Colorado credit and debt laws

Colorado statute of limitations on debt

• Liquidated debts and debt instruments. Covers actions to recover a liquidated debt or a determinable amount of money due, and actions to enforce any instrument evidencing a debt. Annotations cite Colorado case law treating a debt as liquidated when the amount can be found from an agreement or by simple math.
• Other contract actions. The three-year rule covers all contract actions except those that fall under the six-year liquidated debt statute.

Time limits to sue vs. time on your credit report

The Colorado deadlines above control how long a creditor or collector can win a lawsuit. They don't change how long an account stays on your credit report. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act limits most negative items to 7 years in every state, counted from the date of first delinquency, and a payment doesn't restart that reporting clock. See how long negative items stay for both clocks side by side.

Can a payment restart the clock?

An acknowledgment or promise only takes a debt out of the statute of limitations if it is in writing and signed by you (C.R.S. 13-80-113). The section says it does not alter the effect of a payment of principal or interest, so a payment is treated separately from a promise.

Medical debt on credit reports in Colorado

A credit bureau may not include in a consumer report any adverse item it knows or should know concerns medical debt. The ban does not apply to reports for credit transactions above the federal conforming loan limit for a one-unit home, and it is set to repeal on July 1, 2028 unless lawmakers act. Colorado also bars collecting medical debt while a health insurance appeal is pending. The law: C.R.S. 5-18-109(1)(f); C.R.S. 5-16-109.5 (HB 23-1126). In effect since August 7, 2023.

Compare every state in medical debt laws by state.

Marriage and debt

Colorado is not a community property state. Each spouse keeps a separate credit report, and a debt generally belongs to the people who signed for it.

Can employers check your credit?

Employers can't use consumer credit information in hiring or other job decisions unless it is substantially related to the job, a term the law limits to certain executive, management and professional roles, some defense, intelligence and national security contract jobs, and positions at banks or financial institutions. If an employer acts on credit information, it must tell you and name the specific information it relied on. Complaints go to the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics, which can award civil penalties of up to $2,500. The law: C.R.S. 8-2-126.

Do debt collectors need a Colorado license?

Yes. Anyone acting as a collection agency must hold a license issued by the administrator of the Uniform Consumer Credit Code (C.R.S. 5-16-118), an office within the Colorado Department of Law, which is the Attorney General's office (C.R.S. 5-16-103).

In Colorado, complaints about debt collectors and credit reporting can go to Colorado Department of Law (Attorney General), administrator of the Uniform Consumer Credit Code, as well as to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

More to know in Colorado

Colorado's deadline turns on whether the amount owed is fixed. A liquidated debt, one you can total from the agreement or by simple math, gets 6 years. Other contract claims get 3. A case that a debt buyer brings has to come with paperwork. Colorado's collection law requires a debt buyer to attach the contract or another writing showing you agreed to the debt (for a card with no signed agreement, the last statement showing a purchase, payment or balance transfer), plus every assignment back to the original creditor. An affidavit alone does not meet that requirement, and the same evidence is needed before a default judgment. Medical debt gets extra protection. Medical collections are kept off Colorado credit reports under a provision set to repeal on July 1, 2028, and a medical collection lawsuit must include an itemized bill. The state's version of the FDCPA, the Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, is administered by the Uniform Consumer Credit Code administrator in the Attorney General's Department of Law, the same office that licenses collection agencies.

Guides that go deeper

• The statute of limitations on debt, and how a payment can reset itA statute of limitations limits when a collector can sue, not whether it can ask you to pay. How the clock starts, how it can restart, and what Reg F bans.
• How zombie debt and illegal re-aging bring old debts backZombie debts are old, paid, or wrong debts that resurface after a sale. Re-aging is reporting a newer delinquency date. How to spot and fight both.
• Sued by a debt collector? What to do in the first 2 weeksA debt lawsuit you ignore usually ends in a default judgment. What to read on the summons, how to respond on time, and where to find free legal help.
• Which states ban medical debt on credit reports? The 2026 listFifteen states have laws keeping medical debt off credit reports. The statute, start date and reach of each, plus the bureau rules that apply everywhere.
• Medical debt on credit reports: the rules in force in 2026The federal medical debt ban was struck down in 2025. What still protects you in 2026: bureau policies, newer scores, state laws and hospital aid rules.