South Carolina: Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection

Requirements one by one

Governing law

South Carolina's contract-debt deadlines live in Title 15, Chapter 3
("Limitation of Civil Actions") of the Code of Laws, principally §
15-3-530(1) (the general 3-year period), § 15-3-520 (the 20-year exceptions
for mortgage-secured and sealed instruments), and § 36-2-725 (the state's own
Commercial Code period for sale-of-goods debt). Revival is governed by §§
15-3-120 and 15-3-130, and there is no South Carolina borrowing statute at
all.

How long you have on a written debt

Three years, and this is not a special "written" rule. Section 15-3-530(1)
sets a single 3-year period for "an action upon a contract, obligation, or
liability, express or implied," covering both written and oral debt alike,
"excepting those provided for in Section 15-3-520." Section 15-3-520 is where
the real exceptions live: a written contract secured by a mortgage of real
property gets 20 years, and so does a sealed instrument, except that a
sealed note or personal bond for the payment of money only stays on the
ordinary 3-year track, and a sealed contract for the sale of goods instead
follows § 36-2-725's period. Most ordinary written debt, a credit card
agreement, a signed promissory note that isn't sealed, a written invoice, falls into the same 3-year bucket as oral debt.

How long you have on an oral or unwritten debt

The same 3 years. South Carolina draws no distinction between a written and
an oral contract debt the way California or Ohio do, § 15-3-530(1)'s
"express or implied" language covers both. An informal loan or a verbally
modified agreement gets exactly the same 3 years as a signed contract,
unless it happens to fall under one of § 15-3-520's mortgage or sealed-
instrument exceptions.

When the clock starts

The default rule is the date of breach or default. For a mutual, open, and
current account with reciprocal demands between the parties, the kind of
running account a credit card or trade-account balance often is, § 15-3-610
sets a different starting point: the clock runs "from the time of the last
item proved in the account on either side," so a running account generally
starts its clock from the most recent entry, not the first one. For a debt
arising from the sale of goods under § 36-2-725, the clock runs from the date
of breach regardless of when either party discovers it, except that a breach
of warranty accrues when it "is or should have been discovered."

Can a payment or promise restart the clock?

Yes, and South Carolina's version is more permissive than most states'.
Section 15-3-120 states the general rule: "no acknowledgment or promise
shall be sufficient evidence of a new or continuing contract ... unless it be
contained in some writing signed by the party to be charged." But the same
sentence adds a broad exception with no carve-out for notes or any other
special category: "payment of any part of principal or interest is
equivalent to a promise in writing." That means a bare partial payment on
any ordinary debt, not just a promissory note, restarts the clock with no
separate acknowledgment needed. And South Carolina's revival rule has no cap
limiting it to a still-running clock: § 15-3-130 says a suit "which would be
barred by the statute of limitations but for part payment or a written
acknowledgment shall be brought on the original cause of action," language
courts and practitioners have read as allowing a payment or written promise
to revive a debt that has already expired, not merely extend one that's
still running, a real contrast with states like California that expressly
block reviving an already-barred claim this way.

Is there a special rule for consumer debt?

No. South Carolina's 3-year period applies the same way to consumer credit
debt as to any other contract debt; nothing in Title 15's limitations chapter
or the state's Consumer Protection Code (Title 37) sets a separate, shorter
(or longer) period specifically for consumer credit transactions.

What if the debt originated in another state?

Nothing changes, South Carolina has no borrowing statute at all. It is one
of only a handful of states (along with Georgia, North Dakota, and South
Dakota) with no mechanism to import a shorter out-of-state limitations
period, so South Carolina's own 3-year (or 6-year, or 20-year) periods apply
to a debt sued on here regardless of where it was incurred or where the
parties lived when it arose.

What actually happens once the deadline passes?

South Carolina follows the ordinary default: expiration is an affirmative
defense the debtor has to raise, not an automatic bar. Nothing in Title 15's
limitations chapter or the Consumer Protection Code stops a creditor from
filing suit on a time-barred debt the way California's or Maryland's
statutes do. If a debtor is sued on an expired debt and doesn't answer or
doesn't plead the statute of limitations, a court can still enter judgment
against them by default.

What trips people up

Because South Carolina doesn't split written from oral debt, people often
assume a signed agreement buys extra time the way it does in most other
states, it doesn't, unless the agreement happens to be sealed or secured by
a real estate mortgage. Making even a small "goodwill" payment on an old
debt is riskier here than in many states: because a bare payment counts as a
written promise under § 15-3-120, and South Carolina's revival rule has no
language capping it to a still-running clock, a payment can restart the
clock on a debt that's already time-barred, not just one that's still
running. And because South Carolina has no statute making expiration a bar
to suit, a time-barred debt being sued on is purely a defense the debtor
must raise, silence or a missed answer deadline can still produce a
judgment even on genuinely expired debt.

Common questions

Does the 3-year period apply to my credit card debt?
Almost always yes. South Carolina's 3-year period under § 15-3-530(1) covers
written and oral debt alike, so a typical credit card balance falls into
this bucket unless it's backed by a sealed instrument or a real estate
mortgage.

I made a small payment on an old debt, did that restart the clock?
Yes, even without signing anything. Under § 15-3-120, a bare partial payment
of principal or interest is treated the same as a signed written promise,
and it can restart the clock even on a debt that has already expired.

Can a debt collector still sue me after the statute of limitations runs?
Nothing in South Carolina law stops them from filing, and if you don't raise
the statute of limitations as a defense, a court can still enter judgment
against you. You have to plead the expired deadline yourself; it isn't
automatic.

Does moving to South Carolina from a state with a shorter deadline help a
creditor sue me here?
No shorter out-of-state deadline gets imported the other way either, South Carolina has no borrowing statute, so its own periods apply regardless
of where the debt originated.

Statutes and sources

• S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-530(1), "Within three years: (1) an action upon a
  contract, obligation, or liability, express or implied, excepting those
  provided for in Section 15-3-520;", https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c003.php (accessed 2026-07-09)
• S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-520, "Within twenty years: (a) an action upon a
  bond or other contract in writing secured by a mortgage of real property;
  (b) an action upon a sealed instrument, other than a sealed note and
  personal bond for the payment of money only whereon the period of
  limitation is the same as prescribed in Section 15-3-530, except that a
  sealed contract for sale or an offer to buy or sell goods whereon the
  period of limitation is the same as prescribed in Section 36-2-725.", https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c003.php (accessed 2026-07-09)
• S.C. Code Ann. § 36-2-725, "(1) An action for breach of any contract for
  sale must be commenced within six years after the cause of action has
  accrued. (2) A cause of action accrues for breach of warranty when the
  breach is or should have been discovered.", https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t36c002.php (accessed 2026-07-09)
• S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-610, "In an action brought to recover a balance due
  upon a mutual, open and current account when there have been reciprocal
  demands between the parties, the cause of action shall be deemed to have
  accrued from the time of the last item proved in the account on either
  side.", https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c003.php (accessed
  2026-07-09)
• S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-120, "No acknowledgment or promise shall be
  sufficient evidence of a new or continuing contract whereby to take the
  case out of the operation of this chapter unless it be contained in some
  writing signed by the party to be charged thereby. But payment of any part
  of principal or interest is equivalent to a promise in writing.", https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c003.php (accessed 2026-07-09)
• S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-130, "All actions upon causes of action which would
  be barred by the statute of limitations but for part payment or a written
  acknowledgment shall be brought on the original cause of action and the
  part payment or written acknowledgment shall be evidence to prevent the
  bar of the statute of limitations.", https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c003.php (accessed 2026-07-09)