How Long Do Negative Items Stay on Your Credit Report?
The items on your credit report are called tradelines. They can either be positive or negative. Positive tradelines help your credit score and negative tradelines lower your credit score. Most negative items remain on your credit report for 7 years from the date of first delinquency, but there are exceptions:
Delinquencies (30 – 180 days late) remain for 7 years from the date of the initial missed payment.
Collection Accounts remain on your credit report for 7 years from the date of the initial missed payment that led to the collection (the original delinquency date). When a collection account is paid in full, it will be marked “paid collection” on the credit report.
Charged Off Accounts remain for 7 years from the date of the initial missed payment that led to the charge off (the original delinquency date), even if payments are later made on the charged-off account.
Closed accounts are accounts that are no longer available for further use. Closed accounts may or may not have a zero balance. Closed accounts with delinquencies remain 7 years from the date they are reported closed, whether closed by the creditor or by the consumer.
Positive closed accounts remain at least 10 years.
Lost credit card – If there are no delinquencies, credit cards that are reported lost will continue to be listed for 2 years from the date the card is reported lost. Delinquent payments that occurred before the card was lost are reported for seven years.
Bankruptcy- Chapters 7, 11, and 12 remain for 10 years from the filing date. Chapter 13 remains 7 years from the filing date. Accounts included in bankruptcy remain 7 years from the date they were reported as included in the bankruptcy.
Judgments (child support, civil & small claims) remain on your report for 7 years from the date the judgment is filed.
Tax Liens – (city, county, state, and federal) Unpaid tax liens remain 15 years from the filing date. Paid tax liens remain 7 years from the paid date of the lien.
Inquiries remain on your credit report for 2 years, with those in the last 6 months usually given the most consideration.
Positive Accounts remain indefinitely and paid positive accounts remain 10 years.
The credit experts at Credit1Solutions.com know credit law and how to use the laws to your advantage. Credit1Solutions.com works with you during the dispute process to achieve the best possible outcome in eliminating negative items that are impacting your credit life. Our credit experts will analyze your credit report to target for removal the inaccurate, misleading and unverifiable items. The good news is that the reporting system itself is flawed, 96.7% of negative items are on the report WRONG!