Collection deadlines sit inside the wider consumer-protection framework described in Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act rights and remedies. This article covers one narrow question: how long a creditor or debt buyer has to file suit on an unpaid consumer debt in Ohio, when that period starts, what restarts it, and what a collector can and cannot do once it expires.
The six-year limit on consumer debt
Ohio Senate Bill 13 rewrote the state’s contract limitation periods in 2021. Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.07(C) sets a six-year period for “an action arising out of a consumer transaction incurred primarily for personal, family, or household purposes,” and it reaches any contract, agreement, obligation, liability, or promise behind that transaction, express or implied, including an account stated, whether or not it was ever reduced to writing or signed. Credit card balances, medical bills, personal loans, and store accounts fall inside that description.
The same bill shortened the general written-contract deadline. Under Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.06, effective June 16, 2021, an action on a written agreement must be brought within six years after the cause of action accrued. The prior version of the section allowed eight years, and a further amendment effective September 23, 2026 adds a cross-reference without changing the six-year period.
Division (C) also displaces Ohio’s borrowing statute for consumer debt. Its text applies “notwithstanding … division (B) of section 2305.03” of the Revised Code, so the six-year Ohio period governs a consumer-transaction claim even when the account was opened in another state with a longer deadline (Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.07).
When the six years start
The starting date is the part most often misread. For a consumer transaction, Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.07(C) states that “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.” The six-year period runs from that accrual date, not from the day the account was opened.
Three dates that look important do not control the calculation. The date the original creditor charged the account off as a loss is an accounting entry, not an accrual date. The date the account was sold to a debt buyer does not restart or extend anything. The date a collector first made contact is irrelevant to the deadline.
An account with a last payment on March 1, 2020 and no charges after that accrues on March 31, 2020, thirty days later, and the six-year window closes on March 31, 2026 under Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.07(C).
What restarts the clock
Ohio law revives an expired or running period through three specific acts. Under Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.08, if a payment has been made on a demand founded on a contract, or a written acknowledgment of the debt has been made and signed by the party to be charged, or a signed promise to pay it has been made, then suit may be brought within the periods set by §§ 2305.06 and 2305.07 measured from that payment, acknowledgment, or promise.
The practical effect is that a single payment can reset a six-year window in full. The amount does not matter. A $5 good-faith payment on a five-year-old account starts the six years again from the date of that payment under Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.08, and for consumer transactions the accrual rule in § 2305.07(C) then measures from thirty days after it.
Debts that run on a different clock
Not every unpaid obligation in Ohio sits under the six-year consumer rule.
- Agreements never written down.
Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.07(A)gives four years for an action on a contract not in writing, express or implied, outside the consumer-transaction category in division (C). - Liabilities created by statute. Division (B) of the same section sets six years for an action on a liability created by statute other than a forfeiture or penalty.
- Carve-outs named in the statute. Both § 2305.06 and § 2305.07 except sections 126.301, 1302.98, 1303.16, 1345.10, and 2305.04 of the Revised Code, which cover state contracts, sales of goods, negotiable instruments, Consumer Sales Practices Act claims, and product liability. Each carries its own period, listed at Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.06.
Vehicle disputes are a common example of a claim with its own timetable rather than the debt-collection clock; the conditions and deadlines for an Ohio lemon law refund or replacement come from a separate chapter of the Revised Code.
A court judgment is also a separate matter. Once a creditor wins a judgment, the six-year limit on suing has already been satisfied, and enforcement and revival of that judgment run on their own statutory schedule.
What changes when a debt is time-barred
Expiration of the period does not erase the debt. It gives the debtor a defense to a lawsuit. A collector may still send letters and place calls about a time-barred account, and a debtor who chooses to pay it may do so.
What federal law restricts is litigation. The Federal Trade Commission’s debt collection FAQs explain that suing or threatening to sue on a debt whose limitation period has run is prohibited conduct under federal debt collection rules, and that collectors must disclose when a debt is too old for suit in certain communications.
The limitation period is also separate from credit reporting. How long an account may appear on a credit report is governed by federal credit reporting law and does not track the Ohio six-year figure in Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.07.
Raising the deadline in a collection case
In Ohio civil cases the limitation period operates as an affirmative defense. A court does not apply it on its own initiative, and a defendant who files no answer usually receives a default judgment even on a debt that expired years earlier. That is the most common way a time-barred account turns into an enforceable judgment.
Find the date of the last charge or payment
Account statements, bank records, and the collector’s own itemization show when the last activity occurred. Under Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.07(C) the later of the last charge and the last payment is the reference point, and accrual is thirty calendar days after it.
Count six years forward from accrual
Six years from the accrual date is the outside limit for filing a consumer-debt action under division (C). For an unwritten agreement outside that category, the period is four years under Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.07(A).
Check for anything that restarted the period
A payment of any size, a signed written acknowledgment, or a signed promise to pay restarts the clock from that date under Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.08. Payments made through a settlement plan or a bank draft count.
Raise the defense in the written answer
The limitation period is waived if it is not pleaded. Defendants who assert it do so in the answer filed with the court by the deadline stated in the summons, and they attach or reference the records that establish the last-activity date.
Municipal courts handle most consumer collection suits in Ohio, and each court sets its own filing procedures for answers. The court named on the summons publishes its local rules and answer forms.
Frequently asked questions
Does selling the debt to a collection agency restart the six years?
No. Accrual under Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.07(C) is measured thirty calendar days after the consumer’s last charge or payment, whichever is later. Transfers between the original creditor and one or more debt buyers do not change that date. A debt buyer that files suit inherits the same six-year window the original creditor had.
Can a collector still call about a debt older than six years in Ohio?
Yes. The limitation period bars the lawsuit, not the collection activity. Collectors may contact a debtor about a time-barred balance and request payment, subject to the conduct rules described in the FTC’s debt collection FAQs. What they may not do is sue or threaten to sue on it.
What if the account was opened in a state with a longer deadline?
For consumer transactions, Ohio’s six-year period applies. Division (C) of Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.07 operates notwithstanding division (B) of section 2305.03, the borrowing statute that would otherwise look to the law of the state where the claim accrued.
How long is the deadline on a personal loan between two people with nothing in writing?
Four years, if the loan is outside the consumer-transaction category. Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.07(A) sets four years for an action on a contract not in writing, express or implied. A loan incurred primarily for personal, family, or household purposes is instead governed by the six-year rule in division (C).
Does a payment plan on an old debt restart the statute of limitations?
Yes. Each payment restarts the period under Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.08, which allows an action within the periods set by §§ 2305.06 and 2305.07 measured from the payment. Signing a written settlement agreement acknowledging the balance has the same effect. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau covers the point in its guidance on collecting a debt that is several years old.