How Long Does Negative Information Stay on a Credit Report?

The short answer

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), most negative information can stay on your credit reports for up to seven years. Some bankruptcies can stay for up to ten. After that, the credit bureaus must stop reporting it.

These are maximums, not minimums. And they only apply to negative information. Accounts you've paid as agreed can stay on your reports much longer, which helps you. The credit bureaus generally keep closed accounts in good standing for up to ten years after they close.

Quick reference

• Late payments: up to 7 years from the missed payment
• Collections: about 7 years from the original delinquency (legal maximum: 7 years plus 180 days)
• Charge-offs: about 7 years from the original delinquency (legal maximum: 7 years plus 180 days)
• Chapter 7 bankruptcy: up to 10 years from filing
• Chapter 13 bankruptcy: generally 7 years from filing
• Hard inquiries: 2 years (bureau practice)
• Closed accounts in good standing: often up to 10 years after closing

Item by item

Late payments: up to seven years from the date of the missed payment. A single late payment from years ago usually matters much less than a recent one. If you caught up on the account, it can stay on your report in good standing, with the late payment noted in its history until that mark reaches its seven-year limit.

Collection accounts: up to seven years, measured from the original delinquency: the date you first fell behind on the original account and never caught up. Federal law sets the outer limit at seven years plus 180 days from that date. In practice, the credit bureaus generally remove these items about seven years after the account first went past due.

Charge-offs: the same timing as collections. When a lender charges off an account, it stops expecting payment on its books, but that doesn't erase what you owe or remove it from your report.

Repossessions and foreclosures: up to seven years, following the delinquency on the loan.

Chapter 7 bankruptcy: up to ten years from the filing date.

Chapter 13 bankruptcy: the law allows up to ten years, but the major credit bureaus generally remove it seven years after filing.

Accounts included in a bankruptcy: each account follows its own timing, usually seven years from its original delinquency, and should show a zero balance once discharged. That means some accounts can drop off before the bankruptcy itself does.

Hard inquiries: two years. Their effect on scores usually fades well before that, and FICO scores only count inquiries from the last 12 months.

Civil judgments and tax liens: the three major bureaus stopped including these on credit reports several years ago, so they generally shouldn't appear. If you see one, check it. Tenant screening and background check reports are different and may still include court records.

Medical collections: the bureaus have also stopped reporting some medical debt, including paid medical collections and medical collections under $500, and they wait a year before an unpaid medical collection can appear. Rules on medical debt have been changing, and some states set their own limits.

A worked example

Here's how the timing plays out for a single account:

1. January 2020: you miss a credit card payment and never catch up. This is the date of first delinquency.
2. July 2020: the card issuer charges off the account.
3. 2021: the debt is sold to a collection agency, which reports it as a new collection account.
4. 2024: you settle the collection for less than the full balance.

Both the charge-off and the collection are timed from January 2020, not from the charge-off, the sale, or the settlement. Both should stop being reported no later than July 2027 (seven years plus 180 days), and the bureaus generally remove them around January 2027.

The original card account should show a zero balance once it's sold, so you aren't shown owing the same debt twice. The collection account should show a zero balance and a status like "settled" after 2024.

What doesn't restart the clock

Several common situations do not reset the seven-year reporting period:

• Paying or settling the debt. Your report should update to show the payment, but the item keeps its original timeline.
• The debt being sold to a new collection agency.
• A new collector reporting the account under its own name.
• Disputing the item, whatever the result.

If a collector reports a newer delinquency date than the real one, which makes an old debt look recent (sometimes called "re-aging"), that's inaccurate. You can dispute it with the bureau and with the collector. Our guide to common credit report errors explains how.

How to find the dates on your report

Each bureau shows dates a little differently. Look for fields such as:

• Date of first delinquency or date of status
• On record until (Experian) or an estimated removal date (TransUnion)
• Date opened and date closed

The estimated removal date is the easiest check. The bureaus generally set it about seven years after the account first went past due. If it's later than that, ask the bureau why; it should never be more than seven years and 180 days. Our step-by-step guide to reading your credit report shows where these fields usually appear.

Do accurate negative items ever come off early?

Generally, no. The credit bureaus aren't required to remove accurate information before its time limit, and no one, including a credit repair company, can make them. A few things people sometimes ask for:

• Goodwill requests: if you had a single late payment on an account that's otherwise in good standing, you can write to the lender and ask it to update the history as a courtesy. Lenders aren't required to agree, and many won't.
• Inaccurate details: if any part of the item is wrong, such as the dates, the balance, or the status, you can dispute it. Disputes are for information that's inaccurate, incomplete, or can't be verified, not for accurate information you'd simply prefer not to see.

Reporting period vs. statute of limitations

These two are easy to confuse:

• The reporting period is how long an item can appear on your credit report. It's set by federal law.
• The statute of limitations is how long a creditor or collector can sue you over a debt. It's set by state law and varies by state and type of debt.

A debt can be too old to appear on your report and still be legally collectible, or too old to sue over and still be on your report.

In some states, making a payment or acknowledging a debt in writing can restart the statute of limitations, even though it doesn't change the reporting period. If you're dealing with a very old debt, it's worth understanding your state's rules before you pay. The CFPB has more on how this works.

Exceptions to the time limits

The FCRA's time limits don't apply in a few situations, such as when you apply for credit or life insurance of $150,000 or more, or for a job paying $75,000 a year or more. In those cases, older information may still be shared.

How much old items still matter

Even while an item is on your report, its weight tends to fade. Scoring models give more weight to recent activity, so a collection from five years ago, with on-time payments since, generally hurts less than one from last year. Our guide to what affects your credit score explains why.

What to do now

1. Check the dates. Get your free reports at AnnualCreditReport.com and look at the dates of first delinquency on any negative items.
2. Dispute anything past its limit, or anything with dates that look wrong.
3. Check that paid and settled accounts show a zero balance, and that sold debts aren't listed twice.
4. Build positive history in the meantime. On-time payments and low balances add up, and negative items carry less weight as they age.

You can do all of this yourself, for free. If you'd like help sorting through the dates on several accounts, AxleCredit offers credit report reviews.