Debt collectors in New Hampshire

Credit cards: RSA 508:4, I sets a single 3-year period for 'all personal actions' except as otherwise provided, and it covers written, oral, and account-based contract claims alike, so credit card debt gets 3 years either way. The written vs. open-account question does not arise.

Payments and acknowledgments: No acknowledgment statute was identified; the rule is common law. Premier Capital, Inc. v. Gallagher, 144 N.H. 284 (1999): the period is tolled when a renewed promise to pay can be implied from part payment or acknowledgments of liability. An acknowledgment must be 'more than a recognition of debt': it must admit an unpaid debt the debtor is then willing to pay. A maker's payments do not ordinarily toll the period against a guarantor. Whether a payment made after the 3 years have run revives the debt was not confirmed. No consumer or debt-buyer revival ban was found.

Judgments: RSA 508:5: actions of debt upon judgments or recognizances (and contracts under seal) may be brought within 20 years after the cause of action accrued, per a secondary source. Statute text was not read on an official site. Whether a creditor can get a fresh 20-year judgment by suing on the judgment within 20 years was not confirmed.

Other rules: I could not read the statute text. The official RSA site (gencourt.state.nh.us / gc.nh.gov) returned 403, FindLaw has no New Hampshire code, Justia returned 403, and counselstack rate-limited me. The figures rest on Premier Capital (NH Supreme Court, read via the Caselaw Access Project; the parties there agreed RSA 508:4, I's 3-year period governed a note claim) plus one secondary source. Verify RSA 508:4, 508:5, and 382-A:3-118 on the official site before publishing. RSA 382-A:3-118 (6 years) should govern negotiable notes; Premier Capital applied 508:4 to an older note under pre-revision Article 3. A secondary source says New Hampshire has no borrowing statute and no statute barring suit on time-barred debt. RSA 358-C (unfair collection practices) was not checked. Federal Reg F bars FDCPA collectors from suing on time-barred debt.

• open account: RSA 508:4, I
• written contract: RSA 508:4, I (contracts under seal: 20 yrs, RSA 508:5, per secondary source)
• oral contract: RSA 508:4, I
• promissory note: RSA 382-A:3-118(a) (6 yrs for negotiable notes payable at a definite time; per secondary source, not read on official site)
• judgment: RSA 508:5
• payment restarts: Premier Capital, Inc. v. Gallagher, 144 N.H. 284, 740 A.2d 1047 (1999)
• other: RSA 382-A:2-725 (4 yrs, sale of goods); RSA 508:4 discovery rule

Sources: static.case.law · ezel.ai