Maine gives creditors six years to sue on most debts. For debt collectors and debt buyers it adds a second rule with real teeth: they may not sue more than six years after your last activity on the debt, and once that period runs, nothing you do afterward revives it. The general deadline is in Title 14 § 752; the collector rule is in the Maine Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Title 32 § 11013.
The deadlines, and where each one is written
| What is being collected | Deadline to file suit | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| All civil actions not otherwise provided for | 6 years | 14 M.R.S. § 752 |
| A collection action by a debt collector or debt buyer | 6 years from the consumer’s last activity on the debt | 32 M.R.S. § 11013(8) |
| A contract under seal, a promissory note signed in the presence of an attesting witness, or bank-issued notes | 20 years | 14 M.R.S. § 751 |
| A judgment of a court of record | Presumed paid after 20 years | 14 M.R.S. § 864 |
Section 752 is the starting point: “All civil actions shall be commenced within 6 years after the cause of action accrues and not afterwards,” with exceptions for judgments and anything “otherwise specially provided.” Maine does not set separate periods for written and oral contracts.
The twenty-year rule in § 751 is narrow. It applies to contracts “under seal,” to “promissory notes signed in the presence of an attesting witness,” and to bank-issued notes, and it does not apply where the commercial code’s own limits in Title 11, §§ 2-725 and 3-1118(1), govern.
The collector rule: six years from your last activity
Title 32 § 11013(8) reads:
A debt collector may not commence a collection action more than 6 years after the date of the consumer’s last activity on the debt. This limitations period applies notwithstanding any other applicable statute of limitations, unless a shorter limitations period is provided under the laws of this State. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, when the applicable limitations period expires, any subsequent payment toward, written or oral affirmation of or other activity on the debt does not revive or extend the limitations period.
Three things follow from that text. The clock runs from “the consumer’s last activity on the debt,” a phrase the section does not define. The six years apply “notwithstanding any other applicable statute of limitations,” so a debt collector cannot reach for the twenty-year rule. And once the period is over, a payment, a signed letter, or a phone call does not bring the debt back. Subsection (7) separately bars a collector from starting a collection action it “knows or reasonably should know” is time-barred.
Who counts as a debt collector matters. Under 32 M.R.S. § 11002, a “debt collector” includes anyone whose principal business is collecting debts or who regularly collects debts owed to another, and “a debt buyer is considered a debt collector for all purposes under this chapter.” The same section refers to an exclusion for creditors in § 11003(7) and brings a creditor back in only when it collects its own debts under a name that suggests a third party is collecting. So a bank suing on its own card account under its own name appears to fall under the ordinary Title 14 rules rather than § 11013(8).
Credit cards: the deadline sections do not name them
Neither Chapter 205 of Title 14 nor § 11013 mentions credit cards in setting a deadline. Because Maine uses one six-year period for civil actions generally, the silence matters less than in states with a written-versus-unwritten split. The narrower open question is whether any card agreement could fall under the twenty-year rule in § 751, which on its words would require a seal or a witnessed promissory note.
What this means in practice: for an ordinary Maine credit card or loan, the code points to six years. If a debt buyer or collector is the one suing, the six years run from your last activity on the debt and cannot be revived once they are up.
What restarts the clock when the original creditor sues
For creditors outside § 11013(8), Title 14 has two rules. Section 860 governs acknowledgments: “In actions founded on any contract, no acknowledgment or promise takes the case out of the operation hereof, unless the acknowledgment or promise is express, in writing and signed by the party chargeable thereby.” Section 863 governs payments, and it does two things:
Nothing herein contained alters, takes away or lessens the effect of payment of any principal or interest made by any person, but no indorsement or memorandum of such payment made on a promissory note, bill of exchange or other writing, by or on behalf of the party to whom such payment is made or purports to be made, is sufficient proof of payment to take the case out of the statute of limitations.
The first half preserves whatever effect a payment has without saying what that effect is. The second half is a consumer protection that several other states share: a creditor’s own note of a payment on its records is not enough, by itself, to prove the payment happened. Both §§ 860 and 863 also provide that one joint debtor’s acknowledgment or payment does not affect the others.
What a debt buyer must show
Under 32 M.R.S. § 11019, a debt buyer may not start a collection action unless its complaint alleges, among other things, “that the cause of action is filed within the applicable statute of limitations period,” and it must attach the agreement (or, for a revolving credit account without a signed writing, the most recent monthly statement showing a purchase, loan, payment, or balance transfer) and every bill of sale back to the original creditor. A court may not enter judgment for a debt buyer without those documents “regardless of whether the consumer appears in the action.”
Debts from other states
Section 866 pauses the clock while a debtor is out of the state and adds a borrowing rule: “No action shall be brought by any person whose cause of action has been barred by the laws of any state, territory or country while all the parties have resided therein.”
How often Maine consumers report collection problems
Maine consumers filed 191 debt collection complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the 12 months ending October 7, 2026, which is 0.1% of the 316,737 filed nationwide and ranks 49th among reporting states.
Of those, 16, or 8% of the Maine total, were categorized as a collector taking or threatening to take negative or legal action, against 25% nationally.
These are raw complaint counts, not rates. They are not adjusted for population, and 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 statute of limitations is a defense you have to raise in your answer. If the plaintiff is a debt buyer, Maine’s judgment rule in § 11019(3) applies even if you do not appear, but responding is still the only way to make sure your defenses are heard.
Two Maine-specific things to check: whether the plaintiff is a debt collector or debt buyer, which brings in the six-years-from-last-activity rule and the no-revival rule of § 11013(8); and, if it is the original creditor, whether it relies on a payment or a signed acknowledgment, and what proof it has beyond its own records. Court deadlines are short, so this is a point at which speaking with a Maine attorney or a legal aid organization is worth the call.
How Maine compares
The same question gets a different answer a state line away. These are the closest comparisons to Maine:
- Massachusetts: six years, with a regulation requiring collectors to warn you
- New York: where nothing revives an expired consumer debt
- Connecticut: six years, with the payment question left to the courts
The full comparison table covers every state we have published.
Sources and verification
Statutes quoted from the Maine Revised Statutes as published by the Maine Legislature, Office of the Revisor of Statutes: Title 14, Chapter 205, §§ 751, 752, 860, 863, 864, and 866 (we read every section of the chapter); and Title 32, § 11013, § 11002, and § 11019. The Revisor’s pages state the data was extracted on October 20, 2025, so changes enacted in the 2026 session may not yet appear. Section histories show § 11013(7) and (8) added by PL 2015, c. 272, and § 11019 added by PL 2017, c. 216. Text retrieved October 2, 2026. Complaint data: CFPB Consumer Complaint Database, filtered to the Debt collection product and the Maine 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 Maine statutes say. It is general information, not legal advice. It does not define “last activity on the debt,” because § 11013 does not, and it does not say what a payment does when the original creditor sues, because § 863 preserves that effect without stating it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the statute of limitations on debt in Maine?
Six years for civil actions generally under 14 M.R.S. § 752. A debt collector or debt buyer may not sue more than six years after the consumer’s last activity on the debt under 32 M.R.S. § 11013(8). Contracts under seal and witnessed promissory notes carry twenty years under 14 M.R.S. § 751.
Does a payment restart the statute of limitations in Maine?
Not once a debt collector’s six-year period has expired. Section 11013(8) says any later payment, written or oral affirmation, or other activity on the debt does not revive or extend it. When the original creditor sues, 14 M.R.S. § 863 preserves the effect of a payment without stating what it is.
Does an acknowledgment have to be in writing in Maine?
Yes, in actions on a contract. Under 14 M.R.S. § 860, an acknowledgment or promise must be express, in writing, and signed by the person being charged.
Can a debt collector sue on an expired debt in Maine?
No. Section 11013(7) bars a debt collector from starting a collection action it knows or reasonably should know is time-barred, and § 11013(8) sets the six-year limit from the consumer’s last activity.