Ohio credit and debt laws

Ohio statute of limitations on debt

• Consumer transactions, including household credit accounts. Covers actions arising from consumer transactions for personal, family or household purposes. The clock starts 30 days after the later of the last charge or the last payment by or for the consumer.

Time limits to sue vs. time on your credit report

The Ohio 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?

Under Ohio Rev. Code 2305.08, a payment on a contract debt, a written acknowledgment of it, or a signed promise to pay it lets the creditor sue within the full period of 2305.06 or 2305.07 measured from that payment, acknowledgment or promise.

Medical debt on credit reports in Ohio

Ohio has no law of its own limiting medical debt on credit reports, so the national rules decide what shows. The three bureaus leave off paid medical collections and any under $500, and an unpaid one can't appear until it is a year old.

Compare every state in medical debt laws by state.

Marriage and debt

Ohio 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.

Where to complain about a debt collector

In Ohio, complaints about debt collectors and credit reporting can go to Ohio Attorney General, Consumer Protection Section, as well as to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

More to know in Ohio

Ohio rewrote its contract deadlines in Senate Bill 13, effective June 16, 2021. A suit on a written contract must now be filed within six years (Ohio Rev. Code 2305.06), and a suit on an unwritten contract within four (2305.07(A)). A separate six-year rule covers consumer transactions for personal, family or household purposes, and that clock starts 30 days after the later of your last charge or your last payment (2305.07(C)). The start date is what trips people up. A card last used in 2022 but last paid on in March 2024 has a six-year clock that began in April 2024. Ohio's revival rule is also broad. Under 2305.08 any payment on a contract debt, not only a signed promise, starts a new full period, so even a small payment on an old account can hand the collector years of new time to sue. Section 2305.06 was amended again by Senate Bill 219, effective September 23, 2026, and the current text sets six years for written contracts.

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.