Statute of limitations allow a certain amount of time after which a lawsuit may no longer be filed and a collector may no longer collect against a debt from a consumer.
Virginia sets a time period during which an account remains open, and no payment is made on the account, a collector has a statute of limitations of 3 years from the date of last payment or last charge for goods or services rendered on the account to file suit against a consumer.
If a debt is based on a written contract (non-Uniform Commercial Code) the statute of limitation period is 5 years.
Domestic judgments, or those obtained in a Virginia court of law have a collection period of 10 years and may be extended for a long as 20 years.
While foreign judgments, or any judgments of a court where the debt did not originally occur, also have a collection period of 10 years but may not be renewed or extended.