Michigan: Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection
The short answer
Michigan gives a creditor 6 years to sue on an ordinary debt, written or oral makes no difference, under MCL 600.5807(9), except a contract for the sale of goods (like a retail installment purchase) follows the UCC's separate 4-year period instead. The clock starts on the date of the breach itself, not when the creditor discovered it; Michigan's general accrual rule (MCL 600.5827) rejects a discovery-based standard for ordinary contract claims. A signed written acknowledgment or promise can revive a debt whose deadline has already passed, but Michigan requires that writing for any revival route, there's no bare-payment shortcut. Michigan has a borrowing statute that applies a shorter out-of-state deadline unless the debt originally belonged to a Michigan resident, and once the deadline passes, expiration is only the ordinary affirmative defense a debtor must raise in court or lose.
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This is the general rule in Michigan. Ezel applies current Michigan law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | MCL 600.5807(9) (general contract debt, 6 years), 600.5827 (accrual), 600.5866 (revival), 600.5861 (borrowing statute), 440.2725 (UCC sale-of-goods contracts, 4 years) |
|---|---|
| Written contract/debt deadline | 6 years (MCL 600.5807(9)) for an ordinary written contract: Michigan does NOT give written debt a longer period than oral debt; the same 6 years applies to both. The one real exception is a contract for the sale of goods (e.g., many retail installment purchases), which follows the UCC's separate 4-year period under MCL 440.2725 instead |
| Oral contract/open account deadline | Same 6 years as written debt (MCL 600.5807(9)): Michigan draws no distinction between a signed contract and an oral or informal one; both fall under the identical 'action to recover damages or money due for breach of contract' language |
| When the clock starts | The date of the breach itself, regardless of when the creditor discovered it. MCL 600.5827 sets Michigan's default accrual rule as 'the time the wrong upon which the claim is based was done regardless of the time when damage results': a strict date-of-breach standard, not a discovery rule, for ordinary contract claims. A narrow discovery-based exception exists only for fraudulent concealment of the claim (MCL 600.5855, 2 years from discovery), not for general contract accrual. UCC sale-of-goods claims accrue the same way under MCL 440.2725(2): 'when the breach occurs, regardless of the aggrieved party's lack of knowledge' |
| Can a payment or promise restart the clock? | A signed written acknowledgment or promise can revive a debt already barred by the running of the limitations period (MCL 600.5866), but Michigan requires that writing for the revival to count at all: 'no acknowledgment or promise shall be recognized as effective ... unless the acknowledgment is made by or the promise is contained in some writing signed by the party to be charged.' Unlike some states, Michigan's statute carves out no exception for a bare, unwritten payment alone |
| Special rule for consumer debt | None: no separate statutory limitations period specifically for consumer credit debt; a credit card balance or personal loan is timed under the same general 6-year rule as any other debt. The 4-year UCC period for sale-of-goods contracts (MCL 440.2725) applies based on whether the debt is for goods, not because the debtor is a consumer, so it reaches commercial goods sales too |
| Out-of-state debt | Yes, with a resident carve-out (MCL 600.5861): an action on a cause accruing outside Michigan can't be brought here after the limitations period of either Michigan or the place it arose has run, 'except that where the cause of action accrued in favor of a resident of this state the statute of limitations of this state shall apply' |
| What expiration actually does | The ordinary affirmative defense only. Michigan Court Rule 2.111(F)(3)(a) lists 'statute of limitations' among the affirmative defenses a party must plead in a responsive pleading or it is waived. No additional Michigan statute was found that independently bars an original creditor or a licensed collection agency from suing on, or merely attempting to collect, a debt after the deadline passes, unlike some states' debt-buyer-specific bars |
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Requirements one by one
Governing law
Michigan's contract-debt deadlines sit in the Revised Judicature Act's
Chapter 58 ("Limitation of Actions"): MCL 600.5807(9) sets the general
6-year period, MCL 600.5827 supplies the default accrual rule, and MCL
600.5866 supplies the revival rule. MCL 600.5861 is the borrowing
statute. Michigan's Uniform Commercial Code, MCL 440.2725, separately
governs sale-of-goods contracts.
How long you have on a written debt
Six years, the same as an oral debt, under MCL 600.5807(9), "an action
to recover damages or money due for breach of contract that is not
described in subsections (2) to (8)." Michigan does not carve out a
longer period just because the contract is signed. The real exception is
a contract for the sale of goods, which can include a retail
installment purchase, covered instead by the UCC's separate 4-year
period in MCL 440.2725.
How long you have on an oral or unwritten debt
The same 6 years as a written debt. MCL 600.5807(9) draws no line between
a signed contract and an oral or informal one; both fall under the same
"breach of contract" language. Michigan's real fault line runs between
ordinary contract debt and UCC sale-of-goods debt, not between written
and oral.
When the clock starts
The date the breach itself occurred, not when the creditor discovered
it. MCL 600.5827 sets Michigan's default rule: a claim "accrues at the
time the wrong upon which the claim is based was done regardless of the
time when damage results." For a UCC sale-of-goods claim, MCL
440.2725(2) states the identical approach explicitly: accrual happens
"when the breach occurs, regardless of the aggrieved party's lack of
knowledge of the breach." Michigan does have a narrow discovery-based
exception, but only where the debtor fraudulently concealed the claim's
existence or the identity of the person liable (MCL 600.5855), that
gives 2 years from actual or constructive discovery, but it doesn't
change the ordinary accrual rule for a garden-variety missed payment.
Can a payment or promise restart the clock?
Only with a signed writing. MCL 600.5866 lets a debt already "barred by
the running of the period of limitation" be revived "by the
acknowledgment or promise of the party to be charged", but the same
section requires that the acknowledgment be made, or the promise be
contained, "in some writing signed by the party to be charged." Michigan
does not carve out a separate route for a bare, unwritten payment the way
some other states do; whatever form the revival takes, it needs a
debtor's signature.
Is there a special rule for consumer debt?
No separate limitations period. A credit card balance or personal loan is
timed under the same general 6-year rule in MCL 600.5807(9) as any other
contract debt. The UCC's 4-year sale-of-goods period isn't a
consumer-specific carve-out either, it applies based on whether the
underlying transaction is a sale of goods, so it reaches commercial goods
sales too, not just consumer purchases.
What if the debt originated in another state?
Michigan applies a shorter out-of-state deadline in some cases. MCL
600.5861's borrowing statute bars an action on a claim that "accru[ed]
without this state" once either Michigan's period or the period "of the
place without this state where the cause of action accrued" has run, except where the claim "accrued in favor of a resident of this state,"
in which case Michigan's own period controls instead.
What actually happens once the deadline passes?
The ordinary default. Michigan Court Rule 2.111(F)(3)(a) lists "statute
of limitations" among the affirmative defenses a party must plead in a
responsive pleading, under a separate heading, with supporting facts, and a defense not asserted that way is waived. No Michigan statute was
found that goes further and independently bars a creditor or a licensed
collection agency from suing on, or simply continuing to seek, a
time-barred debt; Michigan's collection-practices statutes (the
Occupational Code's collection-agency provisions and the Regulation of
Collection Practices Act for original creditors) bar misleading or
deceptive conduct generally, but neither singles out suing on time-barred
debt the way some other states' collection-agency statutes do.
What trips people up
Because Michigan's accrual rule runs from the date of breach rather than
discovery, a creditor who doesn't notice a missed payment right away
doesn't get extra time, the 6-year clock is already running from the
breach itself. And because reviving an already-expired debt in Michigan
always requires the debtor's signature, a debtor who simply talks to a
collector on the phone, or makes an unwritten payment, hasn't reopened
their exposure the way they might in a state that allows a bare-payment
revival, but signing any written acknowledgment, payment plan, or
settlement letter on an old account can.
Common questions
Does my credit card debt get 6 years or something shorter?
Almost always 6 years under MCL 600.5807(9), since a credit card balance
is ordinary contract debt, not a UCC sale-of-goods contract.
I made a payment on an old debt without signing anything, did that
restart the clock?
No. Michigan's revival statute, MCL 600.5866, requires a signed writing
for either an acknowledgment or a promise to count; an unwritten payment
alone does not revive or restart the clock.
Does it matter that my debt originated with a company in another
state?
It can. Michigan's borrowing statute applies the shorter of Michigan's
period or the period where the debt arose, unless the debt originally
belonged to a Michigan resident.
Can a debt collector still contact me after the deadline passes?
Yes, subject to Michigan's collection-practices statutes and the federal
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, both of which bar misleading or
deceptive conduct, but Michigan has no separate statute barring a
creditor or collection agency from suing on a time-barred debt itself; a
debtor has to raise the statute of limitations as a defense.
Statutes and sources
- MCL 600.5807(9), "The period of limitations is 6 years for an action
to recover damages or money due for breach of contract that is not
described in subsections (2) to (8).", https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-600-5807
(accessed 2026-07-09) - MCL 600.5827, "the claim accrues at the time the wrong upon which the
claim is based was done regardless of the time when damage results.", https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-600-5827
(accessed 2026-07-09) - MCL 600.5866, "Express or implied contracts which have been barred by
the running of the period of limitation shall be revived by the
acknowledgment or promise of the party to be charged. But no
acknowledgment or promise shall be recognized as effective ... unless
the acknowledgment is made by or the promise is contained in some
writing signed by the party to be charged.", https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-600-5866
(accessed 2026-07-09) - MCL 600.5861, "An action based upon a cause of action accruing
without this state shall not be commenced after the expiration of the
statute of limitations of either this state or the place without this
state where the cause of action accrued, except that where the cause
of action accrued in favor of a resident of this state the statute of
limitations of this state shall apply.", https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-600-5861
(accessed 2026-07-09) - MCL 440.2725, "An action for breach of any contract for sale must be
commenced within 4 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://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-440-2725
(accessed 2026-07-09) - MCL 600.5855, "the action may be commenced at any time within 2 years
after the person who is entitled to bring the action discovers, or
should have discovered, the existence of the claim.", https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-600-5855
(accessed 2026-07-09) - MCR 2.111(F)(3)(a), "Affirmative defenses must be stated in a party's
responsive pleading ... Under a separate and distinct heading, a party
must state the facts constituting (a) an affirmative defense, such as
... statute of limitations ...", https://www.courtrules.net/michigan/michigan-court-rules/rule-2-111
(accessed 2026-07-09)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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