State file — Michigan
Every number below names the law it comes from (its statute citation), checked October 18, 2026. Where a number comes from a secondary source instead of the official text, this page says so — double-check it before you rely on it.
| How long they have to sue you — credit-card debt | 6 years · MCL 600.5807(9) From a secondary source — double-check before you rely on it Six years for an action to recover damages or money due for breach of contract; Michigan does not split written vs. open-account card debt into different periods. |
| If the clock has run out | Paying part of it, or signing a written statement that the debt is yours, can restart it. MCL 600.5865, 600.5866 From a secondary source — double-check before you rely on it A barred contract obligation is revived only by an acknowledgment or promise in a writing signed by the party to be charged (§600.5866); separately, a part payment can stop the clock from running / support revival, though the creditor's own endorsement on the instrument is not by itself evidence of payment (§600.5865). |
| Deadline to answer a lawsuit | 21 days after service of the summons and complaint in Michigan (28 days if served outside Michigan or by registered mail) · MCR 2.108(A)(1) |
| Taking your paycheck (wage garnishment) | Follows the federal cap. Michigan follows the federal CCPA limit: the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage. Michigan adds no more-protective general wage cap for ordinary consumer judgments. MCL 408.476; 15 U.S.C. §1673 From a secondary source — double-check before you rely on it |
| Taking your bank account (a levy) | Michigan has no standalone dollar exemption for bank deposits. Money in an account is protected only to the extent it is traceable to exempt sources or fits a §600.6023 exemption category (mostly small, dated caps — e.g., household goods and tools of the trade); the debtor must file objections to a non-periodic garnishment within 14 days of service of the writ or the bank can release the funds. MCL 600.6023; MCR 3.101 From a secondary source — double-check before you rely on it Federal benefits deposited directly get an automatic two-month shield everywhere (31 CFR Part 212). |
| Original creditor calling? | Yes — the Michigan Collection Practices Act (Regulation of Collection Practices Act) (MCL 445.251-445.258) applies FDCPA-style rules to original creditors. The Act regulates 'regulated persons,' a definition that expressly includes state and federally chartered banks, savings and loans, and credit unions collecting their own claims and employees collecting for their employer — so original creditors are bound by its prohibited-practices list (§445.252), broader than the FDCPA. Collection agencies are separately licensed under the Occupational Code, MCL 339.901 et seq. |
| How long a judgment lasts | 10 years — Renewed by bringing an action on the judgment within the 10-year period; the new judgment is itself subject to a fresh 10-year period. (Distinct from a judgment lien, which lasts 5 years and may be re-recorded once, §600.2809.) · MCL 600.5809(3) From a secondary source — double-check before you rely on it |
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6 years under MCL 600.5807(9). The clock usually starts at the first missed payment that was never made up. Debt collectors may still call after it runs out, but Regulation F (12 CFR 1006.26(b)) bars them from suing — or threatening to sue — over a debt that is too old (time-barred).
Paying part of it, or signing a written statement that the debt is yours, can restart it. (MCL 600.5865, 600.5866).
21 days after service of the summons and complaint in Michigan (28 days if served outside Michigan or by registered mail) (MCR 2.108(A)(1)). Most of these cases are lost by default — by never answering at all.
Michigan follows the federal CCPA limit: the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage. Michigan adds no more-protective general wage cap for ordinary consumer judgments. (MCL 408.476; 15 U.S.C. §1673).