Debt collectors in Colorado

Credit cards: C.R.S. 13-80-103.5(1)(a) gives 6 years to 'all actions to recover a liquidated debt or an unliquidated, determinable amount of money due', and to actions to enforce instruments evidencing a debt. A credit-card balance is a liquidated or determinable sum, so the 6-year period applies. The general 3-year contract period of 13-80-101(1)(a) applies 'except as otherwise provided in section 13-80-103.5'. No Colorado appellate case on credit cards was confirmed in this research.

Payments and acknowledgments: C.R.S. 13-80-113 requires a signed written acknowledgment or promise but 'shall not alter the effect of a payment of principal or interest', so a part payment made while the period is running restarts it under the common law that section preserves. No Colorado statute barring post-expiry revival of consumer debt was found in C.R.S. 5-16, but Colorado collection-agency regulations were not checked.

Judgments: Execution may issue within 20 years after entry for district-court judgments; county-court judgments entered on or after July 1, 1981 get only 6 years, after which they are considered satisfied unless revived (C.R.S. 13-52-102(2)). Many consumer collection suits are filed in county court. Revival follows the court rules (C.R.C.P. 54(h) / 354(h); not read). The judgment lien on real estate expires 6 years after entry unless the judgment is revived and a transcript of the revived judgment is recorded, which continues the lien another 6 years (13-52-102(1)).

Other rules: The official CRS (LexisNexis) and the legislature's title PDFs were not fetchable, so the text was read on PocketLaw (unofficial; it warns that its content may lag). The 6- and 3-year figures apply to debt actions whether the contract was written or oral; non-debt contract claims get 3 years. 13-80-101(1) also sets 3 years for 'claims under the UCCC'. This research assumes that clause covers claims arising under the UCCC rather than ordinary card-collection suits, without confirming it from case law. Colorado adopted the Uniform Conflict of Laws-Limitations Act (C.R.S. 13-82). The Colorado FDCPA (C.R.S. 5-16, revised 2017 by HB 17-1238 and SB 17-216) has debt-buyer documentation rules for debts sold on or after Jan. 1, 2018, but no time-barred suit ban in the sections read. Whether Colorado collection-agency rules require time-barred disclosures or bar revival is unverified, so revival_barred_by_statute is null.

• open account: C.R.S. 13-80-103.5(1)(a)
• written contract: C.R.S. 13-80-103.5(1)(a) (debt actions, 6 yrs); 13-80-101(1)(a) (other contract actions, 3 yrs)
• oral contract: C.R.S. 13-80-103.5(1)(a) (liquidated debt, 6 yrs); 13-80-101(1)(a) (other contract actions, 3 yrs)
• promissory note: C.R.S. 13-80-103.5(1)(a) (Colorado did not enact UCC 3-118; C.R.S. 4-3-118 is absent)
• judgment: C.R.S. 13-52-102
• payment restarts: C.R.S. 13-80-113
• other: C.R.S. 13-80-101(1) (3 yrs for 'claims under the Uniform Consumer Credit Code' and for out-of-state-accrued actions where the foreign period is longer); C.R.S. 5-16-111(2)-(3) (debt-buyer suits must attach the contract and chain of title and prove the debt before a default judgment); C.R.S. 5-16-134.5

Sources: getpocketlaw.com · getpocketlaw.com · getpocketlaw.com