Negative information appearing on a credit report can easily happen to virtually anyone. You may forget to pay a bill, not receive your mail, or undergo an unfortunate and unexpected expense that you cannot afford to pay, such as a medical bill. The end result may be that the creditor reports a late or missing payment, resulting in negative information on your credit report and a weakened overall credit score. Fortunately for consumers, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that this negative information be removed after a certain period of time.

4 Questions for Determining How Long Negative Information Can Remain On Your Credit Report

If you have negative information on your credit report and are trying to determine when it might be removed, it is important to consider the following questions:

  1. What was the date of the first delinquency? Generally, most negative marks on your credit report must be removed seven years from the date of the last scheduled payment.
  2. Did you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy? If so, the information relating to the bankruptcy can remain on your report for ten years. After that date, it must be removed.
  3. Did a creditor or other party obtain a judgment against you? Most judgments can only remain on your credit report for seven years. Some states, however, have statutes of limitations that allow for judgments to remain on your report for a longer period of time. If your judgment was issued in such a state, it can remain on your credit report for the longer period of time.
  4. Is the negative information relating to money that is owed to or guaranteed by the government? In these cases, the negative information can remain on your credit report forever, or until seven years after the date on which it was paid off. Examples include unpaid taxes and student loans.

If information is wrongly report on your credit report, you may be entitled to pursue legal action. In addition, you may also be entitled to damages if a debt collector uses illegal debt collection practices against you. We are here to help you protect your credit report and deal with harassment from creditors. We encourage you to contact us today for more information at 804- 282-7900.

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