Oklahoma — no collection-agency licensing; OCPA §753 + SOL (12 O.S. §95)

Authority

Oklahoma has no debt-collection statute of its own — no mini-FDCPA, no collection agency act, no license, no bond. Collector conduct is reached through the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act (15 O.S. §§751–761.1), which since 2023 contains two debt-collection-specific unlawful practices (§753(32)–(33)), enforced by the Attorney General or a district attorney (§756.1), by a private right of action (§761.1(A)), and — since January 1, 2026 — as a Class D1 felony (§753; 21 O.S. §20N(A)(57)).

Limitations on suit: 12 O.S. §95 (general periods), §101 (revival by part payment / written acknowledgment), §§96, 98, 100 (tolling and savings), §§104–108 (the Uniform Statute of Limitation on Foreign Claims Act — Oklahoma's borrowing statute), and 12A O.S. §3-118 for negotiable instruments.

Two collections-specific procedural rules sit outside the CPA: 12 O.S. §193 (medical-debt pleading and default-judgment requirements, eff. 2024-11-01) and 12 O.S. §1751(B) (collection agencies barred from small claims court).

Verification note

Two official publishers were used, and they agree on every quoted passage:

1. oscn.net (Oklahoma State Courts Network, "Oklahoma Statutes Citationized") — DeliverDocument.asp pages fetch cleanly and were used for Title 12 §§95, 98, 101, 104–108.
2. oklegislature.gov official complete-title PDFs (/OK_Statutes/CompleteTitles/os<NN>.pdf) — used for Titles 12, 12A, 15, 21, 24, 59. Every PDF carries a 2025-12-30 creation date, so these files incorporate the 2025 regular session (including provisions with 2026-01-01 effective dates) but not any 2026-session enactment.

Currency caveat — FLAG for the freshness check. The official consolidated PDFs are current only through the 2025 session. Oklahoma's 2026 regular session adjourned before this page's last_verified date, and Oklahoma acts customarily take effect November 1 of the enactment year. Nothing on this page should be relied on for 2026-session changes; re-verify §95, §101, and 15 O.S. §753 after 2026-11-01.

Bot-block caveat. OSCN's case-law full-text search (search.asp) sits behind a Cloudflare human-verification turnstile and could not be queried programmatically. Statute pages on the same host are unaffected. Consequence: no Oklahoma appellate authority was retrieved, so every case-law-dependent classification on this page — above all which SOL bucket a credit-card account falls into — is marked UNVERIFIED and reasoned from statutory text only. Re-verify with a manual OSCN case search or Westlaw.

Operative text

Statute of limitations — 12 O.S. §95(A)

A. Civil actions other than for the recovery of real property can only be brought within the following periods, after the cause of action shall have accrued, and not afterwards:

1. Within five (5) years: An action upon any contract, agreement, or promise in writing;
2. Within three (3) years: An action upon a contract express or implied not in writing; an action upon a liability created by statute other than a forfeiture or penalty; and an action on a foreign judgment;
3. Within two (2) years: An action for trespass upon real property; an action for taking, detaining, or injuring personal property, including actions for the specific recovery of personal property; an action for injury to the rights of another, not arising on contract, and not hereinafter enumerated; an action for relief on the ground of fraud — the cause of action in such case shall not be deemed to have accrued until the discovery of the fraud;
4. Within one (1) year: An action for libel, slander, assault, battery, malicious prosecution, or false imprisonment; an action upon a statute for penalty or forfeiture, except where the statute imposing it prescribes a different limitation; …
5. An action for relief, not hereinbefore provided for, can only be brought within five (5) years after the cause of action shall have accrued. — Okla. Stat. tit. 12, §95(A)

Amendment history ends at Laws 2017, c. 221, §1 and c. 378, §1, both eff. Nov. 1, 2017 — confirmed identical on OSCN and in the official Title 12 PDF. There is no medical-debt (or any other consumer-debt) special limitations period in §95.

Note the structural point that drives everything below: §95 contains no "open account" or "account stated" category. Unlike Texas (Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §16.004(c)) or states with a distinct open-account clause, Oklahoma sorts every contract claim into exactly two buckets — in writing (5 years) or not in writing (3 years).

Revival — 12 O.S. §101

In any case founded on contract, when any part of the principal or interest shall have been paid, or an acknowledgment of an existing liability, debt or claim, or any promise to pay the same shall have been made, an action may be brought in such case within the period prescribed for the same, after such payment, acknowledgment or promise; but such acknowledgment or promise must be in writing, signed by the party to be charged thereby. — Okla. Stat. tit. 12, §101 (R.L. 1910, §4663 — never amended)

Absolute bar once run — 12 O.S. §102

When a right of action is barred by the provisions of any statute, it shall be unavailable either as a cause of action or ground of defense, except as otherwise provided with reference to a counterclaim or setoff. — Okla. Stat. tit. 12, §102

Tolling — legal disability, absence/concealment, savings

If a person entitled to bring an action other than for the recovery of real property, except for a penalty or forfeiture, be, at the time the cause of action accrued, under any legal disability, every such person shall be entitled to bring such action within one (1) year after such disability shall be removed … — Okla. Stat. tit. 12, §96

When a cause of action accrues against a person and that person is out of the state or has concealed himself, the period limited for the commencement of the action shall not begin to run until he comes into the state, or while he is concealed. If, after a cause of action accrues against a person and that person leaves the state or conceals himself, the time of his absence or concealment shall not be computed as any part of the period within which the action must be brought. Provided, however, that if any statute which extends the exercise of personal jurisdiction of courts over a person or corporation based upon service outside this state, or based upon substituted service upon an official of this or any other state or nation, or based upon service by publication permits the courts of this state to acquire personal jurisdiction over the person, the period of his absence or concealment shall be computed as part of the period within which the action must be brought. — Okla. Stat. tit. 12, §98

If any action is commenced within due time, and a judgment thereon for the plaintiff is reversed, or if the plaintiff fail in such action otherwise than upon the merits, the plaintiff … may commence a new action within one (1) year after the reversal or failure although the time limit for commencing the action shall have expired before the new action is filed. — Okla. Stat. tit. 12, §100

Borrowing statute — 12 O.S. §§104–108 (longer period wins)

As used in this act, "claim" means any right of action which may be asserted in a civil action or proceeding and includes, but is not limited to, a right of action created by statute. — Okla. Stat. tit. 12, §104

The period of limitation applicable to a claim accruing outside of this state shall be that prescribed either by the law of the place where the claim accrued or by the law of this state, whichever last bars the claim. — Okla. Stat. tit. 12, §105 (Uniform Statute of Limitation on Foreign Claims Act; §106 repealed 1980; §§107–108 uniformity and short title)

"Whichever last bars the claim" was re-checked against the raw OSCN HTML because it inverts the usual borrowing-statute design: Oklahoma applies the longer of the two periods, where most states borrow the shorter one.

Negotiable instruments — 12A O.S. §3-118

(a) Except as provided in subsection (e) of this section, an action to enforce the obligation of a party to pay a note payable at a definite time must be commenced within six (6) years after the due date or dates stated in the note or, if a due date is accelerated, within six (6) years after the accelerated due date. (b) Except as provided in subsection (d) or (e) of this section, 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 (6) 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 (10) years. … (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 (3) years after the claim for relief accrues. — Okla. Stat. tit. 12A, §3-118 (Laws 1961, p. 105, §3-118; Laws 1991, c. 117, §43, eff. Jan. 1, 1992)

Entry gate — none

Oklahoma requires no collection-agency license, registration, or bond. This is a negative, so it is evidenced from three official sources rather than asserted:

1. Oklahoma Department of Consumer Credit — the agency that would license this activity publishes its complete "licenses we regulate" list: Notification Filing, Rental-Purchase Lessor, Consumer Litigation Funder, Credit Services Organizations, Oklahoma Small Lender, Health Spa, Pawnbroker, Supervised Lender, Precious Metal & Gem Dealer, Mortgage Broker, Mortgage Lender, Mortgage Loan Originator. No collection agency or debt collector category exists. (oklahoma.gov/okdocc.html)
2. Title 59 (Professions and Occupations), the home of Oklahoma's licensing acts — full-text scan of the official complete-title PDF returns zero occurrences of "collection agency", "collection agencies", or "debt collector".
3. Title 14A (Uniform Consumer Credit Code) — likewise zero occurrences of those terms.

The Credit Services Organization Act (24 O.S. §§131–139) does not reach collectors; it regulates services sold to a consumer:

"Credit services organization" means any person who, with respect to the extension of credit by others, sells, provides, performs, or represents that the person can or will sell, provide, or perform, in return for the payment of money or other valuable consideration from any source, any of the following services more than twelve times in a calendar year: (1) improving a buyer's credit record, history, or rating, (2) obtaining an extension of credit for a buyer, or (3) providing advice or assistance to a buyer with regard to division (1) or (2) of this subparagraph … — Okla. Stat. tit. 24, §132(2)(a)

Prohibited practices — Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act, 15 O.S. §753

Scope (note: no third-party limitation — this reaches original creditors, debt buyers, and agencies alike):

A person engages in a practice which is declared to be unlawful and deemed a Class D1 felony offense under the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act when, in the course of the person's business, the person: — Okla. Stat. tit. 15, §753 (opening; "Class D1 felony offense" added by Laws 2025, c. 486, §346, eff. Jan. 1, 2026)

1. "Person" means a natural person, corporation, trust, partnership, incorporated or unincorporated association, or any other legal entity;
2. "Consumer transaction" means the advertising, offering for sale or purchase, sale, purchase, or distribution of any services or any property, tangible or intangible, real, personal, or mixed, or any other article, commodity, or thing of value wherever located, for purposes that are personal, household, or business oriented; — Okla. Stat. tit. 15, §752(1)–(2)

The two debt-collection paragraphs (added by Laws 2023, c. 368, §1, eff. Nov. 1, 2023):

32. Acting as a debt collector, contacts a debtor and threatens to file a suit against the debtor over a debt barred by the statute of limitations which has passed for filing suit for such debt; or
33. Acting as a debt collector, contacts a debtor and uses obscene or profane language to collect a debt. — Okla. Stat. tit. 15, §753(32)–(33)

These two paragraphs are the entirety of Oklahoma's statutory collection-conduct code. A normalized full-text scan of Title 15 confirms only two occurrences of "debt collector" in the whole title — these. There is no Oklahoma harassment schedule, no fee-authorization rule, no mini-Miranda, no state validation notice, and no affirmative time-barred-debt disclosure requirement.

Call timing — no general state window; 9 a.m. floor for prerecorded/autodialed calls

Oklahoma imposes no general call-time window and no call-frequency cap on live collection calls; the FDCPA/Reg F floor governs. But two parallel statutes — one civil, one criminal — restrict automatic dial announcing devices (ADADs), and both name collection calls expressly:

C. A person shall not use an automatic dial announcing device except as provided by this section. An automatic dial announcing device shall be used only when:

1. The device disconnects from the called person's line not later than twenty (20) seconds after the called person hangs up; and
2. For calls terminating in this state, the device is not used to make a call:     a. before 9 a.m. or after 9 p.m., or     b. at any hour that collection calls would be prohibited under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C., Section 1692(c), when the device is used for collection purposes; and
3. One of the following occur:     a. the calls are made or messages given solely in response to calls initiated by the person to whom the automatic calls or recorded messages are directed or who has made a written request to be called,     b. the calls made concern goods or services that have been previously ordered or purchased,     c. the calls are made by creditors or their assignees, or     d. the calls are initiated by a live operator who gives the caller the option to disconnect prior to the playing of a prerecorded or synthesized voice message. — Okla. Stat. tit. 15, §755.1(C); the criminal twin at tit. 21, §1847a(A) is textually identical

D. An automatic dial announcing device shall not be used for random number dialing or to dial numbers determined by successively increasing or decreasing integers. — Okla. Stat. tit. 15, §755.1(D)

B. A person who violates any provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor. C. The Attorney General may seek injunctive relief to enforce this section pursuant to the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act. D. In the event that a civil action is filed pursuant to this subsection, the prevailing party shall be entitled to a reasonable attorney's fee. — Okla. Stat. tit. 21, §1847a(B)–(D)

Both statutes define the device identically, and the third element matters:

"Automatic dial announcing device" means automatic equipment that: a. stores telephone numbers to be called, or has a random or sequential number generator capable of producing numbers to be called, b. conveys a prerecorded or synthesized voice message to the number called, and c. is used for the purpose of offering any goods or services for sale or conveying information regarding such goods or services; — Okla. Stat. tit. 15, §752(12); accord tit. 21, §1847a(F)

Medical debt — 12 O.S. §193 (eff. 2024-11-01)

B. A creditor or debt collector or collection agency operating on behalf of a creditor that files a civil action for recovery of a medical debt shall attach to the petition or applicable form:

1. A copy of redacted itemization of the charges that are the basis for the medical debt; and
2. Proof of compliance with hospital price transparency laws. C. Prior to entry of a default judgment against a consumer in a civil action on a medical debt, in addition to compliance with the applicable rules of the district court for entry of a default judgment, the plaintiff shall file with the court evidence that establishes the amount and nature of the medical debt and includes:
3. The original account number at charge-off;
4. The original creditor at charge-off;
5. The amount due at charge-off or, if the balance has not been charged off, an itemization of the amount claimed to be owed including the principal, interest, fees, and other charges or reductions from payment made or other credits;
6. An itemization of post charge-off additions, if any;
7. The date of the last payment, if applicable, or the date of the last transaction; and
8. Proof of compliance with hospital price transparency laws. — Okla. Stat. tit. 12, §193(B)–(C) (Added by Laws 2024, c. 318, §1, eff. Nov. 1, 2024)

"Hospital price transparency laws" is defined in §193(A) as PHSA §2718(e) / 42 U.S.C. §300gg-18 plus implementing HHS rules, and the Transparency in Health Care Prices Act, 63 O.S. §1-725.1 et seq.

Small claims — collection agencies barred, 12 O.S. §1751(B)

B. No action may be brought under the small claims procedure by any collection agency, collection agent, or assignee of a claim, except that an action may be brought against an insurer or third-party administrator by a health care provider as that term is defined in Section 6552 of Title 36 of the Oklahoma Statutes, who is an assignee of benefits available under an accident and health insurance policy, trust, plan, or contract. — Okla. Stat. tit. 12, §1751(B)

Small claims otherwise reaches contract actions up to $10,000 (§1751(A)(1)), and uncontested-case attorney fees are capped at 10% of the judgment, or 25% on supported application (§1751(C)).

Penalties, private right of action, AG enforcement — 15 O.S. §§756.1, 761.1

A. The commission of any act or practice declared to be a violation of the Consumer Protection Act shall render the violator liable to the aggrieved consumer for the payment of actual damages sustained by the customer and costs of litigation including reasonable attorney's fees, and the aggrieved consumer shall have a private right of action for damages, including but not limited to, costs and attorney's fees. … B. The commission of any act or practice declared to be a violation of the Consumer Protection Act, if such act or practice is also found to be unconscionable, shall render the violator liable to the aggrieved customer for the payment of a civil penalty, recoverable in an individual action only, in a sum set by the court of not more than Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00) for each violation. … C. Any person who is found to be in violation of the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act in a civil action or who willfully violates the terms of any injunction or court order issued pursuant to the Consumer Protection Act shall forfeit and pay a civil penalty of not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) per violation … E. In addition to other penalties imposed by the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act, any person convicted in a criminal proceeding of violating the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act shall be guilty of a D1 felony offense and shall be subject to imprisonment as provided for in subsections B through F of Section 20N of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes, or a fine not to exceed Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or both such fine and imprisonment. — Okla. Stat. tit. 15, §761.1 (subsection E amended by Laws 2025, c. 486, §347, eff. Jan. 1, 2026)

A. The Attorney General or a district attorney may bring an action: 1. To obtain a declaratory judgment that an act or practice violates the Consumer Protection Act; 2. To enjoin, or to obtain a restraining order against a person who has violated, is violating, or is likely to violate the Consumer Protection Act; 3. To recover actual damages and, in the case of unconscionable conduct, penalties as provided by this act, on behalf of an aggrieved consumer, in an individual action only … — Okla. Stat. tit. 15, §756.1(A)

Under §756.1(C) the court may additionally revoke any license authorizing the defendant to do business in Oklahoma (5) or enjoin it from doing business in the state (6). The criminal exposure:

57. Violation of the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act, as provided for in Section 753 of Title 15 of the Oklahoma Statutes; — Okla. Stat. tit. 21, §20N(A)(57)

B. Any person convicted of a Class D1 criminal offense set forth in this section shall be punished by imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections for a term of not more than five (5) years and shall serve at least twenty percent (20%) of the sentence imposed before release from custody … — Okla. Stat. tit. 21, §20N(B) (Added by Laws 2024, c. 366, §14, eff. Jan. 1, 2026)

Plain English

Interpretation — the quotes above win on any conflict.

• No license, no bond, no registration, no state regulator. Oklahoma is one of the genuinely open states: a third-party agency can collect Oklahoma debt with no state entry gate at all. The only Oklahoma-specific gate is a courtroom gate — §1751(B) keeps collection agencies and assignees out of small claims.
• Original creditors are fully in scope. The OCPA reaches any "person … in the course of the person's business," and §753(32)–(33) say "Acting as a debt collector" with no third-party carve-out. First-party creditors get no exemption.
• Oklahoma's conduct code is two sentences long. Threatening suit on a time-barred debt, and obscene or profane language. Everything else — harassment patterns, fee authorization, disclosures, validation — is federal-only in Oklahoma.
• Suing on time-barred debt is not itself the violation; threatening to is. §753(32) prohibits contacting a debtor and threatening suit on a debt whose SOL has passed. There is no statutory bar on filing, and no mandatory time-barred-debt disclosure of the Texas §392.307(e) type.
• The stakes on that two-sentence code are unusually high. As of 2026-01-01 an OCPA violation is a Class D1 felony (up to 5 years, 20% minimum service, fine up to $5,000 under §761.1(E)), on top of a consumer private right of action with fee-shifting, up to $2,000 per violation for unconscionable conduct, and up to $10,000 per violation in AG/DA civil penalties.
• SOL: 5 years written, 3 years not-in-writing, 6 years on notes. There is no open-account category to fall into.
• Revival is broad and payment-triggered. Under §101, a part payment of principal or interest restarts the full period — and unlike an acknowledgment or new promise, a payment needs no writing and no signature. This is the opposite of the Texas debt-buyer rule and of New York's CPLR 214-i.
• The borrowing statute runs the wrong way. For a claim that accrued outside Oklahoma, §105 applies whichever of the two states' periods last bars the claim — the longer one. Most borrowing statutes shorten; Oklahoma's can lengthen.
• Autodialed/prerecorded collection calls cannot start before 9 a.m. — an hour later than the federal floor — and violating the ADAD statute is a misdemeanor. See the trap below on the definitional wrinkle.

Traps / edge cases

• Credit cards have no home in §95 — this is the page's biggest open question. UNVERIFIED (case law). §95 offers only "contract, agreement, or promise in writing" (5 years) or "contract express or implied not in writing" (3 years). Two textual observations, offered as interpretation: (1) §95(A)(1) requires a writing but conspicuously does not require a signature, whereas §101 in the same chapter expressly requires an acknowledgment to be "in writing, signed by the party to be charged" — the legislature knew how to demand a signature and did not do so in §95(A)(1); (2) that reading supports the "produced-agreement" model, i.e. a card claim gets 5 years where the cardholder agreement is actually produced and tied to the account, and otherwise falls to the 3-year not-in-writing bucket. This is statutory-text reasoning, not verified Oklahoma authority — OSCN's case search was Cloudflare-blocked (see verification note). Treat the 3-year exposure as live until counsel confirms otherwise, and do not present 5 years to a consumer as settled.
• §101 vs §102 — does payment revive an already-expired debt? UNVERIFIED (case law). §101 says a new period runs "after such payment" without distinguishing a payment made before or after expiry; §102 says a right of action once barred "shall be unavailable either as a cause of action or ground of defense." Whether a post-expiry payment resurrects an Oklahoma claim is exactly the question those two sections leave open, and it is unresolvable from statutory text alone. Attorney-review territory. For product purposes, model in-period payments as resetting and flag post-expiry payments rather than silently re-aging.
• The ADAD 9 a.m. rule has a definitional catch. Both §755.1 and §1847a define an ADAD as equipment that, among other things, "is used for the purpose of offering any goods or services for sale or conveying information regarding such goods or services" (15 O.S. §752(12)(c); 21 O.S. §1847a(F)(3)) — a sales purpose. Yet the operative subsection expressly contemplates the device "used for collection purposes" (§755.1(C)(2)(b)). A pure collection dialer arguably falls outside the definition while being named inside the rule. Unresolved on the text; the conservative build is to honor a 9 a.m. start for all prerecorded/synthesized-voice collection calls into Oklahoma, since the downside is one lost calling hour and the upside is avoiding a misdemeanor.
• The ADAD rules are cumulative, not alternative. §755.1(C) reads "only when: 1 … and 2 … and 3." The creditor/assignee entry at (C)(3)(c) satisfies element 3 only — it is not an exemption from the element-2 time window.
• §1847a(D) fee-shifting is one-way to the prevailing party, meaning a dialer-timing defect can generate an attorney-fee award against the collector independent of any actual damages.
• Oklahoma's Telephone Solicitation Act of 2022 (15 O.S. §§775C.1–775C.6) does not reach collection calls. Its 8 a.m.–8 p.m. window and its three-calls-per-24-hours cap (§775C.4(A)) bind a "commercial telephone seller or salesperson" making "commercial telephone solicitation" calls. Debt collection is not a solicitation to sell, so that 3-in-24 cap is not an Oklahoma collection frequency cap. Do not import it into a frequency counter.
• Medical-debt suits carry documentation the collector must have on hand before filing (§193): a redacted itemization plus proof of hospital-price-transparency compliance attached to the petition, and a six-item charge-off/last-payment package before any default judgment. §193 changes nothing about the limitations period — Oklahoma has no medical-debt SOL.
• §1751(B) blocks the cheap forum. A collection agency, collection agent, or assignee of a claim cannot use Oklahoma small claims at all, so an Oklahoma placement's cost model must assume regular district-court filing. The exception is narrow: health-care providers as assignees of insurance benefits suing an insurer or TPA.
• §98's tolling proviso mostly self-cancels. Absence from Oklahoma tolls the clock, but not where a long-arm, substituted-service, or service-by-publication statute would let an Oklahoma court obtain personal jurisdiction anyway — which for an ordinary out-of-state consumer debtor is usually the case. Do not apply absence tolling automatically.
• §100 gives a plaintiff a one-year savings window after a reversal or a non-merits failure, even if the base period expired meanwhile — relevant when assessing whether a dismissed prior suit really ended the exposure.

Related

• ../federal/fdcpa/overview.md
• ../federal/reg-f/call-frequency.md
• ../federal/reg-f/time-barred-debt.md
• ./tx.md — the contrast case on revival: TX bars revival for debt buyers (§392.307(d)) where OK's §101 revives on bare payment
• ./_matrix.md