Massachusetts: Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection
The short answer
Massachusetts gives a creditor 6 years to sue on a contract debt, and that period applies equally whether the debt is written or purely oral: Massachusetts doesn't split the two the way many states do. A contract under seal, a bank note, or a promissory note signed before an attesting witness gets 20 years instead. The clock starts at the date of breach. A signed written acknowledgment can take a claim out of the statute's bar, and a payment of principal or interest works on its own without any writing. Once the deadline passes, a creditor can still file suit and the debtor has to raise the expired deadline as a defense, though a debt collector contacting a Massachusetts consumer about time-barred debt must disclose that fact under state regulation.
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This is the general rule in Massachusetts. Ezel applies current Massachusetts law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | M.G.L. c. 260, § 2 (six-year unified contract period); § 1 (twenty years for sealed/bank/witnessed-note debt); §§ 13-14 (acknowledgment and part payment) |
|---|---|
| Written contract/debt deadline | 6 years from breach (§ 2): the SAME period as an oral debt; 20 years instead for a contract under seal, a bank-issued note, or a promissory note signed before an attesting witness where the original payee is suing (§ 1); a UCC sale-of-goods contract gets only 4 years (G.L. c. 106, § 2-725(1)) |
| Oral contract/open account deadline | 6 years from breach (§ 2): Massachusetts does not distinguish oral from written contract debt at all; this value equals the written_contract_period figure |
| When the clock starts | Date of breach/default under the ordinary common-law rule; a stated account runs from the date of the statement of account (King v. Davis, 1897; Zelby Holdings, Inc. v. Videogenix, Inc., 2017) |
| Can a payment or promise restart the clock? | A signed writing can take a claim out of the statute's bar (§ 13); separately, and without needing any writing, a payment of principal or interest by the debtor has the same effect on its own (§ 14): though a mere creditor-side endorsement of a payment, unsigned by the debtor, is NOT by itself sufficient proof |
| Special rule for consumer debt | None: the general 6-year period covers credit card and other consumer debt the same as any other contract debt (confirmed by Mass.gov's own debt-collection guidance) |
| Out-of-state debt | Structurally different from most states: § 9 primarily TOLLS (pauses) the Massachusetts clock while a defendant resides outside the Commonwealth, but its final clause also bars reviving a claim that was already time-barred where the defendant resided at the time |
| What expiration actually does | Ordinary affirmative defense only: no Massachusetts limitations statute bars suing on a time-barred debt; separately, a state debt-collection regulation (940 CMR 7.07) requires a specific disclosure when collecting a time-barred debt, but does not bar the collection or the lawsuit itself |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Requirements one by one
Governing law
Massachusetts consolidates its civil limitations periods in M.G.L. c. 260
("Limitation of Actions"): § 2 sets the general six-year contract period, §
1 carves out a 20-year period for a narrower set of higher-formality debt
instruments, §§ 13 and 14 govern acknowledgment and part payment, and § 9
handles what happens when a defendant lives outside the Commonwealth.
How long you have on a written debt
Six years from the date of breach, the same period that applies to an
oral debt (see below). Section 2 covers "actions of contract ... founded
upon contracts or liabilities, express or implied," without distinguishing
written from oral. A narrow set of debt types instead gets 20 years under §
1: a contract under seal, a bank-issued note of debt, and a promissory note
signed in the presence of an attesting witness where the lawsuit is brought
by the original payee. Separately, a contract for the sale of goods governed
by the Uniform Commercial Code gets only 4 years (G.L. c. 106, § 2-725(1)),
shorter than the general contract rule.
How long you have on an oral or unwritten debt
Also six years, Massachusetts is one of the states, like New York, that
doesn't distinguish an oral or unwritten debt from a written one at all.
Section 2's six-year period covers both "express or implied" liabilities
without requiring a signed writing, so this figure is identical to the
written-contract number rather than a shorter one.
When the clock starts
The ordinary rule is the date of breach or default. For a stated account
specifically, Massachusetts courts start the clock on the date of the
statement of account itself, not the date of the underlying purchases (King
v. Davis, 1897; Zelby Holdings, Inc. v. Videogenix, Inc., 2017).
Can a payment or promise restart the clock?
Yes, through two separate routes. Section 13 requires a signed writing for
an acknowledgment or promise to have any effect: "no acknowledgment or
promise shall be evidence of a new or continuing contract ... unless such
acknowledgment or promise has been made by, or is contained in, a writing
signed by the party chargeable thereby." Section 14 then preserves a
separate, older common-law route that doesn't need any writing at all: "The
preceding section shall not alter or impair the effect of a payment of
principal or interest made by any person." A genuine payment made by the
debtor works on its own, but the statute is specific that a one-sided
paper trail isn't enough: "no endorsement or memorandum of any such
payment ... by or on behalf of the party to whom such payment has been ...
made, shall be sufficient proof of the payment," meaning a creditor can't
manufacture proof of a payment restart just by writing it down on their own
records.
Is there a special rule for consumer debt?
No. Massachusetts does not set a separate, shorter limitations period for
consumer credit transactions. The Commonwealth's own consumer-facing
guidance confirms the same six-year period under § 2 applies to credit card
debt as to any other contract debt.
What if the debt originated in another state?
Massachusetts' version of this issue works differently than the typical
state borrowing statute. Section 9 is framed primarily as a tolling
provision protecting Massachusetts creditors: if a defendant lives outside
Massachusetts when a cause of action accrues, "the action may be commenced
within the time herein limited after he comes into the commonwealth," and
if a defendant later moves out of state, that time away is excluded from
the running clock, both provisions that can effectively lengthen a
creditor's practical window rather than shorten it. But the same section
ends with a genuine borrowing-statute clause: "no action shall be brought by
any person upon a cause of action which was barred by the laws of any state
or country while he resided therein", so a claim that was already
time-barred under the law of a state where the debtor lived at the time
can't be revived just by bringing suit in Massachusetts instead.
What actually happens once the deadline passes?
The ordinary common-law default applies: expiration is an affirmative
defense the debtor has to raise, not an automatic bar on filing suit. What
Massachusetts adds on top of that default is a disclosure requirement, not
a suit-barring rule. The Attorney General's debt collection regulation, 940
CMR 7.07, requires a debt collector attempting to collect a "time-barred
debt" to include a specific warning (commonly rendered as "THIS DEBT MAY BE
TOO OLD FOR YOU TO BE SUED ON IT IN COURT") in communications about it.
Failing to include that disclosure is an unfair or deceptive practice, but
the regulation doesn't stop a creditor from filing suit or from continuing
to seek voluntary repayment of a time-barred debt, as a federal court
applying Massachusetts law confirmed in Schaefer v. ARM Receivable
Management, Inc. (D. Mass. 2011).
What trips people up
Because Massachusetts doesn't split written from oral debt, someone
expecting a shorter deadline for an informal or unwritten agreement (the
pattern in states like California) will be surprised that Massachusetts
treats it exactly the same as a signed contract. A "goodwill" payment on an
old account is a genuine trap here just like in other payment-restarts-the-
clock states: § 14 gives a real payment legal effect with no signed writing
needed, so paying even a small amount can restart the six-year clock
without the person realizing it. And the § 9 borrowing-style clause is easy
to miss because it's buried at the end of a section mostly about tolling
for absent defendants, not framed as a standalone borrowing statute the way
most other states structure theirs.
Common questions
Does the 6-year period apply to my credit card debt?
Yes. Massachusetts doesn't distinguish written from oral contract debt, and
there's no separate shorter period for consumer or credit card debt, credit card balances get the same six years as any other contract claim.
I made a small payment on an old debt, did that restart the clock?
Yes, if you personally made the payment. Section 14 gives a genuine payment
of principal or interest legal effect on its own, without any signed
writing required.
Can a debt collector still sue me after the statute of limitations
runs?
Yes, Massachusetts has no statute barring the lawsuit itself. You would
need to raise the expired deadline as a defense. Separately, if a collector
contacts you about a debt it believes may be time-barred, state regulation
requires it to disclose that the debt may be too old to sue on.
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.
Statutes and sources
- M.G.L. c. 260, § 2, "Actions of contract ... founded upon contracts or
liabilities, express or implied ... shall ... be commenced only within
six years next after the cause of action accrues.", https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleV/Chapter260/Section2
(accessed 2026-07-09) - M.G.L. c. 260, § 13, "No acknowledgment or promise shall be evidence of
a new or continuing contract ... unless such acknowledgment or promise has
been made by, or is contained in, a writing signed by the party chargeable
thereby.", https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleV/Chapter260/Section13
(accessed 2026-07-09) - M.G.L. c. 260, § 14, "The preceding section shall not alter or impair
the effect of a payment of principal or interest made by any person; but
no endorsement or memorandum of any such payment ... shall be sufficient
proof of the payment...", https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleV/Chapter260/Section14
(accessed 2026-07-09) - M.G.L. c. 260, § 9, "...no action shall be brought by any person upon a
cause of action which was barred by the laws of any state or country
while he resided therein.", https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleV/Chapter260/Section9
(accessed 2026-07-09) - M.G.L. c. 260, § 1, "The following actions shall be commenced only
within twenty years next after the cause of action accrues: First,
Actions upon contracts under seal.", https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleV/Chapter260/Section1
(accessed 2026-07-09)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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