Utah: Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Utah's contract-debt deadlines live in Title 78B, Chapter 2 of the Utah
Code. Section 78B-2-309 sets the 6-year period for a written contract,
obligation, or liability. Section 78B-2-307 sets the 4-year period for an
unwritten one, and also covers an open store account and an open account
for services. A debt for the sale of goods gets its own 4-year period under
§ 70A-2-725, part of Utah's enactment of UCC Article 2. Section 78B-2-113
addresses revival by acknowledgment or payment, and also states the general
effect of an established bar. Section 78B-2-103 sets Utah's borrowing
statute for a debt that arose in another state.

How long you have on a written debt

Six years. Section 78B-2-309(1)(b) covers "any contract, obligation, or
liability founded upon an instrument in writing." The Utah Supreme Court's
own test for whether a claim counts as "founded upon an instrument in
writing" asks whether "the fact of liability arises or is assumed or
imposed from the instrument itself, or its recitals" (Bracklein v. Realty
Ins. Co., 1938, applied in Brigham Young Univ. v. Paulsen Constr. Co., 744
P.2d 1370 (Utah 1987)). For a "credit agreement" specifically, a bank,
credit union, or other financial institution's loan, credit extension, or
financial accommodation, as defined in § 25-5-4, § 78B-2-309(2) adds a
special accrual rule: the 6-year period begins on the LATEST of the day the
debt arose, a written acknowledgment or promise to pay, or a payment made
by the debtor OR a third party.

How long you have on an oral or unwritten debt

Four years. Section 78B-2-307(1)(a) covers "a contract, obligation, or
liability not founded upon an instrument in writing." The same 4-year
period, running "after the last charge is made or the last payment is
received," also covers an open store account for goods (§ 78B-2-307(1)(b))
and an open account for work, labor, services, or materials furnished
(§ 78B-2-307(1)(c)), both grouped into this unwritten bucket rather than
getting their own separate rule.

When the clock starts

The default is the date of breach, and Utah courts have declined to import
a general discovery rule into an ordinary contract claim. In Brigham Young
Univ. v. Paulsen Constr. Co., the Utah Supreme Court applied the 6-year
written-contract period to a construction dispute but expressly "decline[d]
to hold that the statute was tolled" while the university remained unaware
of the underlying defect. For an unwritten or open-account claim under
§ 78B-2-307, the statute is explicit that the trigger is "the last charge...
or the last payment... received," not the date of the very first charge.

Can a payment or promise restart the clock?

Yes. Section 78B-2-113(1) provides generally that an action for recovery of
a debt may be brought within the applicable limitations period "from the
date: (a) the debt arose; (b) a written acknowledgment of the debt or a
promise to pay is made by the debtor; or (c) a payment is made on the debt
by the debtor", whichever of those three dates applies, the clock is
computed from that point forward. Nothing in the text caps this to a
still-running claim. A 2021 Utah Court of Appeals decision, Daniels v.
Deutsche Bank Nat'l Trust, illustrates the mechanic in practice: the
homeowners' last loan payment date, not the original default date, controlled when the bank's 6-year window actually closed. For a "credit
agreement" specifically, § 78B-2-309(2) goes even further than § 78B-2-113's
general debtor-only payment rule: it lets a payment made by a THIRD PARTY,
not just the debtor, also serve as the new starting date.

Is there a special rule for consumer debt?

No separate deadline-to-sue-on-the-debt rule was found. The same
§ 78B-2-307/§ 78B-2-309 periods apply to consumer and commercial debt alike.
The Utah Consumer Credit Code does set its own one-year period, but that
period applies to a different kind of claim entirely, a consumer's action
against a CREDITOR for violating the Code's disclosure and rate rules, not to how long the creditor has to sue on the underlying debt.

What if the debt originated in another state?

Utah uses a classic borrowing statute with a resident-plaintiff exception,
structurally similar to California's or New York's. Section 78B-2-103: a
claim that arose in another state and is already time-barred there "may not
be pursued in this state, unless the cause of action is held by a citizen
of this state who has held the cause of action from the time it accrued."

What actually happens once the deadline passes?

Utah goes a step beyond the bare affirmative-defense default. Section
78B-2-113(2) states that once "a right of action is barred by the
provisions of any statute, it shall be unavailable either as a cause of
action or ground for defense", a genuine statutory bar across the whole
limitations chapter, not limited to contract debt specifically. No Utah
statute specific to debt collectors was found separately barring a
third-party collector from suing on a time-barred debt; a 2023 law (H.B.
20) instead repealed a set of older debt-collection-agency registration and
bonding statutes as redundant, leaving Title 12's collection-fee cap as the
main surviving debt-collector-specific statute outside this chapter.

What trips people up

People sometimes still see an old secondary source describing § 78B-2-307
as covering BOTH the 6-year written period and the 4-year oral one in the
same section, that used to be true, but a 2023 amendment moved the
written-contract branch fully to § 78B-2-309, leaving § 78B-2-307 covering
only unwritten debt and open accounts; check which section a source is
actually quoting before relying on it. The bigger trap is on the revival
side: because Utah's rule computes the clock fresh from whichever of
several dates applies, with no cap limiting it to a still-running claim,
and because a bank-style credit agreement can even be restarted by a
THIRD PARTY's payment (not just the debtor's own), a debt that looks old
can be closer to timely than it appears once any payment activity is
accounted for.

Common questions

Is my written contract 6 years or my oral one 4 years, and what if I
can't tell which bucket applies?
Utah courts ask whether the fact of liability arises from the instrument
itself. If the answer is genuinely unclear, that ambiguity itself is worth
raising, since it can shift which of the two periods controls.

I made a payment on an old debt years after I stopped paying, did that
reset the clock?
Likely yes. Utah computes the limitations period fresh from the date of a
payment (or a written acknowledgment), with no language limiting this to a
debt that hadn't already run out.

If someone else made a payment on my loan, does that restart the clock
against me?
For a bank-style credit agreement specifically, yes, Utah's statute
allows a third party's payment, not just the debtor's own, to set a new
starting date.

Does moving to Utah from a state with a shorter deadline help a creditor
sue me here?
Not if you were already a Utah resident when the debt arose and have stayed
one the whole time, Utah's borrowing statute has a resident-plaintiff
exception protecting that scenario, but a claim that's already time-barred
elsewhere generally can't be revived just by suing in Utah otherwise.

Statutes and sources

• Utah Code § 78B-2-309, "(1) An action may be brought within six years:
  ... (b) subject to Subsection (2), upon any contract, obligation, or
  liability founded upon an instrument in writing .... (2) For a credit
  agreement ..., the six-year period ... begins the later of the day on
  which: (a) the debt arose; (b) the debtor makes a written acknowledgment
  of the debt or a promise to pay the debt; or (c) the debtor or a third
  party makes a payment on the debt.", https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78B/Chapter2/C78B-2-S309_2019051420190514.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Utah Code § 78B-2-307, "An action may be brought within four years: (1)
  after the last charge is made or the last payment is received: (a) upon a
  contract, obligation, or liability not founded upon an instrument in
  writing; (b) on an open store account ...; or (c) on an open account for
  work, labor or services rendered, or materials furnished.", https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78B/Chapter2/C78B-2-S307_2023050320230503.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Utah Code § 70A-2-725, "(1) An action for breach of any contract for
  sale must be commenced within four years after the cause of action has
  accrued .... (2) A cause of action accrues when the breach occurs,
  regardless of the aggrieved party's lack of knowledge of the breach.", https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title70A/Chapter2/C70A-2-S725_1800010118000101.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Utah Code § 78B-2-113, "(1) An action for recovery of a debt may be
  brought within the applicable statute of limitations from the date: (a)
  the debt arose; (b) a written acknowledgment of the debt or a promise to
  pay is made by the debtor; or (c) a payment is made on the debt by the
  debtor. (2) If a right of action is barred by the provisions of any
  statute, it shall be unavailable either as a cause of action or ground
  for defense.", https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78B/Chapter2/C78B-2-P1_1800010118000101.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-09)
• Utah Code § 78B-2-103, "A cause of action which arises in another
  jurisdiction, and which is not actionable in the other jurisdiction by
  reason of the lapse of time, may not be pursued in this state, unless the
  cause of action is held by a citizen of this state who has held the
  cause of action from the time it accrued.", https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78B/Chapter2/C78B-2-P1_1800010118000101.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-09)