Debt collectors in Delaware

Credit cards: 10 Del. C. 8106(a) gives 3 years to actions to recover a debt not evidenced by a record or by an instrument under seal, to actions 'based on a promise', and to actions on a detailed statement of mutual debits and credits. Credit-card debt gets 3 years under any of those categories. No credit-card-specific accrual statute was found in Title 10 ch. 81 or Title 5 ch. 9 (bank revolving credit). The only account accrual rule is 8108: a mutual and running account does not start the period while it 'continues open and current'.

Payments and acknowledgments: Under 10 Del. C. 8109, an action on 'an acknowledgment under the hand of the party of a subsisting demand' gets 6 years from the acknowledgment, so a signed written acknowledgment effectively restarts the clock with a 6-year period. The effect of a part payment alone, before or after expiry, was not confirmed from Delaware case law. No consumer-debt revival bar was found.

Judgments: Execution may issue without scire facias within 5 years of entry, or of an installment falling due (10 Del. C. 5072, 5073). After that, the judgment must be revived by writ of scire facias (5071). The judgment lien on real estate lasts 10 years and can be renewed for further 10-year terms by the parties' written agreement or by scire facias sued out before the 10 years run (4711).

Other rules: All statute text was read on the official delcode.delaware.gov. Debts evidenced by an instrument under seal are outside 8106. Delaware applies a common-law 20-year period to sealed instruments (not confirmed from case law here), and a consumer card agreement is not normally sealed. Under 8121, Delaware's 3 years applies in Delaware courts when the cause of action accrued to a Delaware resident (e.g., a Delaware-chartered card bank). No Delaware statute bans suits on time-barred consumer debt or bars revival; Delaware has no state FDCPA-style act in the sections reviewed. Recent Delaware session laws (85 Del. Laws c. 217 and c. 507) changed other ch. 81 sections, not the contract periods.

• open account: 10 Del. C. 8106(a); 8108
• written contract: 10 Del. C. 8106(a)
• oral contract: 10 Del. C. 8106(a)
• promissory note: 10 Del. C. 8109
• judgment: 10 Del. C. 5071, 5072, 5073; 4711
• payment restarts: 10 Del. C. 8109 (signed acknowledgment)
• other: 10 Del. C. 8121 (borrowing statute: the shorter of Delaware's or the foreign period, unless the claim accrued to a Delaware resident); 10 Del. C. 8106(c) (contracts of $100,000 or more may specify up to 20 years; not relevant to typical consumer debt)

Sources: delcode.delaware.gov · delcode.delaware.gov · delcode.delaware.gov