How long negative items stay on your credit report
Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, a credit bureau may not report most negative items, including collection accounts, charge-offs and late payments, once they are more than seven years old, and may not report a bankruptcy case more than ten years old. For collections and charge-offs, the seven years start 180 days after the delinquency began, and selling the debt does not restart that clock.
You pulled your credit report and found a collection account from a card you stopped paying a long time ago. Or a late payment from the year you lost your job. The question is simple: how long can they keep reporting it?
The answer is written into the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and for most negative items it is seven years. The harder part is knowing when the seven years began.
The federal time limits
Section 1681c(a) of the FCRA lists what a consumer reporting agency may not report once it is too old:
| Item | Limit |
|---|---|
| Bankruptcy cases | 10 years from the order for relief or adjudication |
| Accounts placed for collection or charged off | 7 years |
| Civil suits and judgments | 7 years, or the governing limitation period if longer |
| Paid tax liens | 7 years |
| Any other adverse item, such as late payments | 7 years |
| Records of criminal convictions | No federal time limit |
Two exceptions matter. The limits do not apply to a report used for a job with an annual salary of $75,000 or more, or for credit or life insurance of $150,000 or more (15 U.S.C. § 1681c(b)). Outside those thresholds, an item past its limit should not be on the report at all.
When the seven years start
For collection accounts and charge-offs, the statute sets the start date itself. The seven-year period begins when 180 days have passed after the start of the delinquency that came right before the collection activity or the charge-off (15 U.S.C. § 1681c(c)(1)).
In plain terms: find the first payment you missed and did not catch up on. Add 180 days. Add seven years. That is roughly when the account should drop off.
That date does not move because the debt was sold. It does not move because you made a small payment. It does not move because a new collector started calling. The anchor is the original delinquency.
This is where errors happen. When an account passes from a bank to a collector to a debt buyer, each company reports its own entry. If one of them reports a later delinquency date than the original, the account can look years younger than it is. That practice is often called re-aging, and a report built on the wrong date may be inaccurate. A bureau must follow reasonable procedures to assure the maximum possible accuracy of what it reports (15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b)).
New York has its own list
New York's Fair Credit Reporting Act, General Business Law § 380-j(f)(1), sets its own limits. On its face it bars reporting paid collection or charged-off accounts more than five years old, and satisfied judgments more than five years after entry. It also bars reporting medical debt and arrests that did not lead to a conviction (§ 380-j(a)).
The preemption question
The federal FCRA preempts state laws on the subject matter of § 1681c, except state laws that were in effect on September 30, 1996 (15 U.S.C. § 1681t(b)(1)(E)). Whether a given New York clause survives depends on its history. Do not assume the shorter New York period applies to your account until that is checked.
New Jersey and Florida residents rely on the federal limits. See New York for the state rules in full.
When an old item stays anyway
An item past its limit that stays on your report is a dispute worth sending, and possibly a claim.
- The dispute. The bureau must conduct a reasonable reinvestigation within 30 days of receiving your dispute and delete information it finds inaccurate or cannot verify (15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)).
- The claim. Reporting obsolete information violates § 1681c. For a willful violation the FCRA allows actual damages or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, plus punitive damages; for a negligent one, actual damages (§§ 1681n, 1681o). The FCRA requires a company found liable to pay the consumer's reasonable attorney's fees and costs.
- The clock on your claim. The earlier of two years after you discover the violation or five years after it occurred (§ 1681p).
The credit report errors page covers the other kinds of mistakes, and how to dispute walks through the letter.
What to do this week
- Get all three reports. Free at AnnualCreditReport.com, which the FTC says now lets you check each report once a week at no charge.
- Find the dates. For every negative item, note the date of first delinquency the report shows. Compare it against your own statements.
- Do the math. First delinquency plus 180 days plus seven years. Anything past that date, outside the salary and insurance exceptions, is obsolete.
- Dispute in writing with each bureau that still shows it, and keep copies. If a collection account shows a later date than the original account, say so in the first two sentences.
Sources: 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681c, 1681e(b), 1681i, 1681n, 1681o, 1681p, 1681t(b)(1)(E); N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 380-j; FTC, Free Credit Reports.
Common questions
Does paying a collection account take it off my report?
Not under the federal Act by itself. The federal seven-year period for a collection or charged-off account runs from 180 days after the delinquency that led to the collection or charge-off began, not from the date you pay. New York's own statute sets a shorter period for paid collection accounts, but whether that state rule survives federal preemption is an open question.
A debt buyer bought my old account. Does the seven years start over?
No. The statute ties the period to the original delinquency that came before the collection activity or charge-off. A new owner does not get a new start date. A collection account that shows a newer delinquency date than the original account may be reporting inaccurate information.
Can an old item ever be reported after seven years?
The limits do not apply to reports used for a job paying $75,000 a year or more, or for credit or life insurance of $150,000 or more. Criminal convictions are also outside the seven-year rule. Civil judgments may be reported for seven years or until the governing limitation period expires, whichever is longer.
Tell us what they did.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which laws the collector or the credit bureau broke, which deadline runs first, and what to save this week. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510The FDCPA and the FCRA require a company found liable to pay the consumer’s reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. Our fee arrangement is confirmed in a written retainer before we begin. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language.