Virginia gives creditors five years to sue on a written contract the debtor signed, and three years on one that is unsigned or unwritten. Those periods are in Va. Code § 8.01-246(A). The provision that decides more cases than either of them, though, is an accrual rule most guides never mention.
The deadlines, and where each one is written
| What is being collected | Deadline to file suit | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Written contract signed by the party being charged | 5 years | Va. Code § 8.01-246(A)(2) |
| Written contract not signed, or any unwritten contract | 3 years | Va. Code § 8.01-246(A)(4) |
| Medical debt | 3 years from the final invoice due date | Va. Code § 8.01-246(B) |
| Note payable at a definite time, negotiable or not | 6 years | Va. Code § 8.3A-118(a), (h) |
| Any personal action with no limitation prescribed | 2 years | Va. Code § 8.01-248 |
Two corrections to claims that circulate about Virginia. First, the sealed-instrument distinction is gone. Section 8.01-246(A)(2) sets five years for a signed writing “whether such writing be under seal or not,” so sources still describing a longer period for instruments under seal are describing law Virginia recodified away. Second, Virginia’s code contains no credit card or revolving credit provision at all. A sweep of the entire Code returns no occurrence of “revolving credit.” The debt-type-specific period Virginia added recently is for medical debt, enacted in 2024, not for credit cards.
The rule that matters most: when an open account accrues
Virginia’s general accrual rule is strict. Under § 8.01-230, a contract claim accrues “when the breach of contract occurs in actions ex contractu and not when the resulting damage is discovered.” But for accounts, a separate provision governs. Section 8.01-249(8) sets accrual:
In actions on an open account, from the later of the last payment or last charge for goods or services rendered on the account;
What this means in practice: in Virginia a payment on an open account moves the starting line by statute. The clock runs from the later of the last payment or the last charge, so a payment does not merely arguably restart the period under some revival doctrine; it resets when the claim accrues in the first place. Most consumer explainers attribute this effect to common-law part payment, which in Virginia is the wrong route to the right concern. If you are considering paying something on an old Virginia account, this is the provision to understand first.
The code sets that accrual rule without ever assigning open accounts a limitations period, so which subdivision of § 8.01-246(A) supplies the number for a given account is left to the courts.
What the deadline does, and what it does not do
Virginia bars the remedy rather than the debt. Section 8.01-235 states that no statutory limitation period “shall have jurisdictional effects,” which is the opposite of extinguishment, and § 8.01-229(G) allows a barred claim to be revived, which would be impossible if the obligation had ended. 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 Virginia
Section 8.01-229(G) requires a signed writing. A new promise counts only where the person “promises, by writing signed by him or his agent, payment of money on such contract,” and the subsection adds that “an acknowledgment in writing, from which a promise of payment may be implied, shall be deemed to be such promise.”
Notably, that subsection says nothing about payments. Virginia has no statutory part-payment revival rule; a search of Title 8.01 for part or partial payment turns up only an unrelated foreign-judgments provision. For an open account, § 8.01-249(8) already handles the effect of a payment through accrual, as described above.
Section 8.01-232(A) is worth knowing if a collector asks you to agree to something: an unwritten promise not to plead the statute of limitations “shall be void,” and a written one is enforceable only in narrow circumstances involving settlement of an accrued claim.
Virginia debt collection statute of limitations: what exists now, and what arrives in 2027
Virginia currently has no state-law protection specific to old debt. The phrase “time-barred” appears nowhere in the Code of Virginia. There is no prohibition on suing after the period runs, no prohibition on revival, and no required disclosure. Title 6.2 has no debt collection agency or debt buyer chapter at all, so Virginia has no state analogue to the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
That changes, partially, on July 1, 2027, when the Uniform Consumer Debt Default Judgments Act takes effect as Chapter 17.4 of Title 8.01, enacted in 2026. It governs default judgments in consumer debt cases, including warrants in debt. Under § 8.01-465.28(A) a default judgment “shall be entered only if” the complaint complies with the section, and among the required contents, at subdivision (B)(11), is:
Facts sufficient to demonstrate that the action is being commenced within the applicable statute of limitations
The same section will require a plaintiff that is not the original creditor to name each person who acquired the debt after charge-off and the date of each acquisition, and to attach a signed agreement, a record of a purchase or payment, or other documentation of the debt. Section 8.01-465.30 makes any consumer waiver of these requirements void.
Describe this accurately: it is a pleading standard for obtaining a default judgment, not a ban on suing over time-barred debt, and it is not in force yet. A separate provision effective January 1, 2027, § 8.01-271.2, will require an attorney’s name, business address, and direct telephone number on filings in consumer debt actions, with non-compliant filings voidable.
How often Virginia consumers report collection problems
Virginia consumers filed 6,641 debt collection complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the 12 months ending August 26, 2026, which is 2.1% of the 323,584 filed nationwide and ranks 15th among reporting states.
Of those, 1,044, or 16% of the Virginia total, were categorized as a collector taking or threatening to take negative or legal action, against 25% nationally. Virginia’s share on that measure is among the lowest we track.
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
Section 8.01-235 provides that the objection “can only be raised as an affirmative defense specifically set forth in a responsive pleading,” and that it “cannot be set up by demurrer.” In circuit court, Rule 3:18(d) allows the defense to be pleaded without naming the particular statute.
There is a real wrinkle in Virginia worth flagging honestly. Nearly all consumer collection suits are filed in General District Court, where a written responsive pleading is not ordinarily required at all: under Rule 7B:2 a judge may order a written grounds of defense, but need not. How the requirement in § 8.01-235 that limitations be set forth “in a responsive pleading” operates in a court that often has no written responsive pleading is not resolved by the Code or by the district court rules. The practical takeaway is to appear on the return date, raise the limitations defense on the record, and file a written grounds of defense if one is ordered or permitted. Court deadlines are unforgiving, so this is a point at which speaking with a Virginia attorney or a legal aid organization is worth the call.
How Virginia compares
The same question gets a different answer a state line away. These are the closest comparisons to Virginia:
- Georgia: the same signed-versus-open-account split
- Florida: five years written, four otherwise
- Arkansas: five years written, three otherwise
The full comparison table covers every state we have published.
Sources and verification
Statutes quoted from the Code of Virginia published by the Virginia Legislative Information System: § 8.01-246 (as amended by 2024, c. 800), §§ 8.01-229, 8.01-230, 8.01-232, 8.01-234, 8.01-235, 8.01-248, 8.01-249, 8.01-271.2 (2026, c. 489), 8.3A-118, and Chapter 17.4 at §§ 8.01-465.26 through 8.01-465.30 (2026, c. 395, effective July 1, 2027). Rules 3:18 and 7B:2 are published by the Supreme Court of Virginia. The Legislative Information System publishes no overall “current through” statement for the Code, so each provision above is identified by its own history line; note also that the site’s bulk data exports lag its live section pages, and its full-text search was unavailable when this page was researched. Text retrieved August 26, 2026. Complaint data: CFPB Consumer Complaint Database, filtered to the Debt collection product and the Virginia 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 Virginia statutes say. It is general information, not legal advice, and it does not resolve which subdivision of § 8.01-246 governs a particular account or how § 8.01-235 applies in General District Court.
Frequently asked questions
How long can a debt collector pursue an old debt in Virginia?
A collector may contact you indefinitely, but the deadline to sue is five years on a written contract signed by the person being charged under Va. Code § 8.01-246(A)(2), and three years on an unsigned writing or an unwritten contract under § 8.01-246(A)(4). Medical debt has its own three-year period running from the final invoice due date.
Does making a payment restart the statute of limitations in Virginia?
On an open account, a payment moves when the claim accrues. Section 8.01-249(8) provides that an action on an open account accrues “from the later of the last payment or last charge,” so the period effectively runs from your most recent payment. Separately, § 8.01-229(G) allows a new promise to revive a claim only if it is in a writing signed by the person being charged.
Does Virginia have a longer deadline for contracts under seal?
No, not any more. Section 8.01-246(A)(2) sets a single five-year period for a signed written contract “whether such writing be under seal or not.” Sources describing a separate, longer period for sealed instruments are describing superseded law.
Can a time-barred debt still appear on my Virginia credit report?
Yes. Virginia bars the remedy rather than extinguishing the debt, and the phrase “time-barred” does not appear anywhere in the Code of Virginia. Credit reporting runs on a separate federal clock, generally seven years for most negative account information.