4-year period under Com. Law § 2-725.

I made a small payment on an old debt, did that restart the clock? For consumer debt, no: § 5-1202(b) prevents post-expiration activity from reviving the claim. For other debt, the answer can be yes if the payment recognizes the barred item or a larger admitted debt; Himelfarb says a payment on different current charges, while disputing the old item, does not revive it.

Can a debt collector still sue me after the statute of limitations runs? For consumer debt, no, CJP § 5-1202(a) makes it unlawful to even initiate a consumer debt collection lawsuit after the deadline has passed, and Com. Law § 14-202(8) separately bars claiming or threatening to enforce a right known not to exist.

Does the debt just disappear once the time limit passes? No. The underlying obligation still exists and can still be voluntarily paid, and a creditor may still report it or ask for payment outside of court; what's barred is using a lawsuit, or, for consumer debt, even threatening one, to force payment.

Statutes and sources

• CJP § 5-101, "A civil action at law shall be filed within three years from the date it accrues unless another provision of the Code provides a different period of time within which an action shall be commenced.", https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=5-101 (accessed 2026-07-09)
• CJP § 5-102, "An action on one of the following specialties shall be filed within 12 years after the cause of action accrues ... (1) Promissory note or other instrument under seal ... (5) Contract under seal ...", https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=5-102 (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Com. Law § 2-725, "An action for breach of any contract for sale must be commenced within four years after the cause of action has accrued ... A cause of action accrues when the breach occurs, regardless of the aggrieved party's lack of knowledge of the breach.", https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcl&section=2-725 (accessed 2026-07-09)
• CJP § 5-1201, "(e) \"Consumer debt\" means a secured or an unsecured debt that: (1) Is for money owed or alleged to be owed; and (2) Arises from a consumer transaction.", https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=5-1201 (accessed 2026-07-09)
• CJP § 5-1202, "A creditor or a collector may not initiate a consumer debt collection action after the expiration of the statute of limitations ... any payment toward, written or oral affirmation of, or any other activity on the debt that occurs after the expiration ... does not revive or extend the limitations period.", https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj&section=5-1202 (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Com. Law § 14-202, "In collecting or attempting to collect an alleged debt a collector may not: ... (8) Claim, attempt, or threaten to enforce a right with knowledge that the right does not exist", https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcl&section=14-202 (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Himelfarb v. American Express Co., 301 Md. 698, 703, 705-08 (1984), ordinary contract limitations accrue from breach; a part payment revives an open-account item only when the payment recognizes the barred item or larger debt. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1524808/himelfarb-v-american-express-co/ (accessed 2026-08-16)
• Poffenberger v. Risser, 290 Md. 631 (1981), Maryland's discovery rule applies to all civil actions.
• Fitzgerald v. Bell, 248 Md. App. 692 (2020), discovery rule does not toll a UCC demand note absent fraudulent concealment.
• Lewis v. Waletzky, 422 Md. 647 (2011), Maryland's statute of limitations is procedural and always governed by forum (Maryland) law.