Ohio: Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Ohio's contract-debt deadlines live in Revised Code Chapter 2305, § 2305.06 (written debt), § 2305.07 (oral debt and, separately, consumer
transactions), § 2305.08 (the payment/acknowledgment revival rule), and
§ 2305.03 (the now-narrowed foreign-claim/borrowing statute).

How long you have on a written debt

Six years from accrual under § 2305.06, covering "an agreement, contract,
or promise in writing." This was 8 years until 2021 Senate Bill 13 cut it
to 6, effective June 14, 2021, for claims accruing on or after that date, the second time in a decade Ohio has shortened this period (it was 15 years
until 2012).

How long you have on an oral or unwritten debt

Four years from accrual under § 2305.07(A), covering "a contract not in
writing, express or implied." The same 2021 law cut this from 6 years. Note
that most consumer debt doesn't actually land here, it typically falls
under the separate consumer-transaction rule below instead.

When the clock starts

For most contract debt, the date of breach or default. Consumer-transaction
debt is the exception: § 2305.07(C) sets its own accrual rule, running "30
calendar days after the date of the last charge or payment by, or on behalf
of, the consumer, whichever is later", not the date of breach at all.

Can a payment or promise restart the clock?

Yes, broadly. Section 2305.08 says that "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." Three
things stand out: this applies to written AND oral debt alike (both
sections are cross-referenced); a bare payment doesn't itself need to be in
writing, only an acknowledgment or promise does; and because the statute
grants a fresh period measured from the payment or promise, it can revive a
debt whose original deadline has already passed, not just extend one still
running.

Is there a special rule for consumer debt?

Yes, and it runs the opposite direction from what you might expect.
Section 2305.07(C) sets a 6-year period for debt "arising out of a consumer
transaction incurred primarily for personal, family, or household
purposes... whether or not reduced to writing", the same length as the
written-contract period, not shorter. In practice, this pulls ordinary
consumer open-account and credit-card debt up to the 6-year number instead
of leaving it at the shorter 4-year oral-debt period.

What if the debt originated in another state?

Effectively nothing changes based on where the debt arose. Before 2021,
§ 2305.03(B) worked as a conventional borrowing statute for any civil
action. S.B. 13 narrowed it to apply only to a "tort action" as separately
defined in the Revised Code, contract and debt claims are no longer
covered at all. Ohio's own written/oral/consumer-transaction periods now
apply to a debt collection suit regardless of where the debt was incurred.

What actually happens once the deadline passes?

The ordinary default. Ohio R. Civ. P. 8(C) lists "statute of limitations"
among the affirmative defenses a party "shall set forth affirmatively" in a
responsive pleading, meaning a debtor has to actually raise it, or risk
losing the defense. There's no separate Ohio statute that independently
bars a creditor from suing on, or simply asking a debtor to voluntarily
pay, a time-barred debt.

What trips people up

Ohio's revival rule is unusually easy to trigger by accident: because a
bare payment doesn't need to be in writing to restart the clock, and
because the rule can revive even an already-expired claim, someone making a
small "goodwill" payment on an old debt they thought was untouchable can
hand the creditor a brand-new 6- or 4-year window. And because the 2021 law
changed multiple pieces at once, both contract periods, a brand-new
consumer-transaction rule, and the borrowing statute, older secondary
sources and templates describing Ohio's "8-year written / 6-year oral"
rule, or an unqualified borrowing statute, are simply describing the law as
it stood before June 2021, not current law.

Common questions

Is my credit card debt covered by the 4-year oral period or the 6-year
written period?
Neither, usually, it's most likely covered by the separate 6-year
consumer-transaction period under § 2305.07(C), which applies to consumer
debt whether or not it's in writing.

I made a small payment on an old debt, did that restart the clock?
Very likely yes. Under § 2305.08, a payment alone (no writing required)
restarts a fresh full limitations period, and this applies even if the
original deadline had already passed.

Does it matter that my debt originated with a company in another state?
Not for the limitations period itself. Since 2021, Ohio's borrowing statute
only reaches tort claims, so Ohio's own contract and consumer-transaction
periods apply regardless of where the debt was incurred.

Can a debt collector still contact me after the deadline passes?
The statute of limitations itself only bars a lawsuit; it doesn't
independently prohibit contact. Whether a specific contact about a
time-barred debt is lawful is a separate question under federal and Ohio
debt-collection-conduct law, outside this survey's scope.

Statutes and sources

• Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.06, "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 2026-07-09)
• 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 2026-07-09)
• 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 2026-07-09)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.03, "(B) No tort action, as defined in section
  2305.236 of the Revised Code, that is based upon a cause of action that
  accrued in any other state ... may be commenced and maintained in this
  state if the period of limitation ... has expired.", https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2305.03
  (accessed 2026-07-09)