Maryland Student Loan Statute of Limitations: How the 3-Year Deadline Works

The statute of limitations on student loans in Maryland is three years. Understanding when that clock starts can feel confusing, but knowing the rule will help you gauge your legal risk — whether you’ve been sued already or are trying to avoid future collection.

In Maryland, private student loan lenders have three years to file a lawsuit for unpaid debt. If they miss this deadline, they lose the ability to collect through the courts — unless they already have a judgment, which can be renewed every 12 years.

When the three-year clock starts depends on how your loan is handled:

• Installment basis: If the loan isn’t accelerated, the deadline applies separately to each missed payment.

• Acceleration: If the lender demands the entire balance immediately, the clock starts on that date.

These rules apply only to private student loans. Federal loans, including Direct Loans, PLUS Loans, and Perkins Loans, have no statute of limitations. The government can collect at any time.

Related: Student Loan Statute of Limitations by State

Even if your student loan contract points to another state’s laws, Maryland courts apply Maryland’s own three-year statute of limitations.

That’s because Maryland treats the statute of limitations as a procedural rule, not a substantive one:

• Substantive law defines your rights and obligations — for example, whether you owe a debt or how much interest applies.

• Procedural law sets the rules for enforcing those rights, like how long a lender has to sue or where the lawsuit can be filed.

Think of it this way: substantive law decides whether you owe money, procedural law decides how long someone has to take you to court.

Since statutes of limitations fall under procedural law, Maryland courts use their own deadline regardless of which state is named in your loan contract.

Related: Maryland Student Loan Lawsuit: How to Respond

Maryland courts always apply their own three-year statute of limitations, but the start date of that three-year clock can depend on your loan contract.

The key issue is acceleration:

• If the loan isn’t accelerated, the statute of limitations applies separately to each missed payment.

• If the lender accelerates the loan — demanding the full balance immediately — the clock starts from that date.

Whether acceleration has legally occurred is treated as a substantive issue, which means the law of the state named in your contract decides how acceleration works.

For example, Maryland courts recognized in Shadrin v. Student Loan Solutions that under California law, a lender must take an “affirmative act” — like sending a letter demanding full repayment — before acceleration is valid.

In some states, making a small payment or admitting you owe a debt can restart the statute of limitations. Maryland law is stricter.

Once Maryland’s three-year period has expired, neither a partial payment nor a verbal acknowledgment can restart it. Lawmakers closed this loophole to stop lenders from using small payments or “gotcha” conversations to extend the time they have to sue. At that point, the right to sue is gone for good.

If the statute hasn’t expired yet, certain actions can still create a new obligation:

• Written agreements — signing a new repayment plan or settlement can restart the statute because it creates a new contract.

• Partial payments or verbal acknowledgments — on their own, these don’t restart the clock in Maryland, but collectors may still try to pressure you into signing something that does.

Before agreeing to anything, confirm whether the three-year period has already passed.

Related: Maryland Student Loan Defenses

When Maryland’s three-year statute of limitations expires, lenders can no longer sue to collect your student loan debt. If no lawsuit was filed within that period, the right to use the courts is permanently lost.

The debt, however, does not disappear. Lenders and collectors may still:

• Contact you by phone, mail, or email to request payment.
  Report the debt to credit bureaus (usually for up to seven years from the date of default)

• Offer a settlement or new repayment plan, which could restart the statute if you agree in writing.

If you are sued on a time-barred debt, the court will not dismiss the case automatically. You must raise the statute of limitations as a defense. Ignoring the lawsuit could result in a default judgment, even if the debt is too old.

If a lender already obtained a judgment before the three-year deadline, they can renew that judgment every 12 years. In that case, collection methods such as wage garnishment can continue regardless of the debt’s age.

Related: Maryland Student Loan Lawyers

• 20 U.S.C. § 1091a — Federal law eliminating the statute of limitations on federal student loans.

• Akinmeji v. Jos A. Bank Clothiers, Inc., 399 F. Supp. 3d 466 (D. Md. 2019) — Maryland courts treat statutes of limitations as procedural rules, so Maryland’s three-year deadline applies even if another state’s law is named in the contract.

• Shadrin v. Student Loan Solutions, LLC, No. CCB-20-3641 (D. Md. Mar. 31, 2022) — Clarifies when the statute of limitations begins for installment vs. accelerated loans, and confirms Maryland applies the substantive law of the contract state to determine acceleration.