How Long Does Your Credit History Last: 7-Year Rule and Bankruptcy

Most negative information stays on your credit report for seven years under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, though bankruptcies can remain for up to ten years and positive account history often lasts even longer.¹ The exact timeline depends on the type of entry, and knowing it tells you when a credit bureau is required to drop the item and when you can force the issue with a dispute.

The Seven-Year Rule

Seven years is the default reporting window for most negative marks. It covers late payments, accounts sent to collections, charge-offs, repossessions, and foreclosures.¹ Once the window closes, credit bureaus have to stop including the entry in reports they sell to lenders. A foreclosure, for instance, stays on your report for seven years from the date of the foreclosure itself.²

Selling a debt to a new collector does not reset the clock. The original delinquency date still anchors the seven-year period, and any collector who reports the account with a fresher date is re-aging the debt in violation of federal law. That kind of entry is disputable.

When the Clock Actually Starts

For a collection or charge-off, the countdown does not begin the day the account went to collections or the day the creditor wrote it off. It begins 180 days after the original delinquency — the missed payment that started the chain leading to the collection or charge-off.¹

That distinction matters because months or even years can pass between the first missed payment and the eventual collection activity. Tying the clock to the original delinquency stops the entry from lingering on your report just because a creditor waited to act. If you are calculating when a collection should fall off, work back to that first missed payment, add 180 days, and count seven years from there.

Bankruptcy: Up to Ten Years

A bankruptcy filing can stay on your credit report for up to ten years from the filing date, regardless of chapter. The statute sets a single ten-year ceiling for all cases filed under federal bankruptcy law.¹

In practice, the three major bureaus usually remove a completed Chapter 13 after seven years rather than ten, reflecting the partial repayment involved in a Chapter 13 plan. A Chapter 7, where most unsecured debts are discharged without a repayment plan, generally stays for the full ten. The shorter Chapter 13 timeline is a bureau policy, not a legal requirement, so treat it as the norm rather than a guarantee.

Medical Debt

Medical debt has moved around more than any other category recently. Starting in 2023, the three major bureaus voluntarily stopped reporting medical collections under $500 and removed paid medical collections. In January 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule that would have barred medical debt from credit reports entirely.³

That rule never took effect. A federal court in Texas vacated it in July 2025, finding the CFPB had exceeded its statutory authority. Credit bureaus and lenders can once again include unpaid medical bills on credit reports and factor them into lending decisions. The bureaus’ earlier voluntary limits remain in place for now, but they could change at any time. If you have unpaid medical collections showing on your report, the standard seven-year window applies.

Tax Liens and Civil Judgments

The FCRA technically allows paid tax liens to appear for seven years from the payment date and permits unpaid tax liens to remain indefinitely.¹ Reality diverges sharply from the statute. Under the 2017 National Consumer Assistance Plan, the three bureaus adopted data standards requiring public records to include the consumer’s name, address, and either a Social Security number or date of birth, with refreshed data every 90 days.⁴

Most public record sources could not meet those requirements. All civil judgments came off credit reports in mid-2017, and nearly all tax liens were gone by April 2018. Today, tax liens and civil judgments generally do not appear on reports from Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion, even though the law still permits them. If one does show up on your report, the bureaus’ own data standards give you grounds to dispute it.

When Older Negative Information Can Still Be Seen

The seven-year cap does not apply universally. Federal law lets certain requesters see negative entries beyond the normal window:¹

A lender considering a credit transaction with a principal amount of $150,000 or more
An insurer underwriting a life insurance policy with a face value of $150,000 or more
An employer evaluating you for a position with an annual salary of $75,000 or more

These thresholds are set by statute and have not been adjusted for inflation. If you are applying for a large mortgage or being screened for a high-salary job, older negative information that would otherwise be off-limits can still surface.

How Long Positive History Sticks Around

Good history lasts far longer than bad. An open account in good standing can stay on your report indefinitely, building your credit age and payment history the whole time. When you close an account that was paid as agreed, the bureaus typically keep it on your report for up to ten years from the date it was closed or last reported.⁵

If you had a late payment on an otherwise positive account, that specific late payment still falls off after seven years, while the rest of the account’s positive record can remain for the full ten years after closing.

Credit Inquiries

Hard inquiries, the kind generated when you formally apply for a loan, credit card, or mortgage, stay on your report for two years. Their effect on your score is small and fades faster than that. Most scoring models only factor in hard inquiries from the previous 12 months, and the score impact often diminishes within a few months.⁶

Soft inquiries, like checking your own credit or receiving a pre-approval offer, are visible only to you and do not affect your score.

Fraudulent Entries From Identity Theft

Accounts or debts opened in your name by someone else do not have to sit through the normal reporting periods. Once you report identity theft to a credit bureau and provide the required documentation, which includes proof of your identity, a copy of an identity theft report, and a statement identifying the fraudulent information, the bureau has to block that information from your report within four business days.⁷

This blocking procedure is separate from the ordinary dispute process and applies specifically to identity theft. Blocked entries should not reappear.

Disputing Items That Should Have Fallen Off

If a negative entry is still on your report past its allowed period, you can dispute it directly with the bureau reporting it. Disputes can be filed online, by phone, or by mail. Once the bureau receives the dispute, it generally has 30 days to investigate and respond.⁸ The window extends to 45 days if you submit additional supporting information during the investigation or filed the dispute after requesting your free annual report.⁹

When a bureau resolves a dispute by simply deleting the disputed item, it can do so within three business days without a full investigation.⁸ Once the investigation ends, the bureau has to tell you the results and send you an updated copy of your report if anything changed. If a bureau will not correct or remove information that should no longer appear, you can file a complaint with the CFPB or pursue a claim in court under the FCRA.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports
2
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If I Lose My Home to Foreclosure, Can I Ever Buy a Home Again?
3
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Prohibition on Creditors and Consumer Reporting Agencies Concerning Medical Information – Regulation V
4
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Removal of Public Records Has Little Effect on Consumers Credit Scores
5
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Does Information Stay on My Credit Report?
6
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Happens When a Mortgage Lender Checks My Credit
7
Federal Trade Commission. FCRA 605B – 15 USC 1681c-2
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy
9
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Does It Take to Repair an Error on a Credit Report