Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection in Ohio

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Written-contract period

Section 2305.06 currently requires an action on a written agreement, contract, or promise to be brought “within six years after the cause of action accrued.”

Oral-contract period

Section 2305.07(A) supplies the shorter rule: “an action upon a contract not in writing, express or implied, shall be brought within four years after the cause of action accrued.”

Consumer period and accrual

Section 2305.07(C) gives qualifying personal, family, or household debt a six-year period whether or not the obligation is written or signed. Its special accrual sentence says the claim accrues “thirty calendar days after the date of the last charge or payment by, or on behalf of, the consumer, whichever is later.”

Payment, acknowledgment, or promise

Section 2305.08 permits an action within the applicable § 2305.06 or § 2305.07 period after “such payment, acknowledgment, or promise.” The statute distinguishes among a payment, a written acknowledgment, and a promise signed by the person to be charged; it does not say that the payment itself must be written.

Out-of-state debt and the time bar

Section 2305.03(B)'s general shorter-period rule is limited to tort actions, but divisions (C) and (D) separately cover certain contract and consumer claims. They use the shorter Ohio or foreign period when the action seeks out-of-state post-default or post-charge-off interest above the rate in § 5703.47. Division (A) also states the procedural consequence directly: “If interposed by proper plea,” lapse of time bars the action.

What trips people up

Two different changes are easy to conflate. Enacted SB 219 took effect on September 23, 2026. It added a cross-reference to § 2305.041(B)'s separate ten-year deadline for an action alleging that an oil-and-gas lease has ended; it did not change § 2305.06's six-year period for ordinary written debt. Substitute SB 157 is the measure that would materially change this survey: as passed by the Senate, it would generally reduce written-contract actions to four years and oral-contract actions to two years, while permitting a written period of up to thirty years and leaving the six-year consumer rule intact.

Common questions

If the last consumer charge was January 1 and the last payment was February 1, when does the clock start? Section 2305.07(C) uses the later event, then adds 30 calendar days. For those dates in 2026, the accrual date is March 3, 2026.

If I pay an oral-contract debt on June 1, which period follows that payment? Section 2305.08 measures a new period after payment using the applicable § 2305.06 or § 2305.07 limit. For an ordinary contract not in writing, § 2305.07(A) supplies four years after that June 1 payment.

Statutes and sources

• Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.06, "Except as provided in sections 126.301, 1302.98, 1303.16, 1345.10, and 2305.04 and division (B) of section 2305.041 of the Revised Code, an action upon a specialty or an agreement, contract, or promise in writing shall be brought within six years after the cause of action accrued.", https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2305.06 (accessed 2026-09-23)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.041(B), "An action alleging that a lease has terminated, is no longer in effect, or has expired shall be brought within ten years after the cause of action accrued.", https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2305.041 (accessed 2026-09-23)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.07, "(A) ... an action upon a contract not in writing, express or implied, shall be brought within four years ... (C) ... an action arising out of a consumer transaction ... whether or not reduced to writing ... shall be commenced within six years after the cause of action accrued. ... a cause of action accrues thirty calendar days after the date of the last charge or payment by, or on behalf of, the consumer, whichever is later.", https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2305.07 (accessed 2026-09-23)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.08, "If payment has been made upon any demand founded on a contract, or a written acknowledgment thereof, or a promise to pay it has been made and signed by the party to be charged, an action may be brought thereon within the time limited by sections 2305.06 and 2305.07 ... after such payment, acknowledgment, or promise.", https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2305.08 (accessed 2026-09-23)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.03, "If interposed by proper plea by a party to an action mentioned in any of those sections, lapse of time shall be a bar to the action." Divisions (C) and (D) separately apply the shorter Ohio or foreign period to the covered written-contract or consumer claim seeking specified out-of-state interest above Ohio's statutory rate., https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2305.03 (accessed 2026-09-23)
• 2026 Substitute Senate Bill 219, enrolled. Effective September 23, 2026, the act adds the § 2305.041(B) oil-and-gas lease exception to § 2305.06 while preserving the ordinary six-year written-contract period. Official enrolled act and official version metadata (accessed 2026-08-31).