Credit reports are an important tool that credit lenders use to determine if a person is creditworthy. When inaccurate or outdated adverse information is on a consumer’s credit report, that information can make it very difficult to obtain credit. This can cause a significant amount of emotional distress, especially when residential mortgages are involved. As a consumer, it is important that to be aware of what information is in your credit report, and whether any of that information is wrongfully reported.
The FCRA Governs How Long Adverse Information Can Stay on Your Credit Report
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) only permits credit reporting agencies to report negative or adverse consumer information for a certain period of time. Any neutral or positive information may remain on a person’s credit report indefinitely. How long adverse information remains on a credit report depends on the specific situation.
A few examples include the following:
- Bankruptcies – If you filed for bankruptcy and discharged/satisfied all of your debts, the bankruptcy will be recorded on your credit report for ten (10) years from the date you filed for bankruptcy. If you filed for bankruptcy, and your case was dismissed (and you, therefore, did not discharge/satisfy all of your debts), then the bankruptcy is recorded on your credit report for ten (10) years from the date the bankruptcy filing was dismissed.
- Paid Tax Liens – If you have paid a tax lien, the lien will be recorded on your credit report for seven (7) years from the date you paid the lien.
- Delinquent Accounts – If you have an unpaid tax lien, past due payments on credit cards, or have not kept up with car or mortgage payments, the delinquent information will remain on your credit report for seven (7) years from the date the account became delinquent. Even if you ultimately pay the past due amount, the information will still appear on your credit report.
- Criminal History – Arrests and criminal charges may be reported for the greater of seven (7) years on your credit report or until the statute of limitations on the criminal charge(s) has expired. Criminal convictions may remain on your credit report indefinitely.
- Accounts Sent to Collection Agencies – If an unpaid debt has been sent to a collection agency (or property has been repossessed for non-payment), this information may be recorded on your credit report for up to seven (7) years in addition to 180 days from the date the account became delinquent.
- Credit Report Inquiries – If you apply for credit, your credit report will be obtained and reviewed to evaluate your creditworthiness. Inquiries themselves are reported on your credit report and may remain on your report for seven (7) years. However, most credit reporting agencies do not report inquiries for more than two (2) years.
Contact The Kim Law Firm, LLC Today to Speak with a Consumer Protection Attorney
If you believe there is inaccurate or outdated adverse information on your credit report, you should consider discussing the matter with an experienced Consumer Protection and FCRA Attorney. Contact The Kim Law Firm, LLC today by calling 855-996-6342 if you would like to schedule a no cost consultation.
Errors on your credit report?
The Kim Law Firm helps consumers with credit report errors under the FCRA and FDCPA. Get a free case review or call 855-996-6342 — you pay nothing unless we win.
Different reports, different reporting periods
The familiar seven-year rule applies to most negative credit information, but it is not the only clock running. Bankruptcies persist longer, some specialty agencies apply their own retention periods to the data they hold, and employment reports are subject to a separate set of limits that can vary with the salary level of the position. A record that has properly fallen off a credit report may still sit in a deposit account database or a screening file, which is why checking only the credit bureaus gives an incomplete picture.
- ChexSystems — retains deposit account history under its own schedule.
- Early Warning Services — holds bank-shared account and fraud records.
- Clarity Services — maintains alternative and small-dollar lending history.
- Teletrack — keeps short-term borrowing records used by subprime lenders.
- CoreLogic — reports rental and public record information to landlords.
- RealPage — supplies eviction and screening data to property managers.
Identify the date that starts the clock for each item, since for collection accounts it is the original delinquency rather than any later event, and request your file from every agency that might hold the record rather than from the credit bureaus alone. If an entry is past the period the law allows, dispute it as obsolete in those words, and say what the correct starting date is. The obligation to stop reporting expired information is not discretionary, and it does not depend on whether the underlying debt was ever paid.