New Mexico — Collection Agency Regulatory Act + AG time-barred-debt rule + SOL

Authority

New Mexico regulates collectors through four separate instruments, none of which is a mini-FDCPA in the usual sense:

1. Collection Agency Regulatory Act (CARA), NMSA 1978 ch. 61 art. 18A — a pure entry-gate statute (license, bond, resident manager). Administered by the Financial Institutions Division (FID) of the Regulation and Licensing Department, §61-18A-2(A), §61-18A-3. It contains no prohibited-practices list — see the trap below.
2. 12.24.2 NMAC — FID's CARA rules. This is where the bond formula and the conduct standard (including the form-notice pre-approval requirement) actually live.
3. Unfair Practices Act (UPA), §§57-12-1 to -26 — the conduct statute. Its definitions expressly reach "the collection of debts," and it carries the private right of action. 12.2.12 NMAC, the Attorney General's rule issued under the UPA, imposes New Mexico's mandatory time-barred-debt disclosure — one of the strictest in the country.
4. Patients' Debt Collection Protection Act (PDCPA), §§57-32-1 to -10 (2021), plus 13.10.39 NMAC — a flat ban on collecting from indigent patients, AG-enforced.

Limitations periods: §§37-1-3 (written, 6y), 37-1-4 (accounts and unwritten, 4y), 55-2-725 (goods sales, 4y), 55-3-118 (negotiable instruments). Revival: §37-1-16. The exclusion provision, §37-1-17, is the sleeper — see Autovest v. Agosto below.

Verification note. nmonesource.com is the official publisher's site (New Mexico Compilation Commission / Conway Greene, running a Lexum "Norma" app). It 403s automated fetch and its navigation is JS-driven, but it serves the official chapter text as PDFs to an ordinary browser request. Working pattern:

• Collection roots: /nmos/nmsa/en/nav_alpha.do?iframe=true (+ &page=2..4), /nmos/nmac/en/nav_alpha.do?iframe=true — these list every chapter/title with its item id.
• Chapter text: https://nmonesource.com/nmos/nmsa/en/<itemId>/1/document.do → PDF (/nmos/nmac/en/<itemId>/1/document.do for the NMAC).
• Case law: search at /nmos/en/d/s/index.do?cont=<terms>&iframe=true, then /nmos/nmsc/en/<itemId>/1/document.do for the opinion PDF.
• Item ids used here: NMSA ch. 37 = 4366, ch. 55 = 4411, ch. 57 = 4423, ch. 61 = 4397; NMAC Title 12 = 18050, Title 13 = 18051; Autovest v. Agosto (NMSC) = 531105.

All text below was pulled from those PDFs on 2026-08-12; the chapter PDFs carry a 2026-08-11 generation stamp, so this is the current edition. The FID licensing page (rld.nm.gov) fetches cleanly and is cited only for the NMLS filing channel.

Operative text

Scope — who is a "collection agency" (§61-18A-2(C))

C. "collection agency" means a person engaging in business for the purpose of collecting or attempting to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another, where such person is so engaged by two or more creditors, or a person engaging in the business the principal purpose of which is the collection of debts. The term also includes a creditor who, in the process of collecting the creditor's own debts, uses any name other than the creditor's own that would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect the debts. The term does not include: (1) an officer or employee of a creditor while, in the name of the creditor, collecting debts for such creditor; (2) a person while collecting debts for another person, both of whom are related by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control, if the person collects debts only for persons to whom it is so related or affiliated and if the principal business of such person is not the collection of debts; (3) an officer or employee of the United States, a state or a political subdivision thereof to the extent that collecting or attempting to collect a debt is in the performance of official duties; (4) a person while serving or attempting to serve legal process on any other person in connection with the judicial enforcement of a debt; (5) a nonprofit organization that, at the request of debtors, performs bona fide consumer credit counseling …; (6) an attorney-at-law collecting a debt as an attorney on behalf of and in the name of a client; or (7) a person collecting or attempting to collect a debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or due to another to the extent such activity: (a) is incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation or a bona fide escrow arrangement; (b) concerns a debt that was originated by such person; (c) concerns a debt that was not in default at the time it was obtained by such person; or (d) concerns a debt obtained by such person as a secured party in a commercial credit transaction involving the creditor; — NMSA 1978 §61-18A-2(C) (bold emphasis added; the "principal purpose" clause was added by Laws 2021, ch. 31, §12, eff. July 1, 2021)

F. "debt" means an obligation or alleged obligation of a debtor to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance or services that are the subject of the transaction are primarily for personal, family or household purposes, whether or not such obligation has been reduced to judgment; G. "debt collector" means a collection agency, a repossessor, a manager, a solicitor and an attorney-at-law collecting a debt as an attorney on behalf of and in the name of a client; — NMSA 1978 §61-18A-2(F)–(G)

Entry gate — license required (§61-18A-5), felony penalty (§61-18A-6)

A. No person shall conduct within this state a collection agency, act as a collection agency manager or engage within the state in the business of collecting claims for others or of soliciting the right to collect or receive payment from another of any claim or advertise or solicit either in print, by letter, in person or otherwise, the right to collect or receive payment for another of any claim or seek to make collection or obtain payment of any claim on behalf of another without having first applied for and obtained the licenses required by the Collection Agency Regulatory Act. B. No person shall conduct within this state the business of a repossessor without having first applied for and obtained a repossessor's license. C. No person shall be considered to be engaged in collection activity within this state if that person's activities regarding this state are limited to collecting debts not incurred in New Mexico from debtors located in this state by means of interstate communications, including telephone, mail or facsimile transmission, from the person's location in another state. — NMSA 1978 §61-18A-5 (Subsection C added by Laws 1993, ch. 213, §1; bold emphasis added)

A. In addition to any other penalty, any person or any officer or director of any partnership, corporation or association conducting business as a collection agency or repossessor without first having been licensed pursuant to the Collection Agency Regulatory Act or who carries on such business after the revocation or expiration of any license which the director has refused to renew, is guilty of a fourth degree felony. B. Any person violating any other provision of that act is guilty of a misdemeanor. — NMSA 1978 §61-18A-6 (bold emphasis added)

Bond — $5,000 floor, but a collections-volume formula to $25,000+ (§61-18A-15; 12.24.2.8(A) NMAC)

A. Prior to the issuance of any collection agency or repossessor's license or renewal thereof a surety bond in the penal sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000), which may by regulation or order of the director be increased, shall be filed with the division. … C. No action shall be brought upon any bond after the expiration of three years from the date of the occurrence of the act upon which a claim is based. — NMSA 1978 §61-18A-15(A), (C)

The FID rule converts that floor into a formula:

A. In determining the amount of bond to be furnished by an applicant for renewal of a collection agency license, the penal sum of the bond shall be the greater of $5,000.00 or an amount equal to the proceeds due clients for at least two months average collections during the previous licensing year; provided, however, no licensee shall be required to furnish a bond in excess of $25,000.00 unless the financial condition of the applicant is such as to cause the director concern about sufficient protection for clients, in which case the director may require a bond in minimum amount of at least six months proceeds due clients during the previous licensing year. … — 12.24.2.8(A) NMAC (bold emphasis added)

Net worth and liquidity (§61-18A-9)

The application for a collection agency license shall be accompanied by a financial statement of the applicant up to not more than sixty days prior to date of application for a new license or renewal, showing the assets and liabilities of the applicant and truly reflecting that that applicant's net worth is not less than the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000), and that its liquid assets are not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) available for use in licensee's business. … — NMSA 1978 §61-18A-9 (bold emphasis added)

Physical presence — the New Mexico office and the 75% manager rule

No collection agency license shall be issued to any foreign corporation or partnership unless it has fully complied with the laws of the state of New Mexico so as to entitle it to do business in the state; provided that the foreign corporation or partnership shall establish and maintain a collection agency in New Mexico at all times during the life of any collection agency license issued to the foreign corporation or partnership. All records of the collection agency located in New Mexico shall be maintained at the collection agency's principal office in New Mexico unless the collection agency records are maintained electronically, in which case, electronic records may be maintained at a location where the collection agency regularly maintains records. — NMSA 1978 §61-18A-14 (bold emphasis added; electronic-records carve-out added by Laws 2012, ch. 11, §1)

A. Every licensed office of a collection agency, whether a principal or branch office, shall be under the active charge of a licensed manager. … B. As used in this section, "under the active charge of a licensed manager" means that a licensed manager shall be physically present at the licensee's office at least seventy-five percent of the time during which the office is open for business. — NMSA 1978 §61-18A-22 (bold emphasis added)

Manager qualifications (§61-18A-11) include majority age, no felony or crime of moral turpitude, high-school education or equivalent, passing the FID examination, "actively and continuously engaged or employed in the collection of accounts receivable for at least two of the five years next preceding the filing of the application," and "a good credit record." If the manager leaves, the licensee has 10 days to notify the director or the agency license is "ipso facto suspended" (§61-18A-23), with a 40-day replacement window under 12.24.2.8(I) NMAC.

Fees (§61-18A-30)

A. an original license fee for a collection agency or branch thereof, of five hundred dollars ($500); B. a renewal fee for a collection agency or branch thereof, of three hundred dollars ($300); … F. a manager's license examination fee of one hundred dollars ($100); G. a manager's license renewal fee of fifty dollars ($50.00); … E. a delinquency fee of ten dollars ($10.00) per day for each day of delinquency in filing applications for renewals; … J. a fee of two hundred dollars ($200) per day or fraction thereof for each examiner of the division engaged in an examination or investigation of a licensee, not to exceed five examiner-days per calendar year. If the examination or investigation is an out-of-state examination or investigation, the licensee shall reimburse the division the actual travel costs … K. an original license fee or renewal license fee for a repossessor of two hundred fifty dollars ($250). — NMSA 1978 §61-18A-30 (bold emphasis added)

Renewal applications are due on or before November 30 each year; renewed licenses are dated January 1 (§§61-18A-22(A), -27). The FID directs licensees to file through the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS), which §61-18A-2(K) defines and which the division's public licensing page names as the verification channel.

Money handling — 40-day remittance, 2-day trust deposit, GRT pass-through

All collection agencies shall remit to their clients the proceeds of all collections, after deducting their commission, other lawful expenses and any amounts collected pursuant to Section 61-18A-28.1 NMSA 1978, within forty days of such collection unless otherwise provided by regulation. — NMSA 1978 §61-18A-28 (bold emphasis added)

H. Clients' shares of collections shall be deposited into a trust account within two banking days, except that if such monies are less than $100,000.00, deposits may be made weekly. — 12.24.2.8(H) NMAC (bold emphasis added)

A. Unless the agreement between the debtor and the creditor or the agreement between the collection agency and the creditor otherwise expressly prohibits, a collection agency may collect from the debtor an amount equal to the gross receipts tax and the local option gross receipts taxes … imposed on the receipts of the collection agency that result from the collection of a debt from the debtor. B. For purposes of this section, a collection agency does not mean a person who collects his own debts using a name other than his own … — NMSA 1978 §61-18A-28.1 (bold emphasis added)

Conduct standard — 12.24.2.8(E), (G) NMAC (the form-approval rule)

CARA itself has no prohibited-practices section. The FID rule supplies one, and it front-loads a prior-approval requirement on collection letter templates that has no analogue in most states:

E. No licensee shall use any form notice to debtors without first obtaining approval of said form by the director or his designee. Individual notices or communications to debtors need not be approved by the director, but content thereof shall comply with the spirit and intent of the act and these rules and regulations. Specifically, but not all inclusively, licensees shall not threaten, coerce, infer consequences or effects in which there is no truth in substance, simulate legal process, use innuendoes or misleading phraseology, or engage in unethical or unfair practices (including, but not limited to, those practices which are prohibited by the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act). Legal action or process may not be threatened unless the collection agency, or the creditor, intends to take such action and the agency can establish that such action is normally taken. — 12.24.2.8(E) NMAC (bold emphasis added)

G. Every licensee shall deal openly, fairly and honestly in the conduct of the collection agency business with both client and debtor and shall at all times conform to the canons of business ethics and practices of the American collectors association, to the applicable rules and regulations of the federal trade commission and to the provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. — 12.24.2.8(G) NMAC

Trade-name control: 12.24.2.8(B) and (D) NMAC bar licenses under names that imply a credit bureau, national association, detective agency, or municipal/county/state/federal affiliation where none exists, or that are confusingly similar to another licensee's in the same area. 12.24.2.8(C) NMAC requires every employee or owner using an alias to register it with the director.

Suit in the agency's own name — permitted, but counsel required (§61-18A-26)

Nothing in the Collection Agency Regulatory Act shall be construed to prevent collection agencies from taking assignments of claims in their own name as real parties in interest for the purpose of billing and collection and bringing suit in their own names; provided that no suit allowed by this section may be instituted on behalf of a collection agency in a court unless the collection agency appears by a duly authorized and licensed attorney-at-law. — NMSA 1978 §61-18A-26 (bold emphasis added; Laws 2021, ch. 31, §13, eff. July 1, 2021, deleted the former provision authorizing discretionary attorney-fee awards to the prevailing party in such suits)

Unfair Practices Act — reaches debt collection by its terms

D. "unfair or deceptive trade practice" means an act specifically declared unlawful pursuant to the Unfair Practices Act, a false or misleading oral or written statement, visual description or other representation of any kind knowingly made in connection with the sale, lease, rental or loan of goods or services or in the extension of credit or in the collection of debts by a person in the regular course of the person's trade or commerce, that may, tends to or does deceive or mislead any person and includes: … (14) using exaggeration, innuendo or ambiguity as to a material fact or failing to state a material fact if doing so deceives or tends to deceive; (15) stating that a transaction involves rights, remedies or obligations that it does not involve; … E. "unconscionable trade practice" means an act or practice in connection with the sale, lease, rental or loan, or in connection with the offering for sale, lease, rental or loan, of any goods or services, including services provided by licensed professionals, or in the extension of credit or in the collection of debts that to a person's detriment: (1) takes advantage of the lack of knowledge, ability, experience or capacity of a person to a grossly unfair degree; or (2) results in a gross disparity between the value received by a person and the price paid. — NMSA 1978 §57-12-2(D), (E) (bold emphasis added)

Remedies:

B. Any person who suffers any loss of money or property … may bring an action to recover actual damages or the sum of one hundred dollars ($100), whichever is greater. Where the trier of fact finds that the party charged … has willfully engaged in the trade practice, the court may award up to three times actual damages or three hundred dollars ($300), whichever is greater … C. The court shall award attorney fees and costs to the party complaining of an unfair or deceptive trade practice or unconscionable trade practice if the party prevails. The court shall award attorney fees and costs to the party charged … if it finds that the party complaining of such trade practice brought an action that was groundless. D. The relief provided in this section is in addition to remedies otherwise available against the same conduct under the common law or other statutes of this state. — NMSA 1978 §57-12-10(B)–(D) (bold emphasis added)

AG enforcement: injunctive relief and restitution (§57-12-8), assurances of discontinuance (§57-12-9), and a civil penalty:

In any action brought under Section 57-12-8 NMSA 1978, if the court finds that a person is willfully using or has willfully used a method, act or practice declared unlawful by the Unfair Practices Act, the attorney general, upon petition to the court, may recover, on behalf of the state of New Mexico, a civil penalty of not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000) per violation. — NMSA 1978 §57-12-11 (bold emphasis added)

Time-barred debt — mandatory disclosure, 12.2.12 NMAC (AG rule, eff. 12/15/2010)

This is New Mexico's headline collections rule and the reason a nationwide letter template will not clear the state. It binds original creditors as well as third-party collectors, applies to oral as well as written communications, and its duty attaches before any request for payment.

D. "Debt collector" means any person who, in the regular course of the person's trade or commerce, collects or attempts to collect a debt owed or alleged to be owed by any person in New Mexico, including, but not limited to, the original lender or obligee, any assignee of the original owner, and third party collectors who are "debt collectors" as defined by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 1692a(6). … H. "Statute of limitation" means the time period established by law in which an aggrieved party may bring a cause of action in judicial proceedings; e.g., NMSA 1978, Sections 37-1-3 (six years for written contracts), 37-1-4 (four years for unwritten contracts and accounts), or 55-2-725 (four years for breach of contract for sale of goods). I. "Time-barred debt" means any debt that is not enforceable in a judicial proceeding because the applicable statute of limitation has run. — 12.2.12.7 NMAC (bold emphasis added)

Every debt collector attempting to collect a debt in the state of New Mexico has a duty to determine, in good faith, whether each debt it is attempting to collect is or is not time-barred. — 12.2.12.8 NMAC (bold emphasis added)

A. It is an unfair or deceptive trade practice for any debt collector … whether directly or indirectly, by letter, telephone, electronically or by any other means, to collect or to attempt to collect from any person any payment of any debt that the debt collector knows or has reason to know is a time-barred debt, or to seek or obtain from any person any payment, admission, affirmation, acknowledgement of a debt, or new promise to pay, or any waiver of legal rights or defenses with regard to any debt, that the debt collector knows or has reason to know is a time-barred debt unless the debt collector discloses the following information: (1) the disclosure is prefaced with the following statement: "We are required by New Mexico Attorney General rule to notify you of the following information. This information is not legal advice."; (2) either that the debt is unenforceable through a lawsuit because the time for filing has expired, or that it may be unenforceable through a lawsuit because the time for filing may have expired; (3) if the debt is time-barred, the person cannot be required to pay the debt through a lawsuit; (4) the person is not required by the law: to sign any admission, affirmation or acknowledgement of, or new promise to pay the debt; or to make any payment on the debt; or to waive any of his or her rights with regard to the effect of the running of the applicable statute of limitation; (5) an explanation of the consequences pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 37-1-16, with regard to the revival of the statute of limitation resulting from: any payment on the debt; any signed admission, affirmation or acknowledgement of the debt; any signed new promise to pay the debt; any waiver of the debtor's legal rights … — 12.2.12.9(A) NMAC (bold emphasis added)

Safe harbor script (verbatim — this exact text is deemed compliant):

B. A debt collector who makes the following disclosure shall be deemed to have complied with the requirements of Subsection A of 12.2.12.9 NMAC: "We are required by New Mexico Attorney General rule to notify you of the following information. This information is not legal advice: This debt may be too old for you to be sued on it in court. If it is too old, you can't be required to pay it through a lawsuit. You can renew the debt and start the time for the filing of a lawsuit against you to collect the debt if you do any of the following: make any payment of the debt; sign a paper in which you admit that you owe the debt or in which you make a new promise to pay; sign a paper in which you give up ("waive") your right to stop the debt collector from suing you in court to collect the debt." — 12.2.12.9(B) NMAC

Placement and timing:

C. The disclosures … shall be in plain language, and shall be designed to reasonably and fairly inform the least sophisticated consumer. D. If the demand for payment is in a language other than English, the debt collector shall give the disclosures … in that language. E. In the case of written communications, the disclosures … shall be clear and conspicuous and shall be placed on the front page. F. In the case of oral communications, the disclosures … shall be made immediately before or immediately after the first statement requesting payment, or, if no request for payment is made, no later than immediately after reference to the debt is first made. G. The disclosures … shall be given only to those debtors whom the debt collector reasonably and in good faith determines owes a debt that is time-barred. H. It is a defense … if, in making the erroneous determination, the debt collector exercised reasonable efforts to determine whether the debt was time-barred or not and made the error in good faith, as supported by the debt collector's documentation. The absence of any documentation creates a rebuttable presumption of the lack of reasonable efforts and good faith. — 12.2.12.9(C)–(H) NMAC (bold emphasis added)

Violation of this rule constitutes a violation of the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act, NMSA 1978, Section 57-12-1 et seq. — 12.2.12.10 NMAC

"Clear and conspicuous" borrows the UCC definition at §55-1-201(b)(10) minus the all-caps requirement (12.2.12.7(B) NMAC).

Call frequency and call-time window — none

Neither CARA, 12.24.2 NMAC, 12.2 NMAC, nor the UPA contains a call-frequency cap or a call-time window. The only frequency-adjacent language is 12.24.2.8(E) NMAC's general bar on "unethical or unfair practices (including … those practices which are prohibited by the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act)," which incorporates the federal standard rather than adding to it. The federal floor governs in New Mexico: FDCPA §1692c(a)(1) / Reg F 1006.6(b)(1)(i) for the 8am–9pm window, and Reg F 1006.14(b)(2) for the 7-in-7 presumption.

Statute of limitations — the core

A. Actions founded upon any bond, promissory note, bill of exchange or other contract in writing shall be brought within six years. If the payee of any bond, promissory note, bill of exchange or other contract in writing enters into any contract or agreement in writing to defer the payment thereof, or contracts or agrees not to assert any claim against the payor or against the assets of the payor until the happening of some contingency, the time during the period from the execution of the contract or agreement and the happening of the contingency shall not be included in computing the six-year period of limitation provided in this subsection. B. Actions against any banking or financial organization subject to the provisions of the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (1995) … founded upon a bill of exchange shall be brought within ten years. C. Actions founded upon a traveler's check shall be brought within fifteen years. — NMSA 1978 §37-1-3 (Laws 2015, ch. 91, §1, eff. June 19, 2015; bold emphasis added)

Those founded upon accounts and unwritten contracts; those brought for injuries to property or for the conversion of personal property or for relief upon the ground of fraud, and all other actions not herein otherwise provided for and specified within four years. — NMSA 1978 §37-1-4 (bold emphasis added)

Accrual on open accounts:

Where there is an open current account the cause of action shall be deemed to have accrued upon the date of the last item therein, as proved on the trial. — NMSA 1978 §37-1-6 (bold emphasis added)

Goods sales (the auto/retail-installment bucket):

(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. (2) A cause of action accrues when the breach occurs, regardless of the aggrieved party's lack of knowledge of the breach. … — NMSA 1978 §55-2-725(1)–(2) (bold emphasis added)

Negotiable instruments (New Mexico adopted Revised UCC Article 3 in 1992):

(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. — NMSA 1978 §55-3-118(a)–(b) (bold emphasis added)

§55-3-118(c)–(g) give three years for unaccepted drafts (or ten years from the date of the draft, whichever expires first), three years for certified/teller's/cashier's/traveler's checks from demand, six years for certificates of deposit and accepted drafts, and three years for conversion, warranty, and residual Article 3 claims.

Tolling for absence or concealment:

If, at any time after the incurring of an indebtedness or liability or the accrual of a cause of action against him or the entry of judgment against him in this state, a debtor shall have been or shall be absent from or out of the state or concealed within the state, the time during which he may have been or may be out of or absent from the state or may have concealed or may conceal himself within the state shall not be included in computing any of the periods of limitation above provided. — NMSA 1978 §37-1-9 (bold emphasis added)

Revival — §37-1-16, and the §37-1-17 exclusion that switches it off

New Mexico's revival statute is unusually broad on payment and narrow on words:

Causes of action founded upon contract shall be revived by the making of any partial or installment payment thereon or by an admission that the debt is unpaid, as well as by a new promise to pay the same; but such admission or new promise must be in writing, signed by the party to be charged therewith. Such a cause of action shall be deemed to have accrued upon the date of such partial or installment payment, admission of indebtedness or promise to pay. Provided, that no admission that the debt is unpaid or new promise to pay the same shall be effective to extend the lien of any mortgage upon real estate … unless the payment is accompanied by an admission or promise and unless such admission … signed by the party to be charged therewith and acknowledged … shall be filed for record in the office of the county clerk where said original mortgage is of record, prior to the date when any action to foreclose said mortgage lien would otherwise be barred … — NMSA 1978 §37-1-16 (Laws 1957, ch. 170, §1; bold emphasis added)

A partial payment needs no signature and no writing — the writing requirement attaches only to an admission or new promise. And the clock does not merely toll: the cause of action is deemed to have accrued on the payment date, i.e. a full new period.

Post-expiry revival is available. From the official annotations to §37-1-16:

Time of admission or promise. — The provisions of this section are equally applicable to admissions and new promises made before indebtedness becomes barred and to such admissions and new promises made after statute has run. Petranovich v. Frkovich, 1945-NMSC-037, 49 N.M. 365, 164 P.2d 386. — NMSA 1978 §37-1-16 annotations (bold emphasis added)

Partial payment revived loan and guarantees. — Where … in 2010, after the statute of limitations had run on the debts, plaintiff filed suit to collect the debts, the $20,000 payment was a payment on all of the debts which revived the statute of limitations as to those debts and as to the personal guaranties of the siblings, but did not revive the statute of limitations as to the personal guaranties of the siblings' spouses [who neither knew of nor approved the payment]. Corona v. Corona, 2014-NMCA-071. — NMSA 1978 §37-1-16 annotations (bold emphasis added)

But §37-1-16 is switched off whenever the governing limitations period comes from outside Chapter 37:

None of the provisions of this chapter shall apply to any action or suit which, by any particular statute of this state, is limited to be commenced within a different time, nor shall this chapter be construed to repeal any existing statute of the state which provides a limitation of any action; but in such cases the limitation shall be as provided by such statutes. — NMSA 1978 §37-1-17 (bold emphasis added)

The New Mexico Supreme Court applied that exclusion to defeat a debt buyer's re-aging of auto-deficiency claims:

{1} In these consolidated appeals, we affirm the Court of Appeals that Chapter 37's partial payment rule does not revive the four-year statute of limitations for breach of contract actions under Section 2 of New Mexico's Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). See Autovest, L.L.C. v. Agosto, 2021-NMCA-053, ¶ 1, 497 P.3d 642; NMSA 1978, §55-2-725(1) (1961). … {35} We hold that Section 37-1-16's partial payment rule does not override or otherwise supersede the mandatory terms of the exclusion provision. We, therefore, affirm the Court of Appeals and remand each case to its respective district court to amend the judgment consistent with our holdings. — Autovest, L.L.C. v. Agosto, 2025-NMSC-001, ¶¶ 1, 35 (N.M. Sup. Ct., filed Aug. 15, 2024; No. S-1-SC-38834) (bold emphasis added)

Medical debt — Patients' Debt Collection Protection Act (2021)

A. For patients who are determined to be indigent patients, charges for health care services and medical debt shall not be pursued through collection actions. All collection actions … shall be terminated upon the determination that a patient is an indigent patient. Health care facilities, third-party health care providers and medical creditors shall not hire or otherwise engage third parties to perform collection actions against or otherwise recover debts from indigent patients. B. The superintendent shall promulgate rules to establish the process by which a patient is determined to be an indigent patient … — NMSA 1978 §57-32-4 (bold emphasis added)

Definitions that set the perimeter:

A. "collection action" means any of the following: (1) selling a person's medical debt to another party, including a medical debt collector … or (2) actions that require a legal or judicial process, including: (a) placing a lien on a person's property; (b) attaching or seizing a person's bank account or any other personal property; (c) commencing a civil action against a person; or (d) garnishing a person's wages; … G. "indigent patient" means a patient with a household income that does not exceed two hundred percent of the federal poverty level; … K. "medical debt collector" means a person that regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, medical debts originally owed or due or asserted to be owed or due to another person. A medical debt buyer is considered to be a medical debt collector for all purposes of the Patients' Debt Collection Protection Act; — NMSA 1978 §57-32-2 (bold emphasis added)

Billing-information gate before any contact:

A. All bills sent from a health care facility, third-party health care provider or medical creditor to a patient shall include a complete and plain-language description of the date, amount and nature of all charges; if the patient is verified as having health insurance; if the health care facility screened the patient for programs that assist with health care costs; and if the health care facility or third-party health care provider has billed or will bill insurance or public programs … Prior to initiating communication with a consumer or a collection action over medical debt, a medical debt collector shall have all billing information required in this subsection as allowed under … HIPAA. B. In communications with a consumer about medical debt, including communication related to collection actions, a health care facility, third-party health care provider, medical creditor or medical debt collector shall inform the consumer of the availability of the information required pursuant to Subsection A … provided that the information … need only be provided to a requester once every thirty days. — NMSA 1978 §57-32-6 (bold emphasis added)

Receipts:

A. Within thirty business days of receipt of a payment on a medical debt, the health care facility, third-party health care provider, medical creditor, medical debt collector or their agents receiving the payment shall send a receipt to the person who made the payment. … All receipts shall show: (1) the amount paid; (2) the date payment was received; (3) the new balance after application of the payment; (4) the interest rate and interest accrued since the consumer's last payment; (5) the consumer's account number; (6) the name of the current owner of the debt and, if different, the name of the medical creditor; and (7) whether the payment is accepted as payment in full of the debt. B. All … shall apply payments as of the date payment was received or, if received after business hours, the next business day, and use that date when assessing penalties or interest accumulation. — NMSA 1978 §57-32-7 (bold emphasis added)

Waivers are void (§57-32-9(D)); enforcement is by the Attorney General, with a public complaint process (§57-32-10).

The Superintendent of Insurance's implementing rule adds the operational mechanics:

A. Prohibited activity. Medical creditors and medical debt collectors shall not pursue collection action against indigent patients. (b) A failure to make a determination of indigency does not waive the prohibition on collection action against indigent patients unless the failure to make the determination is due to noncooperation by the patient. Noncooperation must be documented and the medical creditor or debt collector must be able to demonstrate a minimum of three efforts to contact the patient. (c) Any bill or statement to a patient must be accompanied by a notice, in English and Spanish, in at least 14-point font in the form prescribed by the superintendent. … B. Methodology. … (b) utilizing the most recent federal poverty guidelines … determine whether the patient's income is less than or equal to two hundred percent of the federal poverty guidelines; … (f) the determination of a patient's indigency is valid for 24 months. F. Notification. The patient will be provided with notification of the results of the determination of indigency in writing within 30 days of the date the medical creditor made the determination but in no event more than 60 days after the determination was initiated. … G. Medical debt collectors. A medical debt collector shall inquire of the medical creditor on behalf of whom it is pursuing collection against a patient, whether that patient had been determined indigent. … (a) the action of selling medical debt of an indigent patient to a medical debt buyer or medical debt collector constitutes prohibited collection action. … — 13.10.39.9 NMAC (eff. Dec. 28, 2021; bold emphasis added)

Plain English

Interpretation — the quotes above win on any conflict.

• License, not just a bond. New Mexico requires an FID collection agency license, and operating without one is a fourth-degree felony (§61-18A-6(A)) — criminal, not merely a licensing sanction. Filing runs through NMLS. Original creditors collecting their own paper under their own name are outside CARA (§61-18A-2(C)(1), (7)(b)), but a creditor using a different name that implies a third party is inside it.
• New Mexico wants a real office here. A foreign corporation must "establish and maintain a collection agency in New Mexico" (§61-18A-14), each office needs a licensed manager physically present 75% of open hours (§61-18A-22(B)), and that manager needs two of the last five years in accounts-receivable collection plus a passing FID exam (§§61-18A-10, -11). This is a substantially higher entry cost than a bond-only state like Texas.
• The interstate-only carve-out is narrower than it looks. §61-18A-5(C) exempts you only if the debts were not incurred in New Mexico. Debts incurred in New Mexico, collected by phone or mail from out of state, are still "collection activity within this state."
• Bond scales with your book. $5,000 floor, but on renewal it becomes two months of average client proceeds, capped at $25,000 unless FID has solvency concerns (12.24.2.8(A) NMAC). Plus $10,000 net worth and $1,000 liquid assets (§61-18A-9).
• Your letter templates need regulator sign-off before use. 12.24.2.8(E) NMAC is a prior-approval regime for form notices. A national template rolled into New Mexico without FID approval is a rule violation independent of anything in its content.
• Conduct liability comes from the UPA, not CARA. The UPA's "unfair or deceptive" and "unconscionable" definitions name debt collection explicitly, and §57-12-10 gives a private right of action with a $100 floor, treble/$300 for willful conduct, and mandatory fee-shifting to a prevailing consumer.
• Time-barred debt is the highest-risk surface in the state. 12.2.12 NMAC requires an affirmative, documented good-faith determination of whether every debt is time-barred, and if it is, a scripted disclosure — front page in writing, adjacent to the first payment request on a call, in the language of the demand, and covering the §37-1-16 revival consequences. Skipping it is a per-se UPA violation. Note the asymmetry: giving the disclosure to a debtor whose debt is not time-barred violates 12.2.12.9(G).
• SOL: written contracts and promissory notes 6 years (§37-1-3(A), §55-3-118(a)); accounts and unwritten contracts 4 years (§37-1-4); goods sales including auto retail-installment deficiencies 4 years (§55-2-725(1)). Open accounts accrue from the date of the last item (§37-1-6). Absence from or concealment within the state tolls (§37-1-9).
• Revival: a bare partial payment — no writing, no signature — revives a contract claim and restarts the full period from the payment date (§37-1-16), and it works after expiry (Petranovich; Corona). An admission or new promise must be written and signed. Critically, none of that applies when the limitations period comes from a statute outside Chapter 37 setting a different period — Autovest v. Agosto, 2025-NMSC-001, so payments do not re-age a UCC Article 2 auto-deficiency claim.

Traps / edge cases

• The felony. §61-18A-6(A) reaches "any officer or director" personally, not just the entity. Combined with Russey v. Rankin, 911 F. Supp. 1449 (D.N.M. 1995) (annotated under §61-18A-5), where unlicensed New Mexico collection was itself held to violate the federal FDCPA, an unlicensed collector faces criminal exposure plus a federal claim.
• Two revival regimes running side by side. Whether a New Mexico payment re-ages a debt depends entirely on which limitations statute governs the underlying claim. Written contract (§37-1-3) or open account (§37-1-4) → §37-1-16 applies, payment revives, new full period from the payment date, even post-expiry. Goods sale (§55-2-725) → §37-1-17 excludes Chapter 37 entirely and payment does nothing (Autovest). Any system that models New Mexico revival with a single flag is wrong for half the portfolio.
• Notes are the unresolved case. §55-3-118(a) sets six years for notes payable at a definite time — the same period as §37-1-3(A). Autovest's exclusion turned on the UCC period being "a different time" (four vs. six). Whether §37-1-17 is triggered when the periods coincide is UNVERIFIED — no New Mexico decision on point. Treat payment-revival on a negotiable note as attorney-review territory, not an automatic re-age.
• Credit cards are unclassified in New Mexico. No New Mexico appellate decision in the Chapter 37 annotations assigns revolving credit-card debt to §37-1-3 (6y) or §37-1-4 (4y). The AG's own rule glosses §37-1-4 as covering "unwritten contracts and accounts" (12.2.12.7(H) NMAC), which supports 4 years for an account; a produced, signed cardholder agreement is the argument for 6. UNVERIFIED — do not present either as settled.
• The disclosure applies to first-party creditors. 12.2.12.7(D) NMAC's "debt collector" expressly includes "the original lender or obligee." A creditor client's own in-house collection letters on aged New Mexico paper carry the same obligation as the agency's.
• Oral-call timing is exact. 12.2.12.9(F) NMAC puts the disclosure "immediately before or immediately after the first statement requesting payment." A disclosure delivered at the end of a call, after negotiating a payment, is late on the rule's face.
• Spanish-language demands trigger Spanish-language disclosures (12.2.12.9(D) NMAC), and the PDCPA bill notice is required in English and Spanish regardless (13.10.39.9(A)(c) NMAC).
• No documentation = presumed bad faith. 12.2.12.9(H) NMAC's good-faith defense exists only "as supported by the debt collector's documentation," and the absence of documentation creates a rebuttable presumption against you. The SOL determination has to be a retained artifact, not a runtime computation.
• Medical debt: ignorance is not a defense. Failing to determine indigency does not waive the collection ban (13.10.39.9(A)(b) NMAC) unless the patient's documented noncooperation caused it, after at least three contact attempts. And selling an indigent patient's medical debt is itself a prohibited "collection action" (§57-32-2(A)(1); 13.10.39.9(G)(a) NMAC) — placement and portfolio sale need an indigency gate, not just dialing.
• Medical debt collectors must ask. 13.10.39.9(G) NMAC puts an affirmative duty on the collector to inquire of the creditor whether the patient was determined indigent. Silence in the placement file is not a safe default.
• Agencies may sue in their own name but only through counsel (§61-18A-26), and New Mexico has a long line of unauthorized-practice cases (State ex rel. Norvell v. Credit Bureau of Albuquerque, 1973-NMSC-087; Kolker, 750 F. Supp. 468 (D.N.M. 1990); Martinez, 867 F. Supp. 1495 (D.N.M. 1994)) holding that pro forma assignments taken to enable agency-controlled litigation are UPL. The 2021 amendment also removed the discretionary prevailing-party attorney-fee award from §61-18A-26.
• Gross receipts tax can be passed to the debtor (§61-18A-28.1) unless the debtor-creditor or agency-creditor agreement prohibits it — an affirmative fee-add authority that most states lack, and one that still has to survive FDCPA §1692f(1) on the underlying agreement.
• §37-1-9 tolling is broad on its face (any absence from the state, at any time after the debt was incurred). New Mexico decisions construe limitations exceptions strictly (Slade v. Slade, 1970-NMSC-064) — treat tolling adjustments as attorney review, not automatic clock math.
• Manager departure is a 10-day fuse. Failure to notify FID within 10 days suspends the agency license "ipso facto" (§61-18A-23).

Related

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