Debt collectors in Florida

Credit cards: Florida statute gives 5 years for an action 'founded on a written instrument' (s. 95.11(2)(b)) and 4 years for one 'not founded on a written instrument,' including store accounts (s. 95.11(3)(j)). No Florida District Court of Appeal decision squarely classifying credit card debt was located. County and circuit-appellate rulings go both ways: creditors who produce the cardholder agreement get 5 years, and courts that find the writing incomplete or missing apply 4 years. The 5-year figure is the conservative choice; the 4-year open-account/oral alternative often prevails when no complete agreement is produced.

Payments and acknowledgments: (a) While the period is running, s. 95.051(1)(f) tolls it on 'payment of any part of the principal or interest of any obligation or liability founded on a written instrument.' Under s. 95.051(2), nothing tolls a limitations period except the listed grounds. So if a card is treated as an unwritten or open account, a bare payment may not toll, and only a signed writing counts. (b) After the period expires, a barred debt is revived only by an acknowledgment or promise to pay that is in writing and signed by the debtor (s. 95.04). A bare payment does not revive it. The same rules apply to original creditors and debt buyers.

Judgments: An action on a judgment of a Florida court of record may be brought within 20 years (s. 95.11(1)), and no judgment is a lien on real or personal property more than 20 years after entry (s. 55.081). A real-property judgment lien lasts 10 years from recording a certified copy (s. 55.10(1), recordings on or after 7/1/1994). It can be extended once for another 10 years by re-recording a certified copy with an affidavit of the lienholder's current address before the lien expires (s. 55.10(2)), but never past the 20-year s. 55.081 limit. Judgments of Florida courts not of record and of other states' or federal courts: 5 years (s. 95.11(2)(a)).

Medical debt, 3 years: Medical debt for services rendered by a facility licensed under Fla. Stat. ch. 395 (hospitals etc.); the period runs from the date the facility refers the debt to a third party for collection. (Fla. Stat. 95.11(4))

Other rules: Subsection numbering in the current official text (2025 Fla. Stat., history through ch. 2025-153): (1) 20 yrs; (2) 5 yrs, with (b) for written instruments; (3) 4 yrs, with (j) for unwritten contracts and store accounts; (4) 3 yrs for medical debt; (5) 2 yrs, including negligence after 2023 HB 837; (6) 1 yr. Many secondary sources still cite the old (3)(k) or a nonexistent (4)(j) for the 4-year period. The new s. 95.11(4) gives 3 years to collect medical debt for services by a ch. 395 hospital or surgical facility, running from referral to a third-party collector. A blog headnote reports Portfolio Recovery Assocs. v. Fernandes (Florida court, Sears card) treating an incomplete cardholder agreement as oral for limitations purposes (4 yrs). The court and citation were not verified. The Alper Law 2026 chart lists the Florida open-account/credit-card cell as 4 years, while noting it is contested whether an unsigned agreement accepted by use is a written instrument. No Florida statute bans suing on time-barred consumer debt or bars revival specifically for consumer debt. The FCCPA (s. 559.72) has only general prohibitions.

• open account: Fla. Stat. s. 95.11(2)(b) (5 yrs, written instrument) vs s. 95.11(3)(j) (4 yrs, not founded on a written instrument, incl. store accounts)
• written contract: Fla. Stat. s. 95.11(2)(b)
• oral contract: Fla. Stat. s. 95.11(3)(j)
• promissory note: Fla. Stat. s. 673.1181 (chapter 95 governs UCC Art. 3 actions) -> s. 95.11(2)(b)
• judgment: Fla. Stat. ss. 95.11(1), 95.11(2)(a), 55.081, 55.10
• payment restarts: Fla. Stat. ss. 95.051(1)(f), 95.051(2), 95.04
• other: Fla. Stat. s. 95.11(4) (3 yrs for medical debt owed to a ch. 395 licensed facility, running from referral to a third-party collector; added 2024); s. 95.10 (borrowing statute, per secondary source)

Sources: leg.state.fl.us · leg.state.fl.us · leg.state.fl.us