Collecting debt in Missouri: licensing, bonds and statutes of limitations.

“Nothing contained in sections 516.320 and 516.330 shall alter, take away or lessen the effect of a payment of any principal or interest made by any person.”

Caneer v. Kent (static.case.law/mo/342/cases/0878-01.json): 'It is not the indorsement of a credit but the payment that operates as a renewal of a promise and removes the bar of the Statute of Limitations. Part payment does not take a debt out of the statute unless made under such circumstances as to warrant the inference that the debtor thereby recognizes the debt and signifies his willingness to pay it.' Anderson v. Stanley (static.case.law/sw2d/753/cases/0098-02.json): 'Generally, part payment on a debt tolls the statute of limitations ... Such a part payment acknowledges the existence of the indebtedness and raises an implied promise to pay the balance.' Payment need not be in writing; only an acknowledgment or new promise must be (516.320).

“no acknowledgment or promise hereafter made shall be evidence of a new or continuing contract, whereby to take any case out of the operation of the provisions of sections 516.100 to 516.370 ... unless such acknowledgment or promise be made or contained by or in some writing subscribed by the party chargeable thereby.”

Oral acknowledgments do not restart the period; only a writing signed by the debtor. The Revisor section heading reads 'Actions barred, only revived by written promise', so a signed written acknowledgment also revives an already-barred contract debt.

Quote: 'Whenever a cause of action has been fully barred by the laws of the state, territory or country in which it originated, said bar shall be a complete defense to any action thereon, brought in any of the courts of this state.' One-way borrowing: a claim barred where it originated is barred in Missouri; a shorter Missouri period still applies on its own terms.

No Missouri statute requires a collector to disclose that a debt is time-barred. Chapter 425 contains only debt-adjuster provisions and 425.300 (real party in interest on assignment); chapter 407 (Merchandising Practices) and chapter 516 have no disclosure rule. Missouri has no state debt-collection practices act; federal Reg. F (12 CFR 1006.26) governs. Pending-bill history: HB 1509 (2025) and HB 2793 (2026), both by Rep. Anderson, would have shortened the 516.110 period for consumer debt and moved credit-card actions to a shorter period; neither passed (HB 2793 last action 'Referred: Emerging Issues(H)' 2026-05-15 per BillTrack50). Revisor text of 516.110/516.120 unchanged as of 2026-09-20.

Welborn (Mo. banc 1965), read on the Harvard CAP archive: 'Under these general statutes of limitation, a part payment made within the prescribed statutory period before suit is brought will take a case out of the operation of the statute of limitation whether the payment was made before or after the statutory period has elapsed', citing Loewenstein v. Queen Ins. Co., 227 Mo. 100; Johnson v. Johnson, 81 Mo. 331; Shannon v. Austin, 67 Mo. 485; Hickey v. Sigillito, 162 S.W.2d 638, and 516.340. The court applied that rule to a payment (medical aid) furnished after the one-year period had elapsed and held it 'revived the employee's claim and right of action'. Limits from Caneer: the payment must be voluntary and made under circumstances warranting the inference that the debtor recognizes the debt; indorsements of payments made after the bar do not revive unless made at the direction of, or with the knowledge and consent of, the debtor. No modern Missouri appellate case applies the rule to a consumer credit-card debt already past five years; Creed said only that a partial payment 'arguably' extended the period.