Debt Collection Laws in Delaware

If you're dealing with debt collection in Delaware, here's what actually protects you: a cap on how much of your paycheck can be garnished, a base amount of home equity and bank funds creditors can't touch, and a deadline after which a debt lawsuit generally can't succeed. Current as ofJuly 2026 — sourcing for each section is linked below.

How much of my paycheck can be garnished in Delaware?

Delaware caps ordinary consumer-debt garnishment at 15% of your wages — a flat statutory rule that's notably lower than the 25%-of-disposable-earnings ceiling most states borrow from federal law.

Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 4913(a) puts it the other way around: 85% of a person's wages for labor or service is exempt from attachment and execution process, which leaves 15% as the maximum a creditor can reach. Delaware doesn't layer on the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act's second test — the '30 times the minimum wage' floor that caps garnishment further at low income levels in most other states — its rule is just the flat 15%, full stop.

The statute carves out one narrow exception: § 4913(a) says the 85% exemption doesn't apply to 'process issued for the collection of a fine or costs or taxes due and owing the State,' so state fines and tax debts can be collected outside the 15% cap. Section 4913(b) also limits a creditor to a single wage attachment at a time — once one creditor has an attachment in place, it holds priority until that judgment and costs are paid in full, so a second creditor generally has to wait its turn rather than stacking a second garnishment on top.

• Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 4913

Can a creditor take money from my bank account in Delaware?

Delaware has no dedicated bank-account exemption for ordinary judgment collection — the closest thing is a $500 general personal-property exemption for heads of family under § 4903, and it's on top of a handful of small, fixed-dollar categories that still vary by county.

Section 4902 exempts specific items outright — family Bible, wearing apparel, a burial plot — plus 'tools and implements' used in a trade or occupation, but that tools exemption is capped at $75 in New Castle and Sussex Counties and only $50 in Kent County, a leftover of Delaware's old county-by-county exemption scheme that still hasn't been unified statewide. None of § 4902 speaks to cash or bank deposits directly.

Section 4903 adds $500 of 'other personal property' that the debtor gets to select, available only to a head of family — and this is the provision most often used to shield a modest bank balance from an ordinary garnishment, since it isn't tied to a specific item. It's worth knowing that Delaware's much larger $25,000 wildcard personal-property exemption under § 4914(b) exists only inside a bankruptcy or state insolvency proceeding — it does not apply to garnishment or attachment in a routine state-court debt collection case, so someone fighting a bank levy outside of bankruptcy is working with the $500 figure, not $25,000.

• Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 4902
• Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 4903
• Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 4914

Is my home protected from creditors in Delaware?

Delaware effectively has no homestead exemption in an ordinary state-court judgment case — the $200,000 equity protection people find when they search 'Delaware homestead exemption' only applies inside a federal bankruptcy or state insolvency proceeding, not to a regular creditor's execution against your house.

Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 4914(c)(1) does protect up to $200,000 of equity in a debtor's principal residence — but subsection (a) frames the entire section as exemptions available 'in any bankruptcy proceeding' under 11 U.S.C. § 522(b), and subsection (b) repeats that the property being exempted comes 'from the bankruptcy or insolvency estate.' Outside of filing bankruptcy (or a parallel state insolvency proceeding), that $200,000 figure simply doesn't apply.

This is a long-standing quirk of Delaware law: real property has historically not been shielded from ordinary judgment execution the way it is in most other states, and the $200,000 homestead figure is a comparatively recent creation — added specifically so Delaware debtors who file bankruptcy (Delaware opted out of the federal bankruptcy exemption menu) aren't left with zero home-equity protection. A homeowner facing a judgment lien or sheriff's sale outside of bankruptcy should not assume any dollar amount of home equity is automatically off-limits.

• Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 4914

How long can a debt collector sue me in Delaware?

Delaware gives creditors just 3 years to sue on most consumer debt — including credit cards and other open accounts — one of the shorter general limitations periods in the country, though promissory notes get a longer 6-year window.

Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 8106(a) sets a 3-year period for 'a debt not evidenced by a record or by an instrument under seal' — Delaware doesn't give ordinary written contracts a longer clock than open accounts the way many states do, so a typical credit-card balance and a signed installment agreement generally land in the same 3-year bucket unless the underlying paper qualifies as a negotiable instrument.

Section 8109 carves out a separate, longer 6-year period specifically for actions on 'a promissory note, bill of exchange, or an acknowledgment under the hand of the party of a subsisting demand' — so whether a particular debt gets 3 years or 6 can turn on the precise legal character of the paperwork behind it, not just the type of purchase that created the debt.

Large commercial-scale agreements get special treatment: § 8106(c) lets parties to a written contract involving at least $100,000 specify their own limitations period in the contract itself, up to 20 years — a provision aimed at commercial lending, not ordinary consumer debt.

• Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 8106
• Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 8109

Does Delaware have its own debt collection law beyond the federal FDCPA?

Delaware doesn't have a standalone debt-collection-practices statute or a state license requirement for collection agencies — debt collectors who cross the line in Delaware are instead reached through the general Consumer Fraud Act, which bans unfair or deceptive practices in connection with any 'merchandise,' a term the statute defines broadly enough to include services.

6 Del. C. § 2513 makes it unlawful to use 'deception, fraud, false pretense, false promise, misrepresentation, unfair practice, or the concealment, suppression, or omission of any material fact' in connection with the sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement of merchandise — and § 2511(6) defines 'merchandise' to include 'objects, wares, goods, commodities, intangibles, real estate or services,' which is broad enough to reach abusive or deceptive debt-collection conduct even though the Act was not written with collectors specifically in mind. Unlike neighboring states, Delaware's Office of the State Bank Commissioner does not issue a collection-agency or debt-collector license — its published non-depository license list covers mortgage brokers, licensed lenders, check-cashers, money transmitters, and similar businesses, but no collection-agency category.

Consumers get a direct route to court: § 2525 creates a private cause of action for 'any victim of a violation of this subchapter,' separate from the Attorney General's own enforcement power under § 2522, which lets the state seek injunctions and a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation. Because the Consumer Fraud Act is a general-purpose statute rather than a collections-specific one, a Delaware consumer relying on it typically has to show the collector's conduct amounts to deception or an unfair practice under § 2513, not merely a technical miss of some collection-specific rule — most of the detailed, contact-by-contact conduct rules consumers rely on for debt collectors still come from the federal FDCPA.

• 6 Del. C. § 2513
• 6 Del. C. § 2511
• 6 Del. C. § 2522
• 6 Del. C. § 2525
• Delaware Office of the State Bank Commissioner — Licensing

Where can I find free or low-cost legal help in Delaware?

If you're dealing with a debt lawsuit, garnishment, or collector dispute in Delaware, a good starting point is the state bar's lawyer referral service or one of the legal aid organizations below — both can point you to self-help court resources even if you don't qualify for free representation.

• Delaware State Bar Association — Online Lawyer Referral Service
• Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. (CLASI)