Debt collectors in Vermont

Credit cards: 12 V.S.A. 511 gives 6 years for any civil action not otherwise provided for, covering written, oral, and open-account claims alike. No consumer-debt-specific period exists in 12 V.S.A. ch. 23 (the current section list was checked and 511 was last amended in 1959).

Payments and acknowledgments: (a) 12 V.S.A. 591: an acknowledgment or promise does not affect the limitation defense unless it is in writing and signed. 12 V.S.A. 592: the chapter does 'not alter or take away the effect of the payment of any principal or interest', so a part payment restarts the period, though an endorsement of payment on the note is not proof unless in the payer's handwriting. (b) No statute bars post-expiry revival. A signed written promise or acknowledgment can revive. The rules are the same for all creditors.

Judgments: Civil Division judgments must be renewed or revived by filing a new and independent action on the judgment within 8 years after rendition, 'and not after' (12 V.S.A. 506(a)). A judgment lien lasts 8 years. A renewed or revived judgment is a lien for 8 years from its issuance if recorded, and relates back to the original lien (12 V.S.A. 2903). 2025 Act 165 (Adj. Sess.), eff. 6/18/2026, amended 506, but subsection (a) for Civil Division judgments reads the same. The Family Division motion-to-renew rules in 506(b) do not apply to consumer debt.

Other rules: Checked 2020-2026 for a consumer-debt-specific SOL or revival bar. None appears in 12 V.S.A. ch. 23 (full current section list reviewed; 511 history shows only a 1959 amendment) or in 9 V.S.A. ch. 63, and Vermont has no debt-collector licensing chapter in Title 8. The Attorney General's Consumer Protection Rule CP 104 (debt collection) was NOT reviewed. A promissory note signed in front of an attesting witness gets 14 years, and a specialty (sealed instrument) gets 8. 2025 Act 165 (H.937, miscellaneous judiciary procedures) amended 506; the act text was read, and Civil Division 506(a) is unchanged.

• open account: 12 V.S.A. 511
• written contract: 12 V.S.A. 511
• oral contract: 12 V.S.A. 511
• promissory note: 9A V.S.A. 3-118(a) (6 years); witnessed promissory note 14 years (12 V.S.A. 508); specialties 8 years (12 V.S.A. 507)
• judgment: 12 V.S.A. 506(a); 12 V.S.A. 2903
• payment restarts: 12 V.S.A. 591, 592
• other: 12 V.S.A. 593 (joint promisors)

Sources: legislature.vermont.gov · legislature.vermont.gov · legislature.vermont.gov