Maryland Statute of Limitations on Debt — 3 Years Across the Board

The Maryland numbers, and where they come from

The controlling law is Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. §§ 5-101, 5-1202. The periods that matter:

• Written contracts: 3 years.
• Oral and implied contracts: 3 years.
• Credit cards and similar accounts: 3 years (CJ § 5-101) — among the shortest in the nation.

The clock generally runs from default — usually your last payment or first missed one — which is why the dated account history matters more than anything a collector says on the phone. A validation demand under 15 U.S.C. § 1692g makes them produce it: a written dispute within 30 days of the validation notice requires the collector to cease collection until verification is mailed.

Expired means dead — no revival — Maryland's revival rules

For consumer debt, expiry is the end: CJ § 5-1202 (2016) bars suit on time-barred consumer debt AND provides that a payment after expiry does NOT revive it. One carve-out bites: § 5-1202(b)(2) — signing a new payment PLAN can waive the protection. Never sign a payment plan on an old Maryland debt without running the dates.

This is why the safest contact with a collector on an old debt is a written dispute that concedes nothing: it engages every federal protection while handing the collector none of the acts that restart a limitations period.

The Maryland catch worth knowing

Sealed instruments run 12 years (§ 5-102) — the one long-period exception worth checking the paper for. Everything ordinary dies at 3.

Three years, a statutory suit bar, and no payment revival: the letter's job is to assert the bar on the record and dodge the payment-plan trap — the only door left open.

If they sue anyway

A time-barred lawsuit doesn’t dismiss itself: the limitations defense must be raised, which means answering the complaint instead of defaulting. Your dated demand letter becomes evidence twice over — it fixes the dispute date, and it shows the court the collector proceeded after formal notice of the limitations problem. Bring the letter, the proof of mailing, and every account record they did (or didn’t) produce.

For the validation mechanics themselves — what collectors must send, and the documentation a debt buyer should be made to produce — see our debt validation letter guide and the assignment-documentation playbook.

Is a specific collector on the account?

Who is collecting changes how you respond. We keep company-by-company guides — verified dispute addresses, what each company collects, and the validation letter for each — for Midland Credit Management, LVNV Funding, Portfolio Recovery Associates, and 34 more in the collection agency index. Whoever it is, the sequence is the same: written validation demand first, before any payment or acknowledgment.

Run your deadline, see the letter

This page is general information, not legal advice; statutes and regulations are paraphrased; verify current law for your situation. For significant or contested debts, consult a licensed consumer attorney in your state.