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How Long Does Negative Information Remain on Your Credit Reports?
A credit report provides a history of your dealings with creditors, and your open accounts will remain on your reports as long as they’re active. However, certain types of information related to individual accounts—both positive and negative—can stay on your credit report for varying periods, ranging from two to ten years.
Understanding how long information stays on your credit report and its impact on your credit score can help you make better financial decisions, especially if you need to rebuild your credit.
How Long Information Stays on Your Credit Reports
| Type of Information | Timeframe |
|---|---|
| Open accounts in good standing | Indefinitely |
| Closed accounts in good standing | 10 years from the closure date |
| Chapter 7 bankruptcy | 10 years from the filing date |
| Chapter 13 bankruptcy | 7 years from the filing date |
| Collection accounts | 7 years from the original delinquency |
| Late or missed payments | 7 years from the original delinquency |
| Default, including foreclosure, repossession, and settlement | 7 years from the original delinquency |
| Hard credit inquiries | 2 years from the date of the inquiry |
How Long Does Negative Information Remain on Your Credit Reports?
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) defines consumer rights related to credit reporting, including how long certain information may legally remain on your credit reports. Most negative items are related to payment history, which is the most influential factor in your FICO® Score. These items can remain on your credit for a long time:
- Chapter 7 bankruptcy: Stays on your credit reports for 10 years.
- Chapter 13 bankruptcy: Remains on your credit report for seven years.
- Collection accounts: Appear on your credit reports for seven years from the date your account became delinquent.
- Late or missed payments: Remain on your credit reports for seven years.
- Default: Stays on your credit reports for up to seven years from the original delinquency date.
While these negative items can remain on your credit reports for a long time, their impact on your credit score can diminish over time, especially if you practice good credit habits going forward.
How Long Does Positive Information Remain on Your Credit Reports?
The FCRA doesn’t require creditors to remove positive information from your credit reports. As a result, positive information on your open accounts will typically stay on your reports as long as the account remains open. After you close a credit card account or pay off a loan, its positive information will remain on your credit reports and continue to benefit your credit score for 10 years after the closure or payoff date.
How Long Do Inquiries Stay on a Credit Report?
A credit inquiry occurs when an institution, such as a lender, insurance company, utility company, or employer, requests to review your credit file. There are two types of credit inquiries, both of which come off your credit reports after two years.
Hard Inquiry
A hard inquiry will appear on your credit report when you apply for credit, such as a loan, credit card, or line of credit. One inquiry on its own won’t impact your credit score by much, if at all. Multiple inquiries in a short period of time unrelated to rate-shopping can have a more significant impact on your credit score, though that influence decreases over time.
Soft Inquiry
A soft inquiry can occur in various situations, such as when a lender runs your credit to send you a preapproval offer or an employer checks your credit when you apply for a job. While soft inquiries stay on your credit reports for two years, they don’t affect your credit scores.
How to Remove Negative Information From Your Credit Report
If a derogatory credit item on your credit report is accurate and verifiable, there is no way to remove it from your reports. However, if you find something on your credit report that’s incorrect, you have the right to file a dispute with each credit bureau that lists the inaccurate information on your report. Each credit bureau has its own dispute process, but with Experian, you can file a dispute online, over the phone, or via mail.
Provide the reason for your dispute and any documentation you have to support your claim. Once you submit it, the credit bureau will typically resolve it within 30 days and either verify, correct, or remove the information, depending on the results of the investigation.
Time Is on Your Side
While positive information on active accounts will remain on your credit reports indefinitely, both negative information and positive information on a closed account will eventually fall off your credit reports. In other words, even the worst credit mistakes can fade away with time.
If you’re uncertain about your credit health or want to get a better understanding of how certain items are influencing your credit score, register for Experian’s free credit monitoring service and get access to your Experian credit report and FICO® Score.
While your credit score can give you a snapshot of your overall credit health, your credit report provides the information you need to determine which areas you can address to improve your score. You’ll also get real-time alerts when changes are made to your credit report and access to resources to help you improve your credit over time.
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