Debt collectors in Minnesota

Credit cards: Minn. Stat. §541.053 (2013) sets a specific 6-year period for 'actions upon an obligation arising out of a consumer debt' for personal, family or household purposes, 'notwithstanding' the borrowing statute §541.31 subd. 1. It governs credit card suits regardless of the card agreement's choice of law. The general contract period (§541.05 subd. 1(1)) is also 6 years.

Payments and acknowledgments: (a) While running: §541.17 requires a signed writing for an acknowledgment or new promise, but 'shall not alter the effect of a payment of principal or interest', so part payment restarts the period under the common-law rule. (b) After expiry, for consumer debt and any creditor: §541.053 provides the period 'is not revived by the collection of a payment on an account, a discharge in a bankruptcy proceeding, or an oral or written reaffirmation of the debt'.

Judgments: Minn. Stat. §550.01: a judgment may be enforced within 10 years after entry. §541.04: no action on a judgment may be maintained unless begun within 10 years after entry. Renewal is by bringing an action on the judgment before the 10 years run, which yields a new judgment. No special rule for consumer-debt judgments was found in §§541.04 or 550.01 (neither amended since 2012).

Other rules: §541.053 (Laws 2013 c. 104 s. 2) overrides the borrowing statute, so a shorter or longer foreign period selected by a card agreement does not displace the 6 years. The §332.37(a)(24) suit ban binds those regulated under chapter 332: collection agencies, collectors and debt buyers. Whether it reaches original creditors suing in their own name was not verified; original creditors are still bound by the 6-year §541.053 SOL itself. Not checked in detail: whether recent (2023-2026) Minnesota debt-collection reforms changed consumer-debt judgment rules elsewhere in the statutes. The §541.04 and §550.01 history lines show no amendments after 2012.

• open account: Minn. Stat. §541.053
• written contract: Minn. Stat. §541.05 subd. 1(1)
• oral contract: Minn. Stat. §541.05 subd. 1(1)
• promissory note: Minn. Stat. §336.3-118(a)
• judgment: Minn. Stat. §§541.04, 550.01
• payment restarts: Minn. Stat. §§541.17, 541.053
• other: Minn. Stat. §332.37(a)(24) (collection agencies/collectors may not 'commence legal action to collect a debt outside the limitations period set forth in section 541.053')

Sources: revisor.mn.gov · revisor.mn.gov · revisor.mn.gov