Texas: Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Texas's general debt deadline lives in the Civil Practice and Remedies Code,
Chapter 16 ("Limitations"), principally § 16.004 (the four-year period),
§ 16.051 (a residual four-year catch-all), § 16.065 (acknowledgment), and
§ 16.067 (the borrowing rule for people who moved to Texas). Layered on top
of that, for consumer debt collected by a debt buyer specifically, Finance
Code § 392.307 adds its own suit-bar and anti-revival rules.

How long you have on a written debt

Four years, running from the day the cause of action accrues (generally the
date of default). Section 16.004(a)(3) sets a four-year deadline simply for
"debt", it doesn't require the debt to be backed by a signed writing the
way some states' written-contract statutes do. Credit cards, personal loans,
medical bills, and written contracts all fall under this same four-year
period.

How long you have on an oral or unwritten debt

Also four years, Texas does not cut the period in half for an unwritten
agreement. Because § 16.004(a)(3)'s "debt" category isn't limited to written
obligations, an oral debt gets the same four years. Any contract-breach claim
that somehow doesn't fit squarely into "debt" still lands on four years
anyway, through § 16.051's residual limitations period: "every action for
which there is no express limitations period ... must be brought not later
than four years after the day the cause of action accrues."

When the clock starts

The default rule is the date of breach or default, Texas courts hold that
a cause of action accrues when facts come into existence that give the
claimant the right to seek a judicial remedy. Chapter 16 doesn't set out a
special accrual rule for running accounts the way some states do, so a debt
collection claim generally runs from the date of the missed payment or
default itself.

Can a payment or promise restart the clock?

For an original creditor, yes, but only through a signed writing. Section
16.065 requires that "an acknowledgment of the justness of a claim that
appears to be barred by limitations ... [must] be in writing and is signed by
the party to be charged" to be used against a limitations defense. What makes
Texas's version notable is its scope: it applies to an acknowledgment "made
after the time that the claim is due", meaning a signed written
acknowledgment can revive a debt that's already gone time-barred, not just
extend one that's still running. Texas courts have enforced this against
debtors whose own post-deadline emails referencing the debt and a plan to pay
counted as a sufficient signed acknowledgment.

That said, this general rule doesn't apply to every collector. If a debt
buyer, someone who purchased the consumer debt rather than the original
creditor, is doing the collecting, Finance Code § 392.307 overrides it
entirely for that situation: once the four-year period has run, "the cause
of action is not revived by a payment of the consumer debt, an oral or
written reaffirmation of the consumer debt, or any other activity on the
consumer debt." No writing, no payment, and no promise can bring the claim
back once a debt buyer holds it and time has run out.

Is there a special rule for consumer debt?

The underlying number doesn't change, consumer debt still gets the same
four years as any other debt under § 16.004. But Finance Code § 392.307
layers real, separate protections on top of that number specifically when a
"debt buyer" (a defined term, generally someone who purchased the debt
after it was charged off, not the original creditor and not most portfolio
purchasers) is doing the collecting: an outright bar on suing or arbitrating
after the deadline, a total ban on reviving the claim by any means, and a
mandatory notice. The debt buyer (or a collector working for one) must send
a specific, boldfaced and capitalized notice in its first written contact
about a time-barred debt, stating plainly that the law limits how long the
consumer can be sued and that the buyer will not sue, with the exact
wording depending on whether the debt can still be reported to a credit
bureau.

What if the debt originated in another state?

Texas's borrowing rule, § 16.067, isn't shaped around where the creditor
lives (unlike California's or New York's), it's shaped around the debtor's
move. It bars a claim "against a person who has moved to this state if the
claim is barred by the law of limitations of the state or country from
which the person came." But it also protects the creditor with a floor:
once someone moves to Texas, "a demand ... incurred prior to his arrival in
this state is not barred by the law of limitations until the person has
lived in this state for 12 months", so a debtor can't use a quick move to
Texas to run out an already-close-to-expiring debt faster than Texas's own
four-year clock would otherwise allow.

What actually happens once the deadline passes?

It depends on who's trying to collect. For an original creditor collecting
its own debt, Texas follows the ordinary default: expiration is an
affirmative defense the debtor has to raise (Tex. R. Civ. P. 94 requires
pleading it), not an automatic bar, a court won't dismiss a stale claim on
its own if nobody points out the deadline passed. But for a debt buyer
collecting consumer debt, § 392.307(c) removes that discretion entirely:
"a debt buyer may not, directly or indirectly, commence an action against or
initiate arbitration with a consumer to collect a consumer debt" once the
period has run, full stop.

What trips people up

Secondary sources online frequently claim Texas gives oral contracts only a
2-year deadline, citing § 16.003, that section is Texas's two-year period
for property torts (trespass, conversion, personal injury), and never
mentions contracts at all; it doesn't apply to debt or contract claims of
any kind. Another common trap: a signed email or text message referencing an
old, already-expired debt and a vague intention to pay it can restart the
clock under § 16.065, even without any payment attached, something an
original creditor can use, but that a debt buyer specifically cannot, since
§ 392.307 shuts that door entirely once a debt buyer holds the claim past
the deadline. Whether a given collector counts as the "original creditor"
or a "debt buyer" under the Finance Code's technical definition can matter
enormously to which set of rules applies.

Common questions

Does Texas give me less time to be sued over an oral agreement than a
written one?
No. Both get the same 4 years under § 16.004(a)(3) or the § 16.051 residual
period, Texas doesn't split written and oral contract debt into different
deadlines the way some states do.

I got a letter from a debt buyer about an old debt, and it says they won't
sue me. Why?
If the four-year period has already run, Finance Code § 392.307 legally
bars a debt buyer from suing or arbitrating to collect, and requires them to
tell you so in writing in their first contact with you.

I made a payment on an old debt from before I moved to Texas, does that
change anything?
Whether your out-of-state debt is already time-barred depends on the law of
the state you moved from, but Texas's § 16.067 gives you at least 12 months
after moving to Texas before Texas's own four-year clock can be used against
you on a pre-move debt.

Can I revive my own time-barred debt by accident?
If the original creditor (not a debt buyer) is the one collecting, signing
something in writing, even an email, that acknowledges you owe an
already-expired debt can revive it under § 16.065. A bare, unwritten
payment or verbal promise, standing alone, doesn't meet that statute's
signed-writing requirement.

Statutes and sources

• Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.004, "A person must bring suit on the
  following actions not later than four years after the day the cause of
  action accrues: ... (3) debt...", https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/cp/pdf/cp.16.pdf (accessed
  2026-07-09)
• Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.051, "Every action for which there is
  no express limitations period, except an action for the recovery of real
  property, must be brought not later than four years after the day the
  cause of action accrues.", https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/cp/pdf/cp.16.pdf (accessed
  2026-07-09)
• Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.065, "An acknowledgment of the justness
  of a claim that appears to be barred by limitations is not admissible in
  evidence to defeat the law of limitations if made after the time that the
  claim is due unless the acknowledgment is in writing and is signed by the
  party to be charged.", https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/cp/pdf/cp.16.pdf (accessed
  2026-07-09)
• Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.067, "A person may not bring an action
  to recover a claim against a person who has moved to this state if the
  claim is barred by the law of limitations of the state or country from
  which the person came. ... A demand ... incurred prior to his arrival in
  this state is not barred by the law of limitations until the person has
  lived in this state for 12 months.", https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/cp/pdf/cp.16.pdf (accessed
  2026-07-09)
• Tex. Fin. Code § 392.307, "A debt buyer may not, directly or indirectly,
  commence an action against or initiate arbitration with a consumer to
  collect a consumer debt after the expiration of the applicable limitations
  period ... If an action to collect a consumer debt is barred under
  Subsection (c), the cause of action is not revived by a payment of the
  consumer debt, an oral or written reaffirmation of the consumer debt, or
  any other activity on the consumer debt.", https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/fi/pdf/fi.392.pdf (accessed
  2026-07-09)