Connecticut — Consumer Collection Agency Act (§§36a-800 to 36a-814) + SOL

Authority

Two separate Connecticut regimes govern collection, and which one applies turns on who is collecting:

• Third-party agencies and debt buyers — Conn. Gen. Stat. §§36a-800 to 36a-814, Part XII of chapter 669, administered by the Banking Commissioner (Connecticut Department of Banking). This is a true licensing statute, not a bond-only regime. Its conduct rules are fleshed out by the Commissioner's regulations, Conn. Agencies Regs. §§36a-809-6 to 36a-809-17.
• Original creditors collecting their own paper — Conn. Gen. Stat. §§36a-645 to 36a-648, the Creditors' Collection Practices Act. No license, one broad prohibition (§36a-646), and a private right of action with a one-year clock (§36a-648).

Statute of limitations on a debt: Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-576 (six years) and §52-581 (three years), both in chapter 926. Negotiable instruments run under §42a-3-118 (Connecticut's Revised UCC Article 3). CUTPA (chapter 735a) is the general unfair-practices backstop.

Verification note. cga.ct.gov serves an incomplete TLS certificate chain, so automated fetch fails with "unable to verify the first certificate" — the same failure mode the protocol records for legislature.mi.gov. The documented workaround applies: curl -k against the same official Connecticut General Assembly host returns the full statute HTML (HTTP 200). All statute text below was pulled that way from cga.ct.gov on 2026-08-12. The regulations were pulled as the official PDF served by the Connecticut eRegulations System (Secretary of the State) at the eRegsPortal/Browse/getDocument endpoint; the eRegs browse pages are a JavaScript app and yield no text, but the getDocument endpoint returns the authentic application/pdf.

Currency trap — read before citing a subdivision number. The CGA current/pub/ chapter pages are the base General Statutes and carry the banner: "Readers should refer to the 2026 Supplement, revised to January 1, 2026, for updated versions of statutes amended, repealed or added during the 2025 legislative sessions." §36a-805 and §36a-800 were amended in the 2025 session and are renumbered in the Supplement. Everything quoted below for those two sections is the 2026 Supplement text (cga.ct.gov/2026/sup/chap_669.htm), which is the operative law. Citing the base-page subdivision numbers would be wrong by one for most of §36a-805(a). Chapter 926 (the SOL chapter) has no 2025-session amendments to §52-576 or §52-581 — the Supplement for chapter 926 contains only §52-592 and §52-593a — so the base text governs there.

Operative text

Scope — who is a "consumer collection agency" (§36a-800(3), (7))

2026 Supplement text, as amended by P.A. 25-168, §447, eff. Oct. 1, 2025.

(3) "Consumer collection agency" means any person (A) engaged as a third party in the business of collecting or receiving payment for others on any account, bill or other indebtedness from a consumer debtor, (B) engaged in the business of debt buying, including, but not limited to, buying property tax debt in accordance with section 12-195h, or (C) engaged in the business of collecting or receiving tax payments … including, but not limited to, any person who, by any device, subterfuge or pretense, makes a pretended purchase or takes a pretended assignment of accounts from any other person, municipality or taxing authority of such indebtedness for the purpose of evading the provisions of this section and sections 36a-801 to 36a-814, inclusive. "Consumer collection agency" includes persons who furnish collection systems carrying a name which simulates the name of a consumer collection agency and who supply forms or form letters to be used by the creditor, even though such forms direct the consumer debtor … to make payments directly to the creditor rather than to such fictitious agency. "Consumer collection agency" further includes any person who, in attempting to collect or in collecting such person's own accounts or claims from a consumer debtor, uses a fictitious name or any name other than such person's own name which would indicate to the consumer debtor that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such account or claim. "Consumer collection agency" does not include (i) an individual employed on the staff of a licensed consumer collection agency, or by a creditor who is exempt from licensing, when attempting to collect on behalf of such consumer collection agency, (ii) persons not primarily engaged in the collection of debts from consumer debtors who receive funds in escrow for subsequent distribution to others … (iii) any public officer or a person acting under the order of any court, (iv) any member of the bar of this state, (v) a person who services loans or accounts for the owners thereof when the arrangement includes, in addition to requesting payment from delinquent consumer debtors, the providing of other services such as receipt of payment, accounting, record-keeping, data processing services and remitting, for loans or accounts which are current as well as those which are delinquent, (vi) a bank or out-of-state bank, as defined in section 36a-2, and (vii) a subsidiary or affiliate of a bank or out-of-state bank, provided such affiliate or subsidiary is not primarily engaged in the business of purchasing and collecting upon delinquent debt, other than delinquent debt secured by real property. Any person not included in the definition contained in this subdivision is, for purposes of sections 36a-645 to 36a-647, inclusive, a "creditor", as defined in section 36a-645; — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-800(3) (2026 Supp.)

(7) "Debt buying" means collecting or receiving payment on any account, bill or other indebtedness, including, but not limited to, property tax debt, from a consumer debtor for such person's own account if the indebtedness was acquired from another person, including, but not limited to, a municipality, and if the indebtedness was either delinquent or in default at the time it was acquired; — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-800(7) (2026 Supp.)

Debt buyers are squarely in scope, and have been since 2016. The official CGA history line for §36a-800 records the sequence: P.A. 16-65 "redefined 'consumer collection agency'"; then

P.A. 18-173 … amended redesignated Subdiv. (3)(B) by replacing provision re collecting on certain accounts, bills or other indebtedness with reference to debt buying, … added new Subdiv. (7) defining "debt buying" — official history note, Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-800

So 2016 brought own-account purchasers in by describing the conduct, and 2018 gave it the label "debt buying" plus a definition. The 2025 act only extended both to property tax debt.

Entry gate — license (§36a-801)

(a) No person shall act within this state as a consumer collection agency, directly or indirectly, unless such person has first obtained a required consumer collection agency license for such person's main office and for each branch office where such person's business is conducted. A consumer collection agency is acting within this state if it (1) has its place of business located within this state; (2) has its place of business located outside this state and (A) collects from consumer debtors, property tax debtors or federal income tax debtors who reside within this state for creditors who are located within this state, or (B) collects from consumer debtors, property tax debtors or federal income tax debtors who reside within this state for such consumer collection agency's own account; (3) has its place of business located outside this state and regularly collects from consumer debtors, property tax debtors or federal income tax debtors who reside within this state for creditors who are located outside this state; or (4) has its place of business located outside this state and is engaged in the business of collecting child support for creditors located within this state from consumer debtors who are located outside this state. Any activity subject to licensure pursuant to sections 36a-800 to 36a-814, inclusive, shall be conducted from an office located in a state, as defined in section 36a-2. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-801(a)

NMLS filing and net worth:

(b) An application for a license as a consumer collection agency or for renewal of such license shall be made and processed on the system pursuant to section 36a-24b, in the form prescribed by the commissioner. … Such application shall be accompanied by a financial statement prepared by a certified public accountant and shall evidence that the applicant has a tangible net worth of more than zero dollars if the applicant is engaged solely in the business of debt buying, and a tangible net worth of at least fifty thousand dollars if the applicant is not engaged solely in the business of debt buying. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-801(b)

Fees and term:

(c) (1) Each applicant for a consumer collection agency license shall pay to the system any required fees or charges and a license fee of five hundred dollars. Each such license shall expire at the close of business on December thirty-first of the year in which the license was approved, unless such license is renewed, except that any such license approved on or after November first shall expire at the close of business on December thirty-first of the year following the year in which it is approved. An application for renewal of a license shall be filed between November first and December thirty-first of the year in which the license expires. Each applicant for renewal of a consumer collection agency license shall pay to the system any required fees or charges and a renewal fee of four hundred dollars. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-801(c)(1)

Entry gate — surety bond (§36a-802) — debt buyers exempt

(a) No such license and no renewal thereof shall be granted to a consumer collection agency, except a consumer collection agency engaged solely in the business of debt buying, unless the applicant has filed with the commissioner a bond to the people of the state in the penal sum of fifty thousand dollars for the main office and fifty thousand dollars for each branch office, approved by the Attorney General as to form and by the commissioner as to sufficiency of the security thereof. Such bond shall be conditioned that such licensee shall well, truly and faithfully account for all funds entrusted to the licensee and collected and received by the licensee in the licensee's capacity as a consumer collection agency. … — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-802(a) (emphasis added)

The $50,000 figure is recent. The official history line:

P.A. 22-94 amended Subsec. (a) by changing "twenty-five thousand dollars" to "fifty thousand dollars for the main office and fifty thousand dollars for each branch office". — official history note, Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-802

Penalty for operating without a license (§36a-810)

Any person who operates a consumer collection agency without a license as required by sections 36a-800 to 36a-812, inclusive, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. Any person who violates any other provision of said sections shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-810

Prohibited practices (§36a-805(a)) — renumbered eff. Oct. 1, 2025

2026 Supplement text, as amended by P.A. 25-168, §448, eff. Oct. 1, 2025. The subdivision numbers below are the current ones; the base current/pub/ page still shows the pre-2025 numbering.

The 2025 change was substantive as well as cosmetic:

P.A. 25-168 amended Subsec. (a) to delete former Subdiv. (3) re receiving assignments as a third party of claims for the purpose of collection or instituting suit thereon and redesignate Subdivs. (4) to (16) as Subdivs. (3) to (15) and amended redesignated Subdiv. (11) to add ", including, but not limited to, a claim received pursuant to an assignment for the collection of property tax,", replace "determined by the contract" with "determined by a contract", add provision re "post-charge-off charge or fee for cost of collection" not including costs or attorney's fees to the extent allowed under Sec. 52-249 and make a technical change. — official history note, Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-805 (2026 Supp.)

The fee cap — a hard 15% ceiling, and only if the contract authorizes it at all:

(a) No consumer collection agency or control person shall: … (11) add any post-charge-off charge or fee for cost of collection, unless such cost is a court cost, to the amount of any claim which it receives for collection, including, but not limited to, a claim received pursuant to an assignment for the collection of property tax, or knowingly accept for collection any claim to which any such charge or fee has already been added to the amount of the claim unless (A) the consumer debtor is legally liable for such charge or fee as determined by a contract or other evidence of an agreement between the consumer debtor and creditor, a copy of which shall be obtained by or available to the consumer collection agency from the creditor and maintained as part of the records of the consumer collection agency or the creditor, or both, and (B) the total charge or fee for cost of collection does not exceed fifteen per cent of the total amount actually collected and accepted as payment in full satisfaction of the debt. As used in this subdivision, "post-charge-off charge or fee for cost of collection" does not include costs or attorney's fees to the extent allowed under section 52-249; — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-805(a)(11) (2026 Supp.)

The mandatory time-barred-debt disclosure — verbatim scripts, minimum 10-point type, in the initial communication:

(13) when the debt is beyond the statute of limitations, fail to provide the following disclosure in type not less than ten-point informing the consumer debtor in its initial communication with such consumer debtor that (A) when collecting on debt that is not past the date for obsolescence provided for in Section 605(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681c: "The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the age of your debt, (INSERT OWNER NAME) will not sue you for it. If you do not pay the debt, (INSERT OWNER NAME) may report or continue to report it to the credit reporting agencies as unpaid"; and (B) when collecting on debt that is past the date for obsolescence provided for in Section 605(a) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681c: "The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the age of your debt, (INSERT OWNER NAME) will not sue you for it and (INSERT OWNER NAME) will not report it to any credit reporting agencies."; — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-805(a)(13) (2026 Supp.)

Other operative subdivisions in the current numbering: (1) no furnishing legal advice or instituting judicial proceedings on behalf of others; (2) no communicating in an attorney's name or on attorney stationery; (5) no soliciting claims under an ambiguous or deceptive contract; (6) no refusing to return claims not in the process of collection; (7) no advertising or threatening to advertise a claim for sale to force payment; (8) remit undisputed collected money to the client within sixty days from the last day of the month in which it was collected; (10) furnish a written report on claims at intervals of not less than ninety days on written request; (12) no use of "bonded by the state of Connecticut"; (14) no engaging in activities prohibited by §§36a-800 to 36a-814; (15) — added by P.A. 17-233 —

fail to establish, enforce and maintain policies and procedures for supervising employees, agents and office operations that are reasonably designed to achieve compliance with applicable consumer collection laws and regulations. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-805(a)(15) (2026 Supp.)

Extraterritorial reach of the conduct rules:

(a) No consumer collection agency shall engage in this state in any practice which is prohibited in section 36a-805 or determined pursuant to section 36a-808 to be an unfair or deceptive act or practice, nor shall any consumer collection agency engage outside of this state in any act or practice prohibited in said section 36a-805. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-806(a) (emphasis added)

FDCPA incorporated as state law:

Each consumer collection agency shall comply with the applicable provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC Section 1692 et seq., as from time to time amended, and any regulations adopted under said act. In addition to any other remedies provided by law, a violation of such federal law or regulation shall be deemed to be a violation of this section and a basis upon which the Banking Commissioner may take enforcement action pursuant to section 36a-804. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-812

Call-time window — regulation, not statute (§36a-809-9(d)(1)(A))

(1) Without the prior consent of the debtor given directly to the consumer collection agency or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, a consumer collection agency shall not communicate with a debtor in connection with the collection of any debt: (A) At any unusual time or place or a time or place known or which should be known to be inconvenient to the debtor. In the absence of knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, a consumer collection agency shall assume that the convenient time for communicating with a debtor is after 8:00 a.m. and before 9:00 p.m., local time at the debtor's location; — Conn. Agencies Regs. §36a-809-9(d)(1)(A) (adopted effective July 29, 2008)

That is the federal window exactly. There is no Connecticut call-frequency cap. The nearest provision is an intent standard, not a number:

A consumer collection agency shall not engage in any conduct the natural consequence of which is to harass, oppress or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section: … (5) Causing a telephone to ring, engaging any person in telephone conversation or contacting any person via electronic device repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse or harass any person receiving the communication being contacted. — Conn. Agencies Regs. §36a-809-10(5)

State validation notice — a Connecticut-law duplicate of pre-Reg F §1692g (§36a-809-13)

(a) Not more than five days after the initial communication with a debtor in connection with the collection of any debt, a consumer collection agency shall, unless the following information is contained in the initial communication or the debtor has paid the debt, send the debtor a written notice containing: (1) The amount of the debt; (2) The name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed; (3) A statement that unless the debtor, not more than thirty days after receipt of the notice, disputes the validity of the debt or any portion thereof, the debt will be assumed to be valid by the consumer collection agency; (4) A statement that if the debtor notifies the consumer collection agency in writing within the thirty-day period that the debt or any portion thereof is disputed, the consumer collection agency will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment against the debtor and a copy of such verification or judgment will be mailed to the debtor by the consumer collection agency; and (5) A statement that, upon the debtor's written request, not more than thirty days after receipt of the notice, the consumer collection agency will provide the debtor with the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor. (b) If the debtor notifies the consumer collection agency in writing not more than thirty days after the time prescribed in subsection (a) of this section that the debt or any portion thereof is disputed, or that the debtor requests the name and address of the original creditor, the consumer collection agency shall cease collection of the debt or any disputed portion thereof until the consumer collection agency obtains verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment or the name and address of the original creditor and a copy of such verification or judgment, or the name and address of the original creditor is mailed to the debtor … (c) The failure of a debtor to dispute the validity of a debt under this section shall not be deemed an admission of liability by the debtor. (d) This section shall not apply to the collection of property taxes. — Conn. Agencies Regs. §36a-809-13

Also worth carrying: unfair practices (§36a-809-12) bars "(1) The collection of any amount, including any interest, fee, charge or expense incidental to the principal obligation, that is not expressly authorized by the agreement creating the debt or permitted by law" and regulates postdated instruments (no acceptance of a check postdated more than five days without written notice of intent to deposit sent not more than ten nor less than three business days before deposit). Payment application on multiple debts (§36a-809-14): a single payment may not be applied to a disputed debt and must follow the debtor's directions. And §36a-809-17 defines the §36a-805(a)(6) "process of collection" trigger as sixty days from receipt of the claim or from the last debtor payment.

First-party creditors — §§36a-645 to 36a-648

(2) "Creditor" means (A) any person to whom a debt is owed by a consumer debtor and such debt results from a transaction occurring in the ordinary course of such person's business, or (B) any person to whom such debt is assigned. "Creditor" shall not include a consumer collection agency, as defined in section 36a-800, or any department or agency of the United States, this state, any other state, or any political subdivision thereof. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-645(2)

No creditor shall use any abusive, harassing, fraudulent, deceptive or misleading representation, device or practice to collect or attempt to collect any debt. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-646

The private right of action — note that it reaches §36a-805 and the §36a-809 regulations, not just §36a-646:

(a) A creditor, as defined in section 36a-645, who uses any abusive, harassing, fraudulent, deceptive or misleading representation, device or practice with respect to any person to collect or attempt to collect a debt in violation of section 36a-646, section 36a-805 or the regulations adopted pursuant to section 36a-647 or 36a-809 shall be liable to such person in an amount equal to the sum of: (1) Any actual damages sustained by such person, (2) if such person is an individual, such additional damages as the court may award, not to exceed one thousand dollars, and (3) in the case of any successful action to enforce liability under the provisions of this subsection, the costs of the action and, in the discretion of the court, a reasonable attorney's fee. … (c) A creditor may not be held liable in an action brought under this section if the creditor shows by a preponderance of the evidence that the violation was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error, notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adopted by the creditor to avoid any such error. (d) An action to enforce liability under this section may be brought in any court of competent jurisdiction not later than one year after the date on which the violation occurs. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-648 (emphasis added)

Student credit cards:

(a) No credit card issuer shall take any debt collection action, including, but not limited to, telephone calls or demand letters, against the parent or legal guardian of a student to whom a credit card has been issued, unless the parent or legal guardian has agreed in writing to be liable for the debts of the student pursuant to the terms of the credit card agreement. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-648a

Debt-buyer suit requirements (§36a-813)

(a) In any cause of action initiated by a consumer collection agency that purchased debt from a creditor for liability on the debt owed by a consumer debtor, the consumer collection agency shall file with the court evidence in accordance with the rules of the Superior Court to establish the amount and nature of the debt prior to the court's entry of a judgment against the consumer debtor. Such evidence shall include a copy of the assignment or other documentation (1) establishing that the plaintiff is the owner of the debt, (2) containing the original or charge-off account number, if any, which can be partially redacted to protect the privacy of the consumer debtor, and the name associated with the debt, and (3) if the debt has been assigned more than once, the name, address and dates of ownership of each assignor, and a copy of each assignment or other documentation that establishes an unbroken chain of ownership of the debt by the plaintiff. (b) In the case of a claim for default judgment the plaintiff shall file, in addition to the evidence required under the rules of the Superior Court, a sworn affidavit that lists the name, address and dates of ownership of each owner of the debt, from the charge-off creditor to the current owner. … If the debt is a credit card debt subject to federal charge-off requirements, the following documents shall … suffice to substantiate the debt: (1) A copy of the most recent monthly statement recording a purchase transaction, service billed, last payment or balance transfer, (2) a statement that reflects the charge-off balance, (3) with respect to consumer debt purchased on or after October 1, 2016, an additional monthly account statement sent to the consumer debtor while the account was active, which shows the consumer debtor's name and address, (4) such other statements, if any, required by the federal consumer financial protection bureau in its regulations, and (5) post-charge-off itemization of the balance if the balance is different from the charge-off amount. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-813(a)–(b)

Time-barred purchased debt — suit bar and statutory no-revival (§36a-814)

(a) For the purposes of this section, "creditor" has the same meaning as in section 36a-645. (b) No creditor or consumer collection agency that purchased debt shall initiate a cause of action to collect the debt owed by a consumer debtor when such creditor or consumer collection agency knows or reasonably should know that the applicable statute of limitations on such cause of action has expired. (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, when the applicable statute of limitations on a cause of action to collect debt owed by a consumer has expired, any subsequent payment toward or oral or written affirmation of the debt owed by the consumer shall not extend the limitations period within which the creditor or consumer collection agency that purchased the debt may bring the cause of action. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §36a-814 (emphasis added)

Statute of limitations — §52-576 (six years, and it names "account")

Sec. 52-576. Actions for account or on simple or implied contracts. (a) 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 after the right of action accrues, except as provided in subsection (b) of this section. (b) Any person legally incapable of bringing any such action at the accruing of the right of action may sue at any time within three years after becoming legally capable of bringing the action. (c) The provisions of this section shall not apply to actions upon judgments of any court of the United States or of any court of any state within the United States, or to any cause of action governed by article 2 of title 42a. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-576 (1949 Rev., S. 8315; 1959, P.A. 574, S. 8; 1971, P.A. 18, S. 1; P.A. 82-160, S. 246) (emphasis added)

Statute of limitations — §52-581 (three years, oral)

Sec. 52-581. Action on oral contract to be brought within three years. (a) No action founded upon any express contract or agreement which is not reduced to writing, or of which some note or memorandum is not made in writing and signed by the party to be charged therewith or his agent, shall be brought but within three years after the right of action accrues. (b) This section shall not apply to causes of action governed by article 2 of title 42a. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-581 (emphasis added)

The executed/executory split — the subtlest thing on this page

§52-581 does not simply mean "oral contracts get three years." Connecticut confines it to executory oral contracts; once the plaintiff has fully performed, the contract is executed and §52-576's six years applies instead. This is not a stray practitioner gloss — it appears in the official annotations published by the Connecticut General Assembly beneath both sections:

Distinguished from Sec. 52-576; this section is restricted to executory contracts. 134 C. 259. … When plaintiff's performance on oral contract has been completely executed, Sec. 52-576 and not this section establishes applicable limitation period. 170 C. 243. … Section's 3-year statute of limitations applies only to executory contracts and, therefore, did not apply to executed oral contract; 6-year statute of limitations in Sec. 52-576 applied. 76 CA 599. … Application restricted to executory contracts only, in contrast to application of Sec. 52-576 to contracts where party has fully performed. 37 CS 735. — official CGA annotations to Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-581

Distinguished from Sec. 52-581; this section applies to executed parol contracts. 134 C. 259. … When plaintiff's performance of oral contract has been completely executed, this section and not Sec. 52-581 establishes applicable limitation period. 170 C. 243. … Section's 6-year statute of limitations applied to executed oral contract, as opposed to 3-year statute of limitations in Sec. 52-581 which applies only to executory contracts. 76 CA 599. — official CGA annotations to Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-576

Labeled interpretation (the quotes win). For consumer collection this split is close to dispositive and it runs in the creditor's favor. A consumer credit transaction in which the lender or seller has already advanced the money or delivered the goods is an executed contract — the only thing left outstanding is the consumer's payment. On the annotated rule, that lands in §52-576 at six years, not §52-581 at three, even where nothing was signed. The three-year period is the narrow case: a still-wholly-or-partly-unperformed oral agreement. Treating "no signed contract = three years" as the Connecticut rule will under-state the limitations period on most unsigned consumer paper. These are annotations to case law rather than statutory text, so the classification of any particular account is attorney territory — but the annotations are published by the official source and are consistent across four decisions spanning 1947–2003.

Open accounts and credit cards — six years, on the statute's own words

Unlike states where credit-card treatment is purely a case-law fight between an "open account" statute and a "written contract" statute, §52-576(a) names "an account" in the same six-year breath as written and implied contracts. There is no shorter competing Connecticut open-account statute. Two supporting official annotations:

Claim of physician not barred by statute of limitations because it was found to be an open running account. 10 CS 494. … Each item of a series of charges for services may be separate debt for purposes of statute. 129 C. 541; 134 C. 259. — official CGA annotations to Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-576

Labeled interpretation. Six years is the answer for Connecticut revolving consumer credit under every available theory — account, written contract, or implied contract — which is why Connecticut does not have the CA/AZ-style "which bucket does a credit card fall in" problem. The only live question on a card is accrual, not duration.

Negotiable notes — §42a-3-118 (Revised UCC Article 3)

(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 is made to the acceptor or issuer, as the case may be. (e) An action to enforce the obligation of a party to a certificate of deposit to pay the instrument must be commenced within six years after demand for payment is made to the maker … (g) Unless governed by other law regarding claims for indemnity or contribution, an action (i) for conversion of an instrument, for money had and received, or like action based on conversion, (ii) for breach of warranty, or (iii) to enforce an obligation, duty, or right arising under this article and not governed by this section must be commenced within three years after the cause of action accrues. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §42a-3-118 (1959, P.A. 133, S. 3-118; P.A. 91-304, S. 18)

Connecticut is a rare state where this creates no note/contract split — §52-576 and §42a-3-118 both say six. The demand-note mechanics still matter: no clock until demand, then six years, with an absolute ten-year no-payment backstop. Non-negotiable notes ride §52-576; the official history note records that the 1959 act "deleted exception for nonnegotiable promissory notes."

Goods sales — four years, not six (§42a-2-725)

Both SOL sections carve out UCC Article 2, so a sale-of-goods claim is shorter:

(1) 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. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §42a-2-725(1)

Tolling — absence from the state, capped at seven years (§52-590)

In computing the time limited in the period of limitation prescribed under any provision of chapter 925 or this chapter, the time during which the party, against whom there may be any such cause of action, is without this state shall be excluded from the computation, except that the time so excluded shall not exceed seven years. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-590 (emphasis added)

The official annotations narrow this considerably:

Periods during which defendant is within the state may be added together to form statutory period; domicile in another state does not prevent one from having a usual place of abode here; defendant may have two or more usual places of abode in two or more states; time excluded while out of the state covers only absences which prevent service of process in actions in personam. 105 C. 571. Statute runs against nonresident when he acquires a usual place of abode here; against a resident when he returns here. Id., 568. — official CGA annotations to Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-590 (emphasis added)

Related savings provisions: §52-595 (fraudulent concealment — the cause of action accrues at discovery); §52-592 (accidental failure of suit — one year to refile); §52-593a (process delivered to a marshal within the period and served within thirty days preserves the action); §52-598 (judgments — twenty years to issue execution, twenty-five to sue on the judgment).

Revival — statutory for purchased debt, common law for everyone else

There is no Connecticut acknowledgment statute. Chapter 926 contains no analog to Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §16.065 or Mass. G.L. c. 260 §13 — no signed-writing requirement, no part-payment provision. The only statutory rule is §36a-814(c), quoted above, and by its own terms it protects consumers only against "the creditor or consumer collection agency that purchased the debt."

For every other holder, revival is governed by common law. The official CGA annotations to §52-576 state the rule and its limits:

Burden of proof on plaintiff to remove bar of statute; defense can be lost by an unequivocal acknowledgment or recognition of debt or payment on account. 145 C. 300. An unconditional promise to pay will not be implied if the acknowledgment of indebtedness, even though unequivocal, is accompanied by a conditional promise to pay; in such a situation the indebtedness remains barred until the condition has been met. 144 C. 403. … "I will take care of it as soon as I can" takes debt out of statute. 7 CS 48. … A payment to toll statute of limitations must be made or authorized by the debtor. 10 CS 371. Payment of interest and principal by grantee of the equity of redemption does not keep statute of limitation from tolling against the liability of the mortgagor on the note. 11 CS 461. — official CGA annotations to Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-576 (emphasis added)

Labeled interpretation (the quotes win). Connecticut is a split-revival state, and this is the single most important operational fact on this page:

• Purchased debt (debt buyers, and assignees within §36a-814's reach): payment or oral/written affirmation after expiry does not extend the period. Statutory, unconditional, §36a-814(c).
• Original creditors and their agencies collecting unpurchased paper: the common-law rule survives. An unequivocal acknowledgment or a payment on account can defeat the limitations defense, with no writing required — the opposite of Texas §16.065. Two limits the annotations are explicit about: the payment must be made or authorized by the debtor, and an acknowledgment coupled with a conditional promise does not revive until the condition is met.
• UNVERIFIED / attorney review: the precise mechanics of common-law revival — whether an acknowledgment restarts a fresh full six years or merely creates a new implied promise with its own accrual date, and how the doctrine interacts with a partly run (not yet expired) period — are not resolved by any statutory text or by the annotation summaries. Do not auto-re-age Connecticut non-purchased debt on payment activity without counsel sign-off.

No borrowing statute located. Chapter 926 contains no provision importing another state's limitations period. The general annotation to the chapter states the forum rule:

statutes of limitation of forum apply unless foreign limitation statute is condition of right of action under foreign law. 131 C. 670; Id., 674. … The law of the locus rather than the forum governs statute of limitations. 9 CS 399. — official CGA annotations, chapter 926 general notes and §52-576

Those two annotations point in different directions (the second is a 1941 Superior Court case); the modern Connecticut rule that limitations is procedural and forum law governs is UNVERIFIED on this page — no statute states it, and it was not run down to a controlling appellate decision.

Medical debt — §20-7i (P.A. 24-6, eff. July 1, 2024)

(b) On and after July 1, 2024, any health care provider or any collection entity doing business in this state shall not report any portion of a medical debt to a credit rating agency for use in a credit report. A health care provider doing business in this state shall include in any contract entered into with a collection entity on and after July 1, 2024, for the purchase or collection of medical debt a provision that prohibits the reporting of any portion of such medical debt to a credit rating agency. (c) Any portion of a medical debt that is reported to a credit rating agency shall be void. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §20-7i(b)–(c) (P.A. 24-6, §1, eff. July 1, 2024) (emphasis added)

Definitions that set the perimeter:

(1) "Collection entity" means any individual, partnership, corporation, trust, estate, cooperative, association, government or government subdivision, agency or other entity that either purchases medical debt or collects medical debt on behalf of another entity; … (6) "Medical debt" means an obligation or alleged obligation of a consumer to pay any amount related to the receipt by the consumer of health care goods or health care services. "Medical debt" does not include debt charged to a credit card unless the credit card is issued under an open-end or closed-end credit plan offered specifically for the payment of charges related to health care goods or health care services. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §20-7i(a)

Hospital-referred debt has its own gate (§19a-673b, as amended by P.A. 24-6, §2):

(b) No hospital … or entity that is owned by or affiliated with such hospital shall refer to a collection agent, as defined in section 19a-509b, or initiate an action against an individual patient or such patient's estate to collect fees arising from health care provided … on or after October 1, 2003, unless the hospital or entity … has determined that such individual patient is an uninsured patient, as defined in section 19a-673, who is ineligible for the hospital bed fund. (c) No hospital or entity that is owned by or affiliated with such hospital … and no collection agent … that receives a referral from a hospital … shall: (1) On and after July 1, 2024, report an individual patient to a credit rating agency, as defined in section 36a-695; (2) On or after October 1, 2022, initiate an action to foreclose a lien on an individual patient's primary residence if the lien was filed to secure payment for health care provided … on or after October 1, 2022; or (3) On or after October 1, 2022, apply to a court for an execution against an individual patient's wages pursuant to section 52-361a, or otherwise seek to garnish such patient's wages … if such patient is eligible for the hospital bed fund. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §19a-673b(b)–(c) (emphasis added)

No special medical-debt SOL. Connecticut did not shorten the limitations period for medical debt; §52-576's six years still governs. The medical-debt legislation is about credit reporting and remedies, not duration.

CUTPA backstop (chapter 735a)

(a) No person shall engage in unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §42-110b(a)

(4) "Trade" and "commerce" means the advertising, the sale or rent or lease, the offering for sale or rent or lease, or the distribution of any services and any property, tangible or intangible, real, personal or mixed, and any other article, commodity, or thing of value in this state. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §42-110a(4)

(a) Any person who suffers any ascertainable loss of money or property, real or personal, as a result of the use or employment of a method, act or practice prohibited by section 42-110b, may bring an action … to recover actual damages. Proof of public interest or public injury shall not be required in any action brought under this section. The court may, in its discretion, award punitive damages and may provide such equitable relief as it deems necessary or proper. … (d) In any action brought by a person under this section, the court may award, to the plaintiff, in addition to the relief provided in this section, costs and reasonable attorneys' fees based on the work reasonably performed by an attorney and not on the amount of recovery. … (f) An action under this section may not be brought more than three years after the occurrence of a violation of this chapter. — Conn. Gen. Stat. §42-110g (emphasis added)

Plain English

Interpretation — the quotes above win on any conflict.

• Connecticut is a license state, not a bond-only state. A third-party agency or debt buyer needs a Consumer Collection Agency license from the Banking Commissioner, filed through NMLS, for its main office and each branch: $500 initial, $400 renewal, expiring every December 31. Operating without one is a criminal misdemeanor — up to $1,000 and up to a year.
• The gate has two different shapes depending on business model. A pure debt buyer needs only tangible net worth above zero and files no surety bond. Everyone else needs $50,000 tangible net worth and a $50,000 bond per office. The logic is that the bond protects funds held for clients, and a buyer collecting its own paper holds none.
• Out-of-state agencies are reached on any of three triggers: collecting from CT residents for CT creditors, collecting from CT residents for the agency's own account, or regularly collecting from CT residents for out-of-state creditors. Only that third prong has a "regularly" qualifier — a single collection from a Connecticut resident on purchased paper is enough to require a license.
• Original creditors are covered by a separate, thinner statute. §36a-646 is one sentence, and §36a-648 gives consumers a private action worth actual damages plus up to $1,000 plus fees — but with a one-year clock and a bona fide error defense. The sleeper is §36a-648's cross-reference: a creditor can be sued for violating §36a-805 and the §36a-809 regulations, even though those are nominally agency-only rules.
• Six years is the Connecticut answer for nearly all consumer debt — written contracts, implied contracts, open accounts, credit cards, and negotiable notes all land on six. Three years is the exception, and a narrower one than it looks: §52-581 reaches only executory oral agreements.
• A mandatory time-barred-debt disclosure exists and it is scripted verbatim in the statute, in 10-point minimum type, in the initial communication, in one of two versions depending on whether the debt is still credit-reportable under FCRA §605(a).
• Revival splits by who holds the paper. Debt buyers: expiry is final, payment doesn't revive. Original creditors: the old common-law rule still applies, and an unwritten acknowledgment or a payment on account can revive.
• No frequency cap and no narrower call window. Reg F's 7-in-7 presumption and the 8 a.m.–9 p.m. window are the operative limits; the CT regulation restates the same window.
• Connecticut has its own validation regulation (§36a-809-13) that mirrors pre-Reg F FDCPA §1692g — 5 days, 30-day dispute, cease collection pending verification. It is state law and does not move when the CFPB moves.
• Medical debt cannot be credit-reported at all, and a portion reported anyway is void — a remedy considerably sharper than a reporting ban alone.

Traps / edge cases

• Subdivision numbers in §36a-805 changed on Oct. 1, 2025. The time-barred disclosure moved from (a)(14) to (a)(13); the 15% fee cap moved from (a)(12) to (a)(11); the supervision-policies duty from (a)(16) to (a)(15). Any script, policy, or KB reference citing the old numbers is now citing the wrong subdivision. The CGA's own current/pub/ page still shows the old numbering — the 2026 Supplement is the operative text.
• P.A. 25-168 deleted the old §36a-805(a)(3) ban on "receiv[ing] assignments as a third party of claims for the purpose of collection or institut[ing] suit thereon in any court." That prohibition is gone as of Oct. 1, 2025. Anything built on the premise that a Connecticut agency may not take assignment and sue in its own name needs re-examination.
• "Oral contract = 3 years" is wrong more often than it is right in a collections context. §52-581 governs only executory agreements. Where the creditor has fully performed — money advanced, goods delivered, services rendered — the official annotations put the claim in §52-576 at six years even with nothing signed.
• The §36a-814 no-revival rule is narrower than it reads at a glance. Subsection (c) opens with a broad "when the applicable statute of limitations … has expired" but closes by limiting the protection to "the creditor or consumer collection agency that purchased the debt." A first-party creditor or a contingency agency collecting unpurchased paper is outside it.
• The definitional loop between §36a-645 and §36a-800 is genuinely tangled. §36a-645(2)(B) makes an assignee a "creditor," but excludes anyone who is a §36a-800 consumer collection agency — and a buyer of delinquent debt is one. §36a-814(a) then imports the §36a-645 "creditor" definition. Which entities fall in the §36a-814(b) suit bar as "creditors" rather than as "consumer collection agenc[ies] that purchased debt" is UNVERIFIED — the practical answer is that the bar covers the purchase channel either way, so treat expiry as a hard suit bar on all purchased Connecticut paper.
• The §36a-805 fee cap is a ceiling on top of a permission, not a standalone allowance. Fifteen percent is available only if the underlying agreement makes the consumer liable for a collection fee and a copy of that agreement is obtained or available from the creditor and retained. No contract term, no fee — the 15% never becomes a default.
• §36a-806(a) reaches conduct outside Connecticut. A CT-licensed agency violating §36a-805 while collecting from an out-of-state consumer is still exposed to the Commissioner.
• Sale-of-goods paper is four years, not six (§42a-2-725), because both §52-576(c) and §52-581(b) carve out UCC Article 2. Retail installment paper on goods deserves a second look before it is treated as six-year debt.
• §52-590's seven-year tolling cap is not a general "gone from the state" rule. The official annotations limit exclusion to absences that actually prevented in-personam service, and a debtor can maintain a Connecticut abode while domiciled elsewhere.
• The state validation notice runs on a 5-day clock from the initial communication, which is not the same trigger shape as Reg F's validation-information timing. A workflow built only to Reg F can satisfy federal law and still miss §36a-809-13.
• Medical debt reported to a bureau is void, not merely unreportable. §20-7i(c) destroys the obligation. That is a data-integrity risk, not just a furnishing risk: a bureau report can extinguish the asset.
• Hospital-referred debt has a pre-referral eligibility gate. Under §19a-673b(b) a hospital may not even refer to a collection agent until it has determined the patient is uninsured and ineligible for the hospital bed fund. An agency accepting hospital placements inherits the consequences of a bad referral.

Related

• ../federal/fdcpa/overview.md · ../federal/fdcpa/validation.md
• ../federal/reg-f/call-frequency.md · ../federal/reg-f/time-barred-debt.md · ../federal/reg-f/validation-notice.md
• ../federal/fcra-furnishing.md — §20-7i's medical furnishing ban layers on FCRA
• ./tx.md — the other split-revival state (§392.307(d) debt buyers vs §16.065 everyone else)
• ./ny.md · ./ma.md · ./_matrix.md