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Jim Probasco has 30+ years of experience writing for online, print, radio, and television media, including PBS. His expertise includes government programs and policy, retirement planning, insurance, family finance, home ownership and loans. He has a bachelor's from Ohio University and Master's from Wright State University in music education.
Updated June 01, 2023 Reviewed by Reviewed by Erika RasureErika Rasure is globally-recognized as a leading consumer economics subject matter expert, researcher, and educator. She is a financial therapist and transformational coach, with a special interest in helping women learn how to invest.
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Part of the Series Bad Credit GuideDefining ‛Bad Credit’
What Hurts Your Credit Score
How to Get Credit with Bad Credit
How to Repair Bad Credit
The length of time that negative information can remain on your credit report is governed by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Most of it must be taken off after seven years. Some items, such as bankruptcy, can remain for up to 10 years, and other items, such as civil judgments or tax liens no longer are reported at all. Following are eight types of negative information that may appear on your report, with suggestions on how to lessen their damage.
A hard inquiry, also known as a hard credit check or hard pull, happens when you apply for credit and the lender requests your full credit report from a credit bureau. That is not necessarily negative information, but it can deduct a few points from your credit score, and too many hard inquiries will add up. Fortunately, they remain on your credit report for only two years following the inquiry date.
Limit the damage: Bunch up hard inquiries, such as mortgage applications, in a two-week period so they count as one inquiry. Credit scoring models don't punish you in that case because they assume you're just shopping around for one loan, not attempting to get several at the same time.
Late payments (usually more than 30 days late), missed payments, and accounts that have been turned over to a collection agency can remain on your credit report for seven years from the date of the delinquency.
Limit the damage: Be sure to make payments on time—or catch up. If you usually are up to date but happened to miss a payment, call the creditor and ask that this rare lapse not be reported to the credit bureaus.
When a creditor writes off your debt following nonpayment, this is known as a charge-off. Charge-offs remain on your credit report for up to seven years from the date of the first missed payment.
Limit the damage: Try to pay off all or a negotiated amount of the debt. The ding to your credit won't be removed, but you likely won't be sued.
If you default on a student loan, that information will remain on your credit report for seven years from the date of default. Private student loans can go into default after three months of nonpayment, while federal loans don't go into default for nine months.
Limit the damage: If you have federal student loans and are having trouble repaying them, the Department of Education has a variety of programs that are worth exploring, such as loan rehabilitation, loan consolidation, and different repayment plans. If you rehabilitate the loan, you can have the default removed from your credit report, although the record of late payments will remain. With private loans, contact the lender and request modification.
Foreclosure is when your lender takes ownership of your home for failure to make timely payments. This stays on your credit report for seven years from the date of the first missed payment.
Limit the damage: Make sure you pay your other bills on time and take steps to rebuild your credit.
The length of time bankruptcy stays on your credit report depends on the type of bankruptcy, but it generally ranges between seven and 10 years. Bankruptcy, known as the “credit score killer,” can knock 130 to 150 points off your credit score, according to FICO. A completed Chapter 13 bankruptcy that is discharged or dismissed typically comes off your report seven years after filing, though in rare cases it may remain for 10 years. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy will hang around for 10 years.
Limit the damage: Don't wait to start rebuilding your credit. Get a secured credit card, pay any accounts that weren't discharged in the bankruptcy as agreed, and apply for new credit only once you can handle the debt.
Both paid and unpaid civil judgments used to remain on your credit report for seven years from the filing date in most cases. By 2018, however, the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, had removed all civil judgments from credit reports.
Limit the damage: Check your credit reports to make sure the public records section does not contain information about civil judgments. If you find one, ask to have it removed.
Paid tax liens, like civil judgments, used to be part of your credit report for seven years. Unpaid liens could remain on your credit report indefinitely in almost every case. Since 2018, all three major credit bureaus removed all tax liens from credit reports due to inaccurate reporting.
Limit the damage: Check your credit report to ensure that it does not contain information about tax liens. If it does, file a dispute with the credit bureau to have it removed.
You can get copies of your credit reports from all three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—at the official website, AnnualCreditReport.com. By law, you are entitled to a free report from each bureau at least once per year.
Through the end of 2023, all three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—are providing free weekly online credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com due to potential financial difficulties from the coronavirus pandemic.
No, there is nothing you can do to have negative information removed from your credit report before it normally would drop off unless the information is inaccurate. If you find erroneous information, you can dispute it with the credit bureau, which is required to investigate the matter and get back to you. All three major bureaus explain that process on their websites, and you usually can file your request online.
Most states have statutes of limitation on debts, typically three to five years, after which debt collectors no longer can take legal action against you. However, they still can attempt to collect those debts in other ways, and the debts will remain on your credit reports until they drop off due to age.
While most negative information eventually will disappear from your credit reports, there is little you can do to speed up the process unless the information is in error. For that reason, it's best to keep paying your bills on time to prevent negative information from getting on your credit report in the first place.
Article SourcesDefining ‛Bad Credit’
What Hurts Your Credit Score
How to Get Credit with Bad Credit
How to Repair Bad Credit
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The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is the federal law regulating the collection of consumers’ credit information and access to their credit reports.
A bullet transaction is a loan in which all principal is repaid when the loan matures instead of in installments over the life of the loan.
A credit rating is an assessment of the creditworthiness of a company or government—in general terms or with respect to a particular debt or financial obligation.
A FICO score is a credit score that many lenders use to assess an applicant’s credit risk. Learn how a FICO score works and how you can raise your credit score.
Credit is a contractual agreement in which a borrower receives something of value immediately and agrees to pay for it later, usually with interest.
Chapter 11 is a type of bankruptcy generally filed by businesses and involves a reorganization of their assets and debts under court supervision.
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