Oregon gives creditors six years to sue on a debt, written or oral, and then makes filing that lawsuit unlawful once the period has run. The period comes from ORS 12.080(1), which covers a contract or liability “express or implied” without distinguishing written from unwritten agreements.
The deadlines, and where each one is written
| What is being collected | Deadline to file suit | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Contract or liability, express or implied | 6 years | ORS 12.080(1) |
| Note payable at a definite time | 6 years | ORS 73.0118(1) |
| Sale of goods | 4 years | ORS 72.7250(1) |
| A judgment | 10 years | ORS 12.070 |
| Any cause not otherwise provided for | 10 years | ORS 12.140 |
One clarification on that last row, because it is easy to misapply. Section 12.140 is a residual, reaching only causes “not otherwise provided for.” Consumer debt is a contract action already provided for by 12.080, so ten years is not an alternative period for a credit card balance.
Oregon’s limitations chapter never mentions credit cards, revolving credit, or consumer debt, and has no open account or account stated category. Whether a card balance falls under 12.080 is settled by the courts rather than by the statute.
When the clock starts, and a sentence creditors cannot get around
Oregon supplies an account-specific accrual rule, and its second sentence does the real work:
In an action to recover a balance due upon an account, the cause of action shall be deemed to have accrued from the time of the last charge or payment proved in the account. Interest, financing and carrying charges shall not be deemed such a charge.
What this means in practice: the clock runs from your last genuine charge or payment, and a creditor cannot push that date forward by continuing to add interest or carrying charges to a dormant account. Most states leave accrual on a revolving account entirely to case law. Oregon wrote the rule down and then closed the obvious loophole in the same breath.
What restarts the clock in Oregon
Two sections work together. ORS 12.230 provides that no acknowledgment or promise counts “unless the same is contained in some writing, signed by the party to be charged thereby,” then adds “but this section shall not alter the effect of any payment of principal or interest.” ORS 12.240 then supplies that effect directly:
Whenever any payment of principal or interest is made after it has become due, upon an existing contract… the limitation shall commence from the time the last payment was made.
So in Oregon a payment restarts the six years outright, with no writing and no signature, while a verbal acknowledgment does nothing. Oregon has no rule preventing revival of an expired debt, so unlike Washington or New York, a payment on an old Oregon account still carries consequences.
Oregon debt collection statute of limitations: filing the suit is unlawful
Oregon’s Unlawful Debt Collection Practices statute makes it unlawful for a debt collector to file:
a legal action to collect or… a legal action to attempt to collect a debt if the debt collector knows, or after exercising reasonable diligence would know, that an applicable statute of limitations bars the collection or the collection attempt.
That is ORS 646.639(2)(r), with a parallel provision at 646.639(4)(a) aimed specifically at debt buyers. Two details matter. The standard is not actual knowledge; it reaches what a collector “after exercising reasonable diligence would know.” And “legal action” is defined broadly at 646.639(1)(j) to include a lawsuit, mediation, arbitration, “or any other proceeding in any court, including a small claims court.”
Be precise about the limit, though. These provisions reach filing. We did not find a provision expressly prohibiting a collector from threatening to sue on an expired debt. The nearest hook is 646.639(2)(k), which bars attempting or threatening “to enforce a right or remedy while knowing or having reason to know that the right or remedy does not exist,” but it does not name limitations periods and we are not going to assert that it reaches this.
Remedies are substantial. ORS 646.641(1) gives a private right of action for actual damages or $1,000, whichever is greater, with punitive damages and attorney fees available. A claim under that section must be commenced within three years of the injury.
Oregon requires documentation rather than a disclosure. A debt buyer’s pleading must include the original creditor’s name, the last four digits of the account number, the date the debt was purchased, and an itemized statement including “the amount and date of the debtor’s last payment on the debt before the debtor defaulted or before the debt became charged-off debt.” Under ORS 646A.670(2)(a), “a court may not enter a judgment for a debt buyer or debt collector that has not complied.” That last-payment date is precisely what a limitations defense is built from, and the plaintiff has to supply it.
Medical debt: a separate and much stronger regime
Oregon overhauled its medical debt rules in Senate Bill 605, signed June 17, 2025 and effective January 1, 2026. ORS 646A.677 now defines medical debt broadly enough to include a credit card “issued under an open-end or a closed-end credit plan offered specifically for the payment of medical services,” and then provides:
A person may not report to a consumer reporting agency the amount or existence of any medical debt that a resident of this state owes or is alleged to owe… In an action under paragraph (b) of this subsection, in addition to any other relief a court may grant, the court may declare the medical debt void and uncollectible.
Note what that is and is not. It is a remedy for unlawful credit reporting, not a limitations rule, and the power to declare the debt void arises from the reporting violation rather than from the age of the debt. The section also caps interest on medical debt between two and five percent annually, and bars interest entirely for patients qualifying for financial assistance.
What the deadline does, and what it does not do
Outside that medical debt provision, Oregon bars the remedy rather than the debt. Nothing in the chapters we examined extinguishes a time-barred obligation. Credit reporting on non-medical debt runs on the federal clock, generally seven years for most negative account information under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
How often Oregon consumers report collection problems
Oregon consumers filed 1,493 debt collection complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the 12 months ending August 26, 2026, which is 0.5% of the 323,584 filed nationwide and ranks 32nd among reporting states, the lowest placement we track.
Of those, 270, or 18% of the Oregon 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
Limitations is an affirmative defense under ORCP 19 B, which requires a party to set forth affirmatively a list of matters that expressly includes the statute of limitations. Note the letter: ORCP 19 C is a different rule, about the effect of failing to deny an allegation.
Two Oregon-specific angles. If the plaintiff filed knowing, or with reasonable diligence would have known, that the period had run, ORS 646.639(2)(r) may give you an affirmative claim rather than only a defense. And because ORS 12.090 excludes interest and carrying charges from what counts as a “charge,” a creditor’s recent finance charges do not move your accrual date. Court deadlines are unforgiving, so this is a point at which speaking with an Oregon attorney or a legal aid organization is worth the call.
How Oregon compares
Three states worth reading next to Oregon, because each shares or inverts one of its rules:
- Washington: suing is prohibited and the penalty is permanent
- Oklahoma: the threat rather than the filing is what is unlawful
- California: filing suit on an expired debt is prohibited there by two statutes
The full comparison table covers every state we have published.
Sources and verification
Statutes quoted from the Oregon Revised Statutes, 2025 Edition, published by the Legislative Counsel Committee, which states plainly that “the text in the database is not the official text of Oregon law” and that the printed edition governs. The site also notes the 2025 Edition “does not include changes to the law enacted during the 2025 special session or the 2026 regular session”; we reviewed the 2026 regular session bill list for debt collection measures and found none enacted. Provisions cited: ORS 12.010, 12.070, 12.080, 12.090, 12.140, 12.150, 12.230, 12.240; 72.7250; 73.0118; 646.608, 646.639, 646.641; and 646A.655, 646A.670, 646A.677. The medical debt amendments are 2025 Or. Laws ch. 343 (Senate Bill 605), effective January 1, 2026. ORCP 19 B is published by the Legislature in the 2025 Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure. Text retrieved August 26, 2026. Scope note: our searches covered ORS chapters 12, 72, 73, 646, 646A and 697 rather than the entire code, and Oregon’s site search was unavailable, so we report what those chapters contain rather than claiming a provision exists nowhere in Oregon law. Complaint data: CFPB Consumer Complaint Database, filtered to the Debt collection product and the Oregon 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 Oregon statutes say. It is general information, not legal advice, and it does not resolve whether a particular credit card balance falls under ORS 12.080, because the statute does not address that category.
Frequently asked questions
How long can a debt collector pursue an old debt in Oregon?
The deadline to sue is six years under ORS 12.080(1), which applies to a contract or liability “express or implied” and does not distinguish written from oral agreements. Once that period runs, ORS 646.639(2)(r) makes it an unlawful collection practice to file a legal action the collector knows, or with reasonable diligence would know, is barred.
Does making a payment restart the statute of limitations in Oregon?
Yes. ORS 12.240 provides that where a payment of principal or interest is made after the debt became due, “the limitation shall commence from the time the last payment was made.” No writing or signature is required, and ORS 12.230’s writing requirement applies only to an acknowledgment or promise.
Can interest charges extend the deadline on an Oregon account?
No. ORS 12.090 runs accrual from “the last charge or payment proved in the account,” then states that “interest, financing and carrying charges shall not be deemed such a charge.” A creditor cannot move the accrual date forward by continuing to add finance charges.
Is it illegal to sue on a time-barred debt in Oregon?
Filing is prohibited. ORS 646.639(2)(r) makes it an unlawful collection practice to file a legal action to collect when an applicable statute of limitations bars it, judged by what the collector knows or would know after reasonable diligence, and “legal action” includes arbitration and small claims proceedings. We did not find a provision expressly prohibiting a threat to sue, as opposed to the filing itself.