Updated: May 13, 2021, 1:58pm Editorial Note: Forbes may earn a commission on sales made from partner links on this page, but that doesn't affect our editors' opinions or evaluations. Getty If you stop making payments on a student loan for several months, the debt will go into collections. The creditor may then decide to sue you for the remaining balance, but they only have a certain amount of time to do it. The statute of limitations is the time period during which a lender can sue you to collect an unpaid debt. Once that time has passed, the lender can no longer sue you to collect the debt. This is called “time-barred” debt. The statute of limitations on student loans depends on the type of loan you have: federal or private.