State file — Connecticut
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 · Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-576(a) Read on cga.ct.gov this pass: 'No action for an account, or on any simple or implied contract, or on any contract in writing, shall be brought but within six years' — account and written-contract claims share the 6-year period. |
| If the clock has run out | Paying part of it, or signing a written statement that the debt is yours, can restart it. Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-576 (common-law tolling) From a secondary source — double-check before you rely on it Connecticut has no standalone revival statute in the limitations chapter; courts recognize tolling/restart by part payment or by an acknowledgment of the debt as a subsisting obligation. Flagged secondary — no primary text confirming the doctrine was retrieved this pass. |
| Deadline to answer a lawsuit | Responsive pleading is due within 30 days after the return date printed on the summons (Connecticut times answers from the return date, not from service); in small claims, the defendant answers by the answer date on the small-claims writ · Conn. Practice Book §10-8 From a secondary source — double-check before you rely on it |
| Taking your paycheck (wage garnishment) | More protective than the federal cap. Wage executions (which require the debtor first to default on a court installment-payment order) are capped at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 40 times the higher of the federal or Connecticut minimum wage — a higher floor than the federal 30x test. Quoted in the Connecticut Judicial Branch's Enforcing Money Judgments pathfinder. Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-361a(f) |
| Taking your bank account (a levy) | Exempt property under §52-352b includes a $1,000 wildcard ('any property' exemption) that can be claimed in bank funds, plus full exemptions for Social Security, unemployment, workers' compensation, disability, and public-assistance payments; Connecticut bank executions go through the §52-367a process with a bank-level exemption claim. Conn. Gen. Stat. §§52-352b, 52-367a 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 Creditors' Collection Practices Act (Conn. Gen. Stat. §§36a-645 to 36a-647) applies FDCPA-style rules to original creditors. Ct.gov: the act regulates 'creditors' directly, and §36a-645 defines creditor as a person to whom a consumer debt is owed (or an assignee) — i.e., original creditors are covered, separately from the Consumer Collection Agencies Act (§36a-800 et seq.) for third parties. |
| How long a judgment lasts | 20 years — No renewal needed inside the period; executions on a judgment may issue within 20 years of entry · Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-598 From a secondary source — double-check before you rely on it |
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6 years under Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-576(a). 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. (Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-576 (common-law tolling)).
Responsive pleading is due within 30 days after the return date printed on the summons (Connecticut times answers from the return date, not from service); in small claims, the defendant answers by the answer date on the small-claims writ (Conn. Practice Book §10-8). Most of these cases are lost by default — by never answering at all.
Wage executions (which require the debtor first to default on a court installment-payment order) are capped at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 40 times the higher of the federal or Connecticut minimum wage — a higher floor than the federal 30x test. Quoted in the Connecticut Judicial Branch's Enforcing Money Judgments pathfinder. (Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-361a(f)).