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Most negative information on your credit report must be removed after seven years. But the exceptions matter, and the bureaus do not always follow the rules. Here is how the seven-year clock actually works.
The Basic Rule
The Fair Credit Reporting Act puts time limits on adverse information. Most negative items, including collections and charge-offs, generally cannot be reported for more than seven years. The rule lives in 15 U.S.C. 1681c, and it exists because Congress decided old setbacks should not follow you forever.
For accounts placed for collection or charged to profit and loss, the seven-year clock runs from the date of first delinquency, the date you first fell behind and never brought the account current. Not the date the account was closed, not the date it was sold to a collector, not the date the creditor wrote it off.
What Falls Under Seven Years
- Collection accounts and charge-offs: seven years from the date of first delinquency on the original account
- Most other adverse account information: generally seven years
- Paid tax liens: historically seven years from payment, though the bureaus stopped reporting most tax liens in 2017 and 2018, so they rarely appear now
- Civil judgments: seven years from entry or until the governing statute of limitations expires, whichever is longer, though the bureaus also largely stopped reporting civil judgments in 2017
- Chapter 13 bankruptcy: the bureaus voluntarily report most Chapter 13 cases for seven years from the filing date
The Ten-Year Bankruptcy Period
Under 1681c, a bankruptcy may be reported for up to ten years from the date of entry of the order for relief or the date of adjudication. In practice the bureaus report Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 cases for ten years and, by voluntary industry practice, drop most Chapter 13 cases after seven. Ten years is the longest reporting period under the FCRA for standard consumer information.
Criminal Convictions Have No Federal Limit
Here is one most people do not know: the FCRA places no time limit on reporting records of criminal convictions. A conviction can be reported indefinitely unless state law says otherwise. Some states cap how long convictions can be reported, particularly for employment background checks, but the federal FCRA does not. Note that certain traffic offenses are civil infractions, not criminal convictions, in some states, and those should age off like other adverse items.
The High-Dollar Exceptions
The seven- and ten-year limits do not apply to certain high-dollar transactions under 1681c(b):
- Employment for a position with an annual salary of $75,000 or more
- Credit transactions of $150,000 or more
- Life insurance policies with a face amount of $150,000 or more
For those decisions, older negative information may still be reported. This matters less for most consumers, but if you are applying for a jumbo mortgage or a high-salary executive role, old items can resurface.
Re-Aging: When Accounts Refuse to Die
The most common abuse of the obsolescence rules is re-aging, reporting an old debt as if it were new. It often happens when a debt is sold from one collector to another: the new collector opens a fresh tradeline, reports a new date opened, and suddenly a seven-year-old debt looks recent. The seven-year clock is set by the date of first delinquency on the original account, not by anything a debt buyer does later. If a collection account appears newer than it should be, you have a dispute and potentially a claim.
How to Check the Date and Dispute
- Pull your full file disclosure from each bureau, not just the consumer-facing summary; it includes more detail, including delinquency dates.
- Find the date of first delinquency or language showing when the seven-year period started.
- If the date is wrong or an account is past its expiration, dispute it in writing, by certified mail, stating clearly that the item is obsolete under 1681c.
- Keep your records; if the bureau keeps reporting the stale item after your dispute, you may have a strong case.
Why This Matters
An account that should have aged off but is still reporting can lower your score, raise your interest rates, and cause denials. The bureaus are supposed to have systems that automatically purge obsolete information. Those systems do not always work, and when they fail the burden falls on you to catch and dispute the error. The good news: the dates are verifiable and the rule is clear. The bureau either followed it or it did not.
Seeing a debt that should have aged off? Have our FCRA attorneys check the dates and your rights.
The Date That Actually Controls
Most arguments about the seven year rule are really arguments about which date starts the clock, and the answer is narrower than people expect.
For a delinquent account that was charged off or placed for collection, the clock is anchored to the date of first delinquency: the month you first fell behind and never brought the account current again.
One detail that trips up anyone counting months on their own report. Section 1681c(c)(1) does not start the seven years on that date. It starts them at the end of the 180 day period that begins on that delinquency, so the real outside limit is about seven years and six months from the date of first delinquency. It does not run from the charge off, the date the debt was sold, the date a collector began reporting, or the date of your last payment on a collection.
That matters because every one of those later dates is a date a furnisher might use, and some do. A collection account that shows up with a recent date of first delinquency, when the underlying debt is years older, has been re-aged, and re-aging is how a debt that should have dropped off stays on a report for years past its time.
Check the date of first delinquency on every negative item, and compare it against what you know about when the account actually went bad.
When the Debt Is Sold
This is where re-aging most often happens, and it is worth understanding the mechanics.
A debt buyer purchases a portfolio and begins reporting the accounts. The reporting period for that debt does not restart when the ownership changes. It still runs from the original date of first delinquency with the original creditor.
So one debt can legitimately produce two tradelines, the original creditor's and the collector's, but both have to age off on the same schedule. A collection tradeline carrying a date of first delinquency that matches the date the collector bought the debt is reporting the wrong date, and that is a dispute with a clear factual basis.
Common Questions
How long does negative information stay on a credit report?
Generally seven years for most negative items under 15 U.S.C. § 1681c. For collections and charge offs the clock is anchored to the date of first delinquency rather than the charge off or the date a collector began reporting, and under § 1681c(c)(1) it actually starts 180 days after that delinquency, so the outside limit is roughly seven years and six months.
What is the date of first delinquency?
The month you first became delinquent on the account and did not bring it current afterward. It is the date the reporting period runs from, and it does not reset when the debt is sold.
What is re-aging?
Reporting a more recent delinquency date than the real one, which keeps a negative item on your report past the point where it should have dropped off. It can happen when a debt is sold and the buyer reports its own dates.
Do bankruptcies follow the seven year rule?
No. Section 1681c(a)(1) allows a case under title 11 to be reported for up to 10 years from the date of entry of the order for relief, and it does not distinguish between chapters. The commonly repeated seven year figure for Chapter 13 is a voluntary bureau policy rather than the statute.
Does the item disappear on its own?
It is supposed to. In practice obsolete items do persist, which is why it is worth checking the dates on your report rather than waiting.
Does paying an old debt restart the clock?
Paying does not restart the seven year reporting period, which runs from the original date of first delinquency. Be careful about the separate question of state collection law, where activity on a debt can affect other timelines.