Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Illinois

It depends on whether the debt was based on a written contract. If so, the statute of limitations is 10 years. On open accounts or unwritten contracts, the statute of limitations for collecting on a debt is 5 years.

A potential issue is that, unlike statutes of limitation in other suits, the statute of limitations on debts can be "re-set" by promises to pay or payments within the ten years. If you promised to pay the debt or made a payment as recently as 2003, they may be able to sue and recover the debt.

Two final thoughts:

-- Even if the statute of limitations passed, it does not you do not owe the debt. It just means they will not be able to sue you for it.

-- You may have to prove that the bill is from 1994, which could be hard to do.