In Florida, the deadline to sue is five years on a debt founded on a written instrument and four years on one that is not. Those periods come from Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(b) and § 95.11(3)(j). Which one applies to a credit card balance usually turns on whether the creditor can produce a signed agreement, and that question is decided by the courts rather than by the statute.
The deadlines, and where each one is written
| What is being collected | Deadline to file suit | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Contract or liability founded on a written instrument | 5 years | Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(b) |
| Contract not founded on a written instrument, including store accounts | 4 years | Fla. Stat. § 95.11(3)(j) |
| Promissory note (governed by chapter 95, not the UCC) | 5 years as a written instrument | Fla. Stat. § 673.1181 |
| Medical debt for services at a licensed facility | 3 years from referral to a collector | Fla. Stat. § 95.11(4) |
| Judgment of a Florida court of record | 20 years | Fla. Stat. § 95.11(1) |
| Any action not specifically provided for | 4 years | Fla. Stat. § 95.11(3)(o) |
Two of those rows correct claims that circulate widely. Florida did not adopt the uniform six-year rule for promissory notes: § 673.1181 says only that “Chapter 95 governs” when an action under the negotiable instruments chapter must be commenced, which routes a note back to the five-year written-instrument period. And Florida’s written-contract period has not been shortened. It has read five years continuously through the 2022, 2024, and 2026 editions; recent session laws touching § 95.11(2)(b) changed internal cross-references only.
The medical debt provision is genuinely new, effective July 1, 2024, and it is worded unusually: the three years runs “from the date on which the facility refers the medical debt to a third party for collection,” not from the date of treatment.
Which category a credit card balance falls into
Chapter 95 never uses the words credit card, revolving, charge account, or account stated. The only paragraph that mentions accounts at all is § 95.11(3)(j), the four-year provision, which covers a contract “not founded on a written instrument, including an action for the sale and delivery of goods, wares, and merchandise, and on store accounts.”
What this means in practice: the four-versus-five-year question in Florida is usually an evidence question, not a statutory one. It tends to turn on whether the creditor can produce the signed cardholder agreement that would make the balance an obligation founded on a written instrument. Treat any flat statement that Florida credit card debt is five years, or four, as an approximation. The code does not assign the category, and the answer can move the deadline by a year.
What the deadline does, and what it does not do
A limitations period governs how long someone has to file suit. Florida bars the remedy, not the obligation: § 95.011 provides that an action “shall be barred unless begun within the time prescribed.” The balance itself survives, and credit reporting runs on a separate federal clock, generally seven years for most negative account information under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
What restarts the clock in Florida, and what does not
Florida draws a line the common summaries tend to blur, because the code treats reviving an expired debt and pausing a running one as two different things in two different sections.
Reviving an expired debt requires a signed writing. Section 95.04 is one sentence: “An acknowledgment of, or promise to pay, a debt barred by a statute of limitations must be in writing and signed by the person sought to be charged.” A verbal acknowledgment cannot revive a Florida debt that is already barred.
A payment tolls a period that is still running, but only on written-instrument debts. Section 95.051(1)(f) lists among the events that toll a limitations period “the payment of any part of the principal or interest of any obligation or liability founded on a written instrument.” By its own terms that reaches the five-year category and not the four-year one.
What the code does not resolve is how those two provisions interact when a payment is made after the period has already run. Section 95.04 requires a signed writing to revive a barred debt; § 95.051(1)(f) speaks to tolling rather than revival. We are not going to assert a confident answer the statutes do not supply. Section 95.051(2) does make clear the tolling list is closed: no other reason tolls a Florida limitations period except those specified.
Florida debt collection statute of limitations: what state law adds
Florida’s Consumer Collection Practices Act contains no provision prohibiting suit on time-barred debt, prohibiting revival, requiring a disclosure that a debt is too old to sue on, or extinguishing the obligation. The phrase “time-barred” does not appear anywhere in chapter 559. Section 559.552 explains the structure: state law “is in addition to the requirements and regulations of the federal act,” and where the two conflict, “the provision which is more protective of the consumer or debtor shall prevail.” Protections specific to old debt come from federal law rather than from Florida’s own code.
Two Florida provisions are still worth knowing. Section 559.72(9) makes it a prohibited practice to “claim, attempt, or threaten to enforce a debt when such person knows that the debt is not legitimate, or assert the existence of some other legal right when such person knows that the right does not exist,” though the statute does not mention limitations periods and whether it reaches a time-barred suit is a matter of interpretation. More concretely, § 559.715 requires an assignee to give “the debtor written notice of such assignment as soon as practical after the assignment is made, but at least 30 days before any action to collect the debt.” If a debt buyer sues without having sent that notice, that is a Florida-specific problem for the collector.
A consumer’s own claim under the act must be brought within two years of the violation under § 559.77(4).
How often Florida consumers report collection problems
Florida consumers filed 35,199 debt collection complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the 12 months ending August 26, 2026, which is 10.9% of the 323,584 filed nationwide and ranks 2nd among reporting states.
Of those, 7,559, or 21% of the Florida total, were categorized as a collector taking or threatening to take negative or legal action, the category covering threats to sue.
These are raw complaint counts, not rates. They are not adjusted for population, and Florida is the third most populous state, so its standing reflects size as well as collector behavior. A complaint is an allegation the CFPB has published, not a finding that a company broke the law. The figures refresh weekly from the CFPB’s public database.
If you are sued on a debt you believe is too old
The limitations defense is not self-executing in Florida. Rule 1.110(d) of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure lists the statute of limitations among the affirmative defenses that must be raised in a responsive pleading, so a court will not apply it for you and a defendant who does not respond can have a default judgment entered on an expired debt.
One practical note specific to Florida: most consumer collection suits are filed in county or small claims court, where the procedure differs from the circuit civil rules and a written answer may not be required in the same way. Read the summons you were served with carefully rather than assuming, respond by the date it gives, and if the plaintiff bought the debt, check whether you received the § 559.715 assignment notice at least thirty days before collection began. Court deadlines are unforgiving, so this is a point at which speaking with a Florida attorney or a legal aid organization is worth the call.
How Florida compares
How Florida lines up against states with a related rule:
- Virginia: five years on a signed writing, three without
- Georgia: six years signed, four on an open account
- Oklahoma: five years written, three not in writing
The full comparison table covers every state we have published.
Sources and verification
Statutes quoted from Online Sunshine, the Florida Legislature’s official publication, 2026 edition: § 95.11, §§ 95.011, 95.03, 95.031, 95.04, 95.051, 673.1181, and chapter 559 part VI (§§ 559.552, 559.715, 559.72, 559.77). The medical debt period was added by Ch. 2024-183, Laws of Florida, effective July 1, 2024; cross-reference amendments to § 95.11(2)(b) appear in Ch. 2024-183 and Ch. 2025-81 and did not change the five-year period. The Florida Statutes are republished annually after each regular session, so the 2026 edition reflects laws through the 2026 regular session and may not yet incorporate any later special-session act. Text retrieved August 26, 2026. Complaint data: CFPB Consumer Complaint Database, filtered to the Debt collection product and the Florida state field over a rolling 12-month window, re-queried weekly by this site. Our data sources and update policy lists every figure on this site that refreshes automatically and how often.
This page explains what the Florida statutes say. It is general information, not legal advice, and it cannot decide which limitations category a particular account falls into or when a particular debt accrued.
Frequently asked questions
How long can a debt collector pursue an old debt in Florida?
A collector may contact you indefinitely, but the deadline to sue is five years on a contract founded on a written instrument under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(b) and four years on one that is not, under § 95.11(3)(j). Medical debt from a licensed facility has its own three-year period running from the date the facility refers the account for collection.
Is Florida credit card debt four years or five years?
The code does not say. Chapter 95 never mentions credit cards or revolving accounts, so the category is decided by the courts and generally turns on whether the creditor can produce a signed cardholder agreement making the balance an obligation founded on a written instrument.
Does making a payment restart the statute of limitations in Florida?
Florida separates two ideas. Section 95.04 requires that an acknowledgment of, or promise to pay, a debt already barred be in writing and signed by the person being charged. Section 95.051(1)(f) separately treats a partial payment as tolling a period that is still running, and only for obligations founded on a written instrument. The statutes do not resolve how those provisions interact for a payment made after the period expires.
Can a time-barred debt still appear on my Florida credit report?
Yes. Florida bars the action rather than extinguishing the debt, and its Consumer Collection Practices Act contains no time-barred debt provision. Credit reporting runs on a separate federal clock, generally seven years for most negative account information.