It sure seems like it. There are many examples of hard-wired human instincts that help keep us alive. Perhaps the most obvious case is the fight-or-flight response, coined by Harvard University physiologist Walter Cannon in 1915.
There is no time limit on that debt. A collection agency can legally pursue you until the debt is paid in full.   However, there is a time limit on the negative consequences of not paying the debt. In most circumstances that limit is seven years. Seven years from the time you became delinquent with your original creditor.
Actually, collection accounts may be reported for seven years +180 days from the date you first fell behind with the original creditor (the original date of delinquency). If the creditor is reporting the debt is a charge-off, then that charge-off can be reported for seven years from the date it was charged-off.ere is what many debt collection agencies are doing, they will take an old debt that has long expired after the 7 or 10 year mark and then change the original date of debt and place it back on your credit report.