Time limits on debt: when a creditor can no longer sue

Writing off debt by the passage of time is real in Britain — but the rule works differently from the way most people assume.

How long before a debt can no longer be sued for?

Six years. Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980 states that an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued. Simple contract covers ordinary consumer debt: credit cards, loans, instalment plans, unpaid bills. This applies in England and Wales.

The clock runs not from when you borrowed, but from when the creditor's right to claim arose — usually the last payment or the last written acknowledgment.

Does the debt disappear, or just become unenforceable?

In England and Wales, the latter. Court action is closed off; the debt itself remains and the creditor may still ask you to pay. Such a debt is called statute-barred.

Scotland is stricter, and better for the debtor. Under section 6 of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973, an obligation that has subsisted for a continuous period of five years without a relevant claim and without a relevant acknowledgement is extinguished when that period expires.

What restarts the clock?

Under section 29(5) of the 1980 Act, where the debtor acknowledges the claim or makes a payment, the right of action is treated as having accrued on the date of that acknowledgment or payment. Section 29(6) adds that a payment of interest counts as a payment towards the principal, and section 29(7) allows a current period to be repeatedly extended by further acknowledgments or payments.

So writing "yes, that debt is mine, but I cannot pay yet" resets six years to zero.

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Can an expired debt be revived?

No. Section 29(7) ends with the plain rule that a right of action, once barred, shall not be revived by any subsequent acknowledgment or payment. Before the six years are up, a word or a transfer restarts everything. After they have passed, neither brings the creditor's right to sue back.

Mortgage debt runs longer

Under section 20, an action to recover a principal sum secured by a mortgage or charge is limited to twelve years from the date the right to receive the money accrued. Arrears of interest on that sum carry the ordinary six-year limit from the date the interest became due.

What to do in practice

Find the date of the last payment or last written acknowledgment — that is what the period runs from, not the date of the agreement or the latest letter from a collector. Do not confirm an old debt blindly: a request to "confirm this debt is yours" may be an attempt to restart the clock.

And remember this is a narrow route, not a solution. For debts still within time, other mechanisms apply — Breathing Space, a Debt Relief Order, a debt management plan, the rules on collectors, and bankruptcy — which we have covered separately.