Arizona — Collection Agency Act (A.R.S. tit. 32 ch. 9) + SOL

Authority

Arizona has no mini-FDCPA. There is no state debt-collection-practices act of the Texas ch. 392 / California Rosenthal type. What Arizona has is three separate things:

1. A collection agency licensing act — A.R.S. title 32, chapter 9, §§32-1001 to 32-1057. Administered by the Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions (DIFI), through the deputy director of its financial institutions division (§32-1001(3), (4)). License + graduated surety bond; operating without a license is a class 1 misdemeanor (§32-1056(A)), prosecuted by the county or city prosecutor (§32-1057(A)). It carries a short set of conduct duties (§32-1051) and unlawful acts (§32-1055), but no call windows, no frequency caps, and no validation or disclosure regime.
2. The Consumer Fraud Act — A.R.S. §§44-1521 to 44-1534 — the general UDAP backstop. AG investigation and enforcement (§44-1528), civil penalty up to $10,000 per willful violation (§44-1531).
3. The limitations statutes — A.R.S. title 12, chapter 5 (§§12-501 to 12-555), plus the UCC Article 3 period at §47-3118 and the Article 2 sale period at §47-2725.

Verification note. azleg.gov serves the official A.R.S. text as plain HTML published by the Arizona Legislative Council; the section files used here carry Legislative Council creation stamps of 09/19/2025 and 09/20/2025, i.e. the code as published after the 2025 regular session. Every statutory quote below was pulled directly from those files.

Two sources on this topic could not be read and their absence is disclosed where it matters:

• difi.az.gov (the regulator's own site) is Cloudflare-blocked to automated fetching — every request returns HTTP 403 with "Enable JavaScript and cookies to continue." Every licensing fact on this page therefore comes from the statute, not from DIFI's published application materials. Fee amounts, bond tiers, and renewal dates are quoted from A.R.S.; DIFI's application forms, its implementing rules in the Arizona Administrative Code, and any published fee or process updates are unverified here. Treat this section as manual-verification-only.
• The Arizona Supreme Court opinion in Mertola, LLC v. Santos could not be retrieved from an official source — see "Accrual" below for exactly what is and is not verified about it.

Operative text

Entry gate — license required, class 1 misdemeanor without it

A. It is unlawful for a person to conduct a collection agency in this state without having first applied for and obtained a license under this chapter. B. A collection agency licensed under this chapter shall not directly or indirectly aid, abet or receive compensation from an unlicensed person. Nothing in this chapter shall prevent a licensed agency from accepting, as forwardee, claims for collection from a collection agency or attorney whose place of business is outside this state. — A.R.S. §32-1055(A)–(B)

A. A person operating a collection agency without a license shall be guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor. B. A licensee violating the provisions of section 32-1055 or the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter shall be subject to revocation of license and shall be guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor. — A.R.S. §32-1056

A. The prosecuting officer of a county or city shall prosecute all violations of this chapter occurring within his jurisdiction. B. An officer or agent of a corporation or association participating in a violation of this chapter by such corporation or association shall be subject to the penalties prescribed by section 32-1056 for an individual. — A.R.S. §32-1057

Scope — who is a "collection agency" (original creditors mostly out, aliases in)

2. "Collection agency" means: (a) All persons engaged directly or indirectly in soliciting claims for collection or in collection of claims owed, due or asserted to be owed or due. (b) Any person who, in the process of collecting debts occurring in the operation of the person's own business, uses any name other than the person's own name, which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts.
3. "Department" means the department of insurance and financial institutions.
4. "Deputy director" means the deputy director of the financial institutions division of the department of insurance and financial institutions. — A.R.S. §32-1001(2)–(4)

Exemptions (16 of them) — the first-party carve-out is paragraph 2, and note that exempt persons are still bound by a subset of the conduct rules:

A. The following persons are exempt from this chapter when engaged in the regular course of their respective businesses but shall comply with the requirements of section 32-1051, paragraphs 2 through 6 and section 32-1055, subsection C and subsection D, paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 5:

1. Attorneys-at-law.
2. A person regularly employed on a regular wage or salary in the capacity of credit person or a similar capacity, except as an independent contractor.
3. Banks, including trust departments of a bank, fiduciaries and financing and lending institutions. …
4. An accounting, bookkeeping or billing service provider that complies with all of the following: (a) Does not accept accounts that are contractually past due at the time of receipt. (b) Does not initiate any contact with individual debtors except for the initial written notice of the amount owing and one written follow-up notice. (c) Does not give or send to any debtor a written communication that requests or demands payment. (d) Does not receive or have access to monies paid by debtors or their insurers. (e) All communications with the debtors are done in the name of the creditor.
5. A person collecting claims owed, due or asserted to be owed or due to a financial institution of which the deposits are insured by an agency of the federal government, or any affiliate of the financial institution, if the person is related by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control with the financial institution and collects the claims only for the financial institution or any affiliate of the financial institution. — A.R.S. §32-1004(A)

Bond — graduated on Arizona-sourced gross annual income

A. A person desiring to conduct a collection agency shall make an original application to the department on forms prescribed by the deputy director … B. An application for an original or a renewal license shall be accompanied by:

1. A financial statement in the form provided in section 32-1022 …
2. A bond in the form provided in section 32-1022, computed on a base consisting of the gross annual income of the licensee generated from all business transacted in this state by the licensee during the preceding year, in the minimum amount as follows:

Base	Minimum Bond
Not over $250,000	$10,000
$250,001 to $500,000	$15,000
$500,001 to $750,000	$25,000
$750,001 and over	$35,000

D. For the purposes of this section, "all business transacted in this state" includes:

1. The collection of debts from debtors who reside in this state, regardless of where the licensee is located.
2. The collection of debts made from an office in this state, regardless of where the debtor resides.
3. The collection of debts made on behalf of creditors who reside in this state, regardless of where the debtor and the collection agent reside. — A.R.S. §32-1021

B. The bond shall run to the people of the state … The bond shall be continuous in form and shall remain in full force and effect at all times while holding a license. The bond shall be conditioned that the applicant, within thirty days after the last day of the month in which a collection is made, shall make an account of and pay to the client the proceeds collected for the client by the applicant, less charges for collection in accordance with the agreement between the applicant and client, but when the amount due the client is less than $5, payment may be deferred for an additional thirty days. C. Any surety company intending to withdraw as surety of any licensee shall give sixty days' notice of such intention to the deputy director … The license of any licensee shall be void unless, prior to the termination, a new bond has been filed with the department. — A.R.S. §32-1022(B)–(C) (emphasis added)

Fees and renewal

Every original or renewal application shall be accompanied by the fees prescribed in section 6-126. — A.R.S. §32-1028

A. The following nonrefundable fees are payable to the department with the filing of the following: … 15. To apply for a collection agency license, $1,500. D. The following annual assessments and renewal fees shall be paid each year: … 3. For a collection agency, $600. — A.R.S. §6-126(A)(15), (D)(3)

A. … a person desiring to secure renewal of a collection agency license shall file a financial statement, make a renewal application to the department and pay the fees prescribed in section 6-126 not later than December 31 of each year … B. Licenses that are not renewed on or before December 31 are suspended by operation of law. A licensee may renew a suspended license by submitting to the department the fees prescribed in section 6-126 along with a renewal application and any applicable late fee … before January 31. Licenses that are not renewed on or before January 31 expire. — A.R.S. §32-1025 (emphasis added)

Qualifications (§32-1023) require the applicant — or, for an entity, "the individual in active management" — to be a U.S. citizen, not convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, not in default on money collected for another, and not a former licensee whose license was revoked. Losing the qualified manager without replacing them within 90 days expires the agency's license (§32-1023(C)). Out-of-state agencies can be licensed on reciprocity where the other state's requirements are "substantially the same or equal" and that state reciprocates (§32-1024).

Conduct rules — the whole of Arizona's collection-practices law

An individual, firm, partnership, association or corporation to whom a license is to be issued under this chapter shall: … 3. Except for attorneys licensed to practice law, not attempt to collect any collection fee, attorney fee, court cost or expenses unless the fees, charges or expenses are justly due from and legally chargeable against the debtor or have been judicially determined. A licensee may not engage in any unfair or misleading practices or resort to any oppressive, vindictive or illegal means or methods of collection. 4. Except for attorneys licensed to practice law, not give or send to any debtor … any notice, letter, message or form that: (a) Simulates any legal process. (b) Is ambiguous as to or misrepresents the character, extent or amount of the obligation of the debtor. (c) Represents or implies that the existing obligation of the debtor may be increased by the addition of attorney fees, investigation fees, service fees or any other fees or charges when in fact these fees or charges may not legally be added to the existing obligation of the debtor. (d) Threatens to sell the obligation of the debtor to any person, firm or group. (e) Uses or sets forth the name of or purports to be from any attorney at law or legal firm. 5. Except for attorneys licensed to practice law, not use any letterhead or literature bearing any heading, slogan or statement representing or implying that the licensee practices law, renders legal services or advice or maintains a legal department. 6. Not use any letterhead, advertisement, agreement, form, circular or other printed matter, or otherwise, to convey the impression that the individual, firm, partnership, association or corporation is vouched for or is an instrumentality of this state, a political subdivision of this state or the department. — A.R.S. §32-1051

C. A licensee shall not advertise a claim for sale or threaten to so advertise a claim as a means of endeavoring to enforce payment, nor shall a licensee agree to do so for the purpose of soliciting claims. … D. It is unlawful for a person conducting a collection agency in this state to:

1. Fail to render an account of and pay to the client for whom collection has been made the proceeds collected, less collection charges as agreed to by the person and the client, within thirty days from the last day of the month in which the proceeds were collected. If the amount due the client is less than five dollars, payment may be deferred for an additional thirty days.
2. Fail to deposit with a local depository all monies collected by the person and due to the person's clients, and to fail to keep these monies deposited until these monies or equivalent amounts are remitted to the person's clients. …
3. Fail to keep a record of monies collected and the remittance of these monies.
4. Fail to notify the department within ten days of any change of name … or address at which the person conducts business.
5. Aid or abet, directly or indirectly, any person, persons or organizations in evading or violating any of the provisions of this chapter. — A.R.S. §32-1055(C)–(D) (emphasis added)

Statute of limitations — six years for written debt AND credit cards, by statute

A. An action for debt shall be commenced and prosecuted within six years after the cause of action accrues, and not afterward, if the indebtedness is evidenced by or founded on either of the following: 1. A contract in writing that is executed in this state. 2. A credit card as defined in section 13-2101, paragraph 3, subdivision (a). B. If there is a conflict between another jurisdiction and this state relating to the statute of limitations for a debt action as described in subsection A of this section, this section applies. — A.R.S. §12-548 (emphasis added)

The incorporated credit-card definition — note that it is subdivision (a) only, so debit cards and stored-value cards are not pulled into the six-year bucket:

3. "Credit card" means: (a) Any instrument or device, whether known as a credit card, charge card, credit plate, courtesy card or identification card or by any other name, that is issued with or without fee by an issuer for the use of the cardholder in obtaining money, goods, services or anything else of value, either on credit or in possession or in consideration of an undertaking or guaranty by the issuer of the payment of a check drawn by the cardholder, on a promise to pay in part or in full therefor at a future time, whether or not all or any part of the indebtedness that is represented by the promise to make deferred payment is secured or unsecured. (b) A debit card, electronic benefit transfer card or other access instrument or device … that draws funds from a deposit account … (c) A stored value card, smart card or other instrument or device that enables a person to obtain goods, services or anything else of value through the use of value stored on the card … — A.R.S. §13-2101(3)

Three years for oral debt and true open accounts:

There shall be commenced and prosecuted within three years after the cause of action accrues, and not afterward, the following actions:

1. For debt where the indebtedness is not evidenced by a contract in writing.
2. Upon stated or open accounts other than such mutual and current accounts as concern the trade of merchandise between merchant and merchant, their factors or agents, but no item of a stated or open account shall be barred so long as any item thereof has been incurred within three years immediately prior to the bringing of an action thereon.
3. For relief on the ground of fraud or mistake, which cause of action shall not be deemed to have accrued until the discovery by the aggrieved party of the facts constituting the fraud or mistake. — A.R.S. §12-543 (emphasis added)

Four years — and this is where an out-of-state written instrument lands:

There shall be commenced and prosecuted within four years after the cause of action accrues, and not afterward, the following actions: … 2. By one partner against his copartner for a settlement of the partnership account, or upon mutual and current accounts concerning the trade of merchandise between merchant and merchant, their factors or agents, and the cause of action shall be considered as having accrued upon a cessation of the dealings in which they were interested together. 3. Upon a judgment or decree of a court rendered without the state, or upon an instrument in writing executed without the state. This paragraph does not apply to a judgment for support, as defined in section 25-500, and to associated costs and attorney fees. 4. An action arising under the provisions of title 47, chapter 2, for breach of any contract of sale, which action shall be governed by section 47-2725, notwithstanding any other provision of this section or of section 12-543 or 12-548. — A.R.S. §12-544 (emphasis added)

Notes and other instruments — Arizona's UCC §3-118, adopted at the uniform six years:

A. Except as provided in subsection E, an action to enforce the obligation of a party to pay a note payable at a definite time must be commenced within six years after the due date or dates stated in the note or, if a due date is accelerated, within six years after the accelerated due date. B. Except as provided in subsection D or E, if demand for payment is made to the maker of a note payable on demand, an action to enforce the obligation of a party to pay the note must be commenced within six years after the demand. If no demand for payment is made to the maker, an action to enforce the note is barred if neither principal nor interest on the note has been paid for a continuous period of ten years. C. Except as provided in subsection D, an action to enforce the obligation of a party to an unaccepted draft to pay the draft must be commenced within three years after dishonor of the draft or ten years after the date of the draft, whichever period expires first. D. An action to enforce the obligation of the acceptor of a certified check or the issuer of a teller's check, cashier's check or traveler's check must be commenced within three years after demand for payment … — A.R.S. §47-3118(A)–(D) (emphasis added)

Goods (repossession deficiencies) — four years, and §12-544(4) makes it control over §12-543/§12-548:

A. An action for breach of any contract for sale must be commenced within four years after the cause of action has accrued. By the original agreement the parties may reduce the period of limitation to not less than one year but may not extend it. B. A cause of action accrues when the breach occurs, regardless of the aggrieved party's lack of knowledge of the breach. … — A.R.S. §47-2725(A)–(B)

Accrual — first uncured missed payment, acceleration clause or not

The Arizona Judicial Branch's own published information sheet states the rule:

Starting the Clock For closed installment accounts, the statute of limitations runs 6 years after the final payment date. For open accounts, such as credit cards, the statute of limitations begins 6 years from the first uncured missed payment, whether or not there is an acceleration clause.

Type of Debt	Time Period
Medical debt	6 years
Written contracts, including most credit card debt	6 years
Auto loan debt if there was a repossession	4 years
State tax debt	10 years

— Arizona Judicial Branch, Self-Service Center → Consumer Debt → Statute of Limitations (SOL), azcourts.gov/legalinfohub/Legal-Info-Sheets/Consumer-Debt/Statute-of-Limitations-SOL

FLAGGED — source class. This is an official Arizona Judicial Branch publication, but it is a self-help information sheet, not authority, and it carries the court's own disclaimer that it "is not a substitute for legal advice." It is quoted here because it is the only official Arizona source that states the accrual rule in terms a calculator can implement. Treat the years table as the judiciary's plain-English gloss on §§12-548/12-544/47-2725, not as a statutory cell.

The controlling case is Mertola, LLC v. Santos, 244 Ariz. 488 (2018) (Ariz. Supreme Court No. CV-17-0187-PR). Its existence, name, citation, and the closed-vs-open-account framing are verified from a federal court in Arizona quoting it:

In closed accounts, the principal amount of the debt is fixed, and there is a defined schedule of repayment specifying the size of each payment and when the payment falls due. See Mertola, LLC v. Santos, 244 Ariz. 488, 491 (2018). As such the cause of action as to future installments does not accrue until the time they become due. — Thomas v. Shields, No. CV-22-00257-TUC-JCH (D. Ariz. Nov. 7, 2022), order at 8, govinfo.gov USCOURTS-azd-4_22-cv-00257

UNVERIFIED — the opinion's own words. The Mertola opinion PDF could not be retrieved from an official source. azcourts.gov returns 403 to automated fetch; reachable by an ordinary browser request, but the 2018 Supreme Court opinion directory uses inconsistent filenames and no probe of the documented patterns resolved, no Internet Archive capture of the file exists, and the DNN/SearchBoost opinion search is a JavaScript app. No verbatim quotation of Mertola appears on this page. The accrual rule above rests on the Judicial Branch info sheet plus the federal court's characterization — not on the opinion text.

Revival — written, signed acknowledgment only; post-expiry

When an action is barred by limitation no acknowledgment of the justness of the claim made subsequent to the time it became due shall be admitted in evidence to take the action out of the operation of the law, unless the acknowledgment is in writing and signed by the party to be charged thereby. — A.R.S. §12-508 (emphasis added)

Tolling and cross-border rules

When a person against whom there is a cause of action is without the state at the time the cause of action accrues or at any time during which the action might have been maintained, such action may be brought against the person after his return to the state. The time of such person's absence shall not be counted or taken as a part of the time limited by the provisions of this chapter. — A.R.S. §12-501

The borrowing statute — narrow, and keyed to migration, not to where the contract was made:

A. No action shall be maintained against a person removing to this state from another state or foreign country to recover upon an action which was barred by the law of limitations of the state or country from which he migrated. B. No action shall be brought to recover money from an immigrant who was released from its payment by the bankruptcy or insolvency laws of the state or country from which he migrated. — A.R.S. §12-506 (emphasis added)

A. An action barred by pre-existing law is not revived by amendment of such law enlarging the time in which such action may be commenced. B. If an action is not barred by pre-existing law, the time fixed in an amendment of such law shall govern the limitation of the action. C. If an amendment of pre-existing law shortens the time of limitation … such action may be brought within one year from the time the new law takes effect, and not afterward. — A.R.S. §12-505

Except as provided in section 12-529, the state shall not be barred by the limitations of actions prescribed in this chapter. — A.R.S. §12-510

Post-judgment: Arizona's medical-debt interest cap and 10% wage garnishment

A. Interest on any loan, indebtedness or other obligation shall be as follows:

1. The maximum interest rate on medical debt shall be the lesser of the following: (a) The annual rate equal to the weekly average one-year constant maturity treasury yield … for the calendar week preceding the date when the consumer was first provided with a bill, or (b) Three percent a year. The maximum interest rate provided pursuant to this paragraph also applies to any judgments on medical debt.
2. For any loan, indebtedness or obligation other than medical debt, interest shall be at the rate of ten percent a year, unless a different rate is contracted for in writing … — A.R.S. §44-1201(A) (emphasis added)

B. Except as provided in subsection C, the maximum part of the disposable earnings of a debtor for any workweek that is subject to process may not exceed ten percent of disposable earnings for that week or the amount by which disposable earnings for that week exceed sixty times the applicable minimum hourly wage in effect at the time the earnings are payable, whichever is less. The applicable minimum hourly wage is the minimum wage required by federal, state or local law, whichever is highest. — A.R.S. §33-1131(B) (emphasis added)

Enforcement — Consumer Fraud Act

A. The act, use or employment by any person of any deception, deceptive or unfair act or practice, fraud, false pretense, false promise, misrepresentation, or concealment, suppression or omission of any material fact with intent that others rely on such concealment, suppression or omission, in connection with the sale or advertisement of any merchandise whether or not any person has in fact been misled, deceived or damaged thereby, is declared to be an unlawful practice. — A.R.S. §44-1522(A)

A. If a court finds that any person has wilfully violated section 44-1522, the attorney general upon petition to the court may recover from the person on behalf of the state a civil penalty of not more than ten thousand dollars per violation. B. For purposes of this section, a wilful violation occurs when the party committing the violation knew or should have known that his conduct was of the nature prohibited by section 44-1522. — A.R.S. §44-1531 (emphasis added)

§44-1528 gives the AG injunctions, restitution, disgorgement, receivership, and the power to bar a violator "from engaging in a specified trade or occupation."

Criminal harassment (the only Arizona "repeated calls" hook)

A. A person commits harassment if the person knowingly and repeatedly commits an act or acts that harass another person or the person knowingly commits any one of the following acts in a manner that harasses:

1. Contacts or causes a communication with another person by verbal, electronic, mechanical, telegraphic, telephonic or written means. … C. Harassment under subsection A is a class 1 misdemeanor. … E. For the purposes of this section, "harass" means conduct that is directed at a specific person and that would cause a reasonable person to be seriously alarmed, annoyed, humiliated or mentally distressed and the conduct in fact seriously alarms, annoys, humiliates or mentally distresses the person. — A.R.S. §13-2921

Plain English

Interpretation — the quotes above win on any conflict.

• Arizona licensing was NOT repealed. A.R.S. title 32, chapter 9 is live: the chapter index on azleg.gov lists §§32-1001 to 32-1057 under "COLLECTION AGENCIES," and every operative section was pulled today from Legislative Council files stamped September 2025. The regulator named in the current text is DIFI — §32-1001(3)–(4) define "department" and "deputy director" by reference to the Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions and its financial institutions division, so the chapter has been maintained through that agency's creation rather than left orphaned. Sections 32-1002, 32-1003, 32-1052 and 32-1054 no longer appear in the chapter — those were repealed at some point — but the license requirement itself now sits in §32-1055(A) and the misdemeanor penalty in §32-1056(A). Entry gate: $1,500 application, $600/yr renewal, $10k–$35k bond by Arizona-sourced revenue, December 31 renewal deadline, January 31 hard expiry.
• Original creditors are outside the licensing act — a creditor's regularly-salaried credit employee is exempt (§32-1004(A)(2)) — unless the creditor collects under an alias, which §32-1001(2)(b) pulls squarely back into "collection agency." Also note §32-1004(A) is not a full pass: exempt persons must still comply with §32-1051(2)–(6) (the no-simulated-legal-process, no-fake-attorney, no-fake-state-agency rules) and §32-1055(C), (D)(1)–(3), (5) (client remittance, trust deposit, records, no aiding evasion).
• No call-frequency cap and no call-time window in Arizona law. The complete chapter was read; §32-1051 and §32-1055 contain no numeric contact limit and no hours restriction. Reg F's 7-in-7 presumption and the FDCPA's 8am–9pm rule are the operative limits — which is also what the Judicial Branch's own Debt Collections info sheet tells consumers ("may contact a person only between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m."). §13-2921 is a criminal harassment statute with an intent-and-effect standard, not a counter.
• No time-barred-debt disclosure, no suit bar, no anti-revival rule. Nothing in chapter 9, nothing in title 12 chapter 5, nothing in the Consumer Fraud Act. Arizona is the opposite of Texas here: expiry is an affirmative defense, not a hard bar, and there is no §392.307-style scripted notice. Reg F §1006.26 is the only constraint.
• SOL, the short version: written contract executed in Arizona = 6; credit card = 6 by statute, not by case law; oral debt = 3; true stated/open account = 3; note payable at a definite time = 6; written instrument executed outside Arizona = 4; repossession deficiency on goods = 4.
• Accrual for cards is debtor-favorable and creditor-proof: six years from the first uncured missed payment, whether or not the agreement has an acceleration clause. A creditor cannot extend its own limitations period by declining to accelerate.
• Revival requires a signed writing. §12-508 only lets a written, signed acknowledgment take a barred action out of the statute. There is no Arizona statute making a bare partial payment restart the clock.

Traps / edge cases

• The "executed in this state" limitation in §12-548(A)(1) is the biggest miss in most SOL tables. Six years applies to a written contract executed in Arizona. A written instrument executed elsewhere is four years under §12-544(3). Credit cards escape this entirely — §12-548(A)(2) has no execution-location condition — but a written installment contract signed out of state does not. Interpretation: §12-548(B)'s conflict rule addresses a conflict with another jurisdiction's limitations law, not the internal §12-544(3) allocation, so §12-544(3) still governs out-of-state-executed writings. Not settled by any text quoted here — attorney review before coding a location-conditional branch.
• "Credit card" means subdivision (a) only. §12-548(A)(2) incorporates A.R.S. §13-2101(3)(a). Debit cards (subdivision (b)) and stored-value/smart cards (subdivision (c)) are not in the six-year bucket. Overdraft and prepaid paper does not get the card treatment.
• The §12-543(2) rolling open-account rule cuts the other way from every other state's. "[N]o item of a stated or open account shall be barred so long as any item thereof has been incurred within three years immediately prior to the bringing of an action thereon" — on a true open account, a new charge can keep older items alive. This is not revival by payment; it is an item-level accrual rule, and it applies only to accounts in the three-year bucket (i.e., not credit cards, which §12-548 removes).
• Revival: signed writing, and §12-508 speaks only to barred claims. By its terms §12-508 governs acknowledgments "made subsequent to the time it became due" offered "when an action is barred by limitation." Whether a partial payment before expiry restarts the clock is UNVERIFIED — there is no Arizona statute on it, and no official source was located either way. Do not model payment-restart for Arizona in either direction; flag for counsel.
• §12-501 absence tolling is written very broadly — "without the state at the time the cause of action accrues or at any time during which the action might have been maintained." On its face a nonresident debtor's entire out-of-state period is excluded. Courts have narrowed comparable statutes where the defendant remained amenable to service; that narrowing is interpretation, not statute text. Never auto-toll — attorney review.
• §12-506 is a migration-based borrowing statute, not a place-of-contract one. It bars an action only against "a person removing to this state" whose claim was already barred where they migrated from. It does not import another state's shorter period for a debtor who has always lived in Arizona.
• Auto deficiencies are four years, not six, even with a signed written contract — §12-544(4) routes contract-of-sale breaches to §47-2725 "notwithstanding any other provision of this section or of section 12-543 or 12-548." The Judicial Branch info sheet says the same ("Auto loan debt if there was a repossession — 4 years").
• Medical debt judgments are interest-capped at 3% (§44-1201(A)(1)) while everything else runs at 10% or the contract rate — a post-judgment accrual branch, not an SOL branch. Wage garnishment is capped at 10% of disposable earnings (§33-1131(B)), far below the federal 25%.
• Bond lapse voids the license instantly. §32-1022(C): the license "shall be void unless, prior to the termination, a new bond has been filed." A surety's 60-day withdrawal notice is a hard operational deadline, and collecting after that point is unlicensed collection — a class 1 misdemeanor, with individual liability for the officer or agent who participated (§32-1057(B)).
• Client remittance is a licensing violation, not just a contract breach. §32-1055(D)(1)'s 30-days-from-month-end remittance duty is enforced by license revocation and a class 1 misdemeanor, and it is one of the duties that binds even the §32-1004 exempt entities.

Related

• ../federal/fdcpa/overview.md
• ../federal/reg-f/call-frequency.md
• ../federal/reg-f/time-barred-debt.md
• ./tx.md · ./nv.md · ./ca.md · ./_matrix.md