Debt collectors in South Dakota

Credit cards: SDCL 15-2-13(1) sets one six-year period for any action 'upon a contract, obligation, or liability, express or implied', so written, oral, and open-account credit card claims all get 6 years and the written/oral distinction does not matter.

Payments and acknowledgments: (a) Before expiry: SDCL 15-2-29 requires a signed writing for an acknowledgment or promise, but says it 'shall not alter the effect of any payment of principal or interest'. South Dakota Supreme Court cases (Nilsson v. Kielman, 1945, restating McCarthy Bros. v. Hanskutt, 1912; seen via case-law mirrors) hold that a voluntary part payment made as an acknowledgment of the balance tolls the statute. (b) After expiry: no statute bars revival, and a signed written promise or acknowledgment can take the case out of the statute. The rules are the same for all creditors.

Judgments: Execution may issue at any time within 20 years after entry of judgment (SDCL 15-18-1), and an action on a South Dakota judgment has 20 years (15-2-6(1)). The real-property lien of a docketed judgment lasts 10 years (15-16-7). The lien can be renewed by the creditor's affidavit filed before 10 years from first docketing (15-16-33), which continues the lien for another 10 years from the affidavit's docketing (15-16-35).

Other rules: All statute text was read on the official SD Legislature API (15-2-13, 15-2-6, 15-2-8, 15-2-29, 15-16-7, 15-16-33, 15-16-35, 15-18-1, 57A-3-118). No South Dakota statute on time-barred consumer debt or debt buyers was found, so federal FDCPA/Reg F limits are the only express bar on suing. A sealed instrument (other than a real estate mortgage) gets 20 years. Secondary sources agree on 6 years for credit cards. One secondary site wrongly cites 15-2-6 for oral contracts and another cites 15-2-25 for tolling (15-2-25 is actually tolling during an injunction); ignore both.

• open account: SDCL 15-2-13(1)
• written contract: SDCL 15-2-13(1)
• oral contract: SDCL 15-2-13(1)
• promissory note: SDCL 57A-3-118(a); sealed instruments 20 years under SDCL 15-2-6(2)
• judgment: SDCL 15-18-1; 15-2-6(1); 15-16-7; 15-16-33; 15-16-35
• payment restarts: SDCL 15-2-29; Nilsson v. Kielman (S.D. 1945)
• other: SDCL 15-2-8(1): 10 years for actions on judgments of federal or other-state courts

Sources: sdlegislature.gov · sdlegislature.gov · sdlegislature.gov