Negative Items on Credit Reports — A Plain-English Field Guide

A negative item is any account, status, or remark on your credit report that lowers your score or signals risk to a lender. The most consequential negative items are collections, charge-offs, late payments, repossessions, foreclosures, bankruptcies, judgments, and tax liens. Each one carries its own reporting rules under the FCRA, its own seven-year clock under 15 U.S.C. §1681c, and its own dispute strategy under §1681i and §1681s-2(b).

This index summarizes every major category of negative item Credit1Solutions investigates. Each category page explains how the item appears on TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax reports, the Metro 2 fields most often mis-coded, the FCRA dispute pathway, and the related state-law overlay where one applies.

Categories of negative items

• Collections. A debt assigned or sold to a third-party collector. Subject to both the FCRA accuracy framework and the FDCPA conduct framework. See the Collection Agencies hub and the Debt Buyers hub.
• Charge-offs. An account the original creditor has written off as a loss, typically after 180 days of nonpayment. Continued reporting of post-charge-off interest or fees is a common accuracy violation.
• Late payments. Reported as 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, or 180 days past due. A single 30-day mortgage late can drop a 720 FICO 50+ points. Often disputable when the underlying payment was timely under the original creditor's grace window.
• Repossessions. Most often on auto loans. See the Auto Lender hub for the UCC Article 9 framework that governs the deficiency balance after the repossession sale.
• Foreclosures. The seven-year reporting clock runs from the date of foreclosure sale, not the date of the original delinquency. Re-aging on foreclosure tradelines is a recurring FCRA issue.
• Bankruptcies. Chapter 7 reports for ten years from the filing date; Chapter 13 reports for seven years from the filing date. Discharged debts that continue to report a balance are independently actionable.
• Judgments and tax liens. Since 2017 the bureaus have suppressed most civil judgments and tax liens from credit reports unless the public-record data meets stricter PII matching. Continued reporting under the old rules is a violation.
• Medical collections. Under the 2022 CFPB / CRA joint announcement, paid medical collections and any medical collection under $500 must be suppressed. See the Medical Collections hub.

How a typical dispute proceeds

The dispute pathway runs through both the bureau (FCRA §1681i) and the furnisher (FCRA §1681s-2(b)). The bureau receives the dispute, opens an e-OSCAR investigation, forwards the dispute to the furnisher through an Automated Credit Dispute Verification (ACDV) record, and waits for the furnisher response. The furnisher has 30 days (45 with consumer-supplied documentation) to investigate and report back. When the furnisher rubber-stamps the verification without a real review, the matter becomes a candidate for direct furnisher litigation.

Credit1Solutions handles the round-by-round investigation, the certified-mail proof, and the bureau-response capture. Matters that produce a viable FCRA or FDCPA claim route to an independent attorney network for evaluation at no extra cost.

Start a dispute

If you have one or more negative items on your TransUnion, Experian, or Equifax report and you suspect the data is inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable, start a free 3-bureau review or take the FCRA eligibility quiz.

Cross-references

• Full list of FCRA / FDCPA violation types
• Furnisher directory — companies that report data to the bureaus
• How FCRA / FDCPA litigation works
• Dispute Letter Builder
• Glossary — collections and recovery terminology

Reviewed by Hemminger Law Firm, Consumer Rights Attorneys | Last reviewed: January 1, 2026