Debt collectors in Mississippi

Credit cards: Either way the answer is 3 years. Treated as an open account or unwritten contract, a card falls under Miss. Code §15-1-29 (3 years). Treated as a written contract, it falls under the catch-all §15-1-49 (3 years). Classification therefore does not change the period.

Payments and acknowledgments: (a) While running: §15-1-3(2) provides that in a case founded on a debt, a part payment, an acknowledgment of the liability, or a promise to pay made before the statute has run starts the full period again from that payment, acknowledgment or promise. For contracts, §15-1-73 requires an acknowledgment or promise to be in a writing signed by the debtor. (b) After expiry: §15-1-3(1) extinguishes the right as well as the remedy, so a payment does not revive the old debt. The former obligation is consideration for a NEW promise, which must be in a signed writing (§15-1-73) and is sued on as a new contract. There is no creditor-type distinction.

Judgments: Miss. Code §15-1-43: actions on a judgment must be brought within 7 years of its rendition or last renewal. A judgment may be renewed, but only before it expires, by filing a statutory Notice of Renewal (with an affidavit of names and addresses) with the clerk of the rendering court. Renewal takes effect on filing, gives a new 7-year period, and the clerk mails notice to the debtor. Other lawful renewal methods, such as an action on the judgment, remain available.

Other rules: Mississippi is an extinguishment state: when the period runs, the debt itself is extinguished, not just the remedy (§15-1-3(1)). §15-1-29 sets 1 year for unwritten employment contracts and carves out UCC matters. The UCC 6-year note period (§75-3-118, read on FindLaw) exceeds the general 3-year rule. Non-negotiable notes would likely fall under the 3-year §15-1-49 catch-all, but that was not confirmed by case law. Mississippi has no state FDCPA-type act; no state time-barred-suit ban or revival ban was found (the federal FDCPA and Reg F bind debt collectors). The official Mississippi Code is published by LexisNexis and was not fetched; all text was read on FindLaw (which warns it may not be current). Not checked: whether a Mississippi borrowing statute could import a shorter foreign period.

• open account: Miss. Code Ann. §15-1-29
• written contract: Miss. Code Ann. §15-1-49(1)
• oral contract: Miss. Code Ann. §15-1-29
• promissory note: Miss. Code Ann. §75-3-118(a) (6 yrs, note payable at a definite time)
• judgment: Miss. Code Ann. §15-1-43
• payment restarts: Miss. Code Ann. §15-1-3(2); §15-1-73
• other: Miss. Code Ann. §15-1-3(1) (expiry 'shall defeat and extinguish the right as well as the remedy')

Sources: codes.findlaw.com · codes.findlaw.com · codes.findlaw.com