Credit bureaus must stop reporting most negative information after seven years, and a bankruptcy after 10, federal law says. The limits sit in the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681c, and they cover accounts sent to collections, charge-offs and most other adverse items. Bankruptcies get the longer clock.

Several kinds of items run on their own clocks, and a few users of credit reports are not covered by the limits at all. For anyone trying to clean up a report before a loan, a rental or a job, those dates set the schedule.

Seven years for most items, ten for bankruptcy

The statute says a consumer reporting agency generally may not include bankruptcy cases older than 10 years, counted from the order for relief or the adjudication. It sets seven years for accounts placed for collection or charged to profit and loss, and for other adverse information, with one carve-out: records of criminal convictions, which the seven-year limit does not reach. The full text is on Cornell’s Legal Information Institute.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lays out the same schedule on its page about how long information stays on a credit report. In the agency’s words, most negative information can be reported for seven years and bankruptcies can stay for up to 10. Reporting companies usually stop after the limit, though they may keep an item on file. The CFPB page was last reviewed on Sept. 2, 2026.

Anyone with an old late payment, collection account or judgment can compare the date on each item with these limits. Errors on a report can be disputed at no cost, the CFPB says, and a person who finds an item still showing past its limit can raise it with the bureau. The agency also takes complaints online or at (855) 411-2372. Accurate negative information, by contrast, cannot be removed by paying a credit repair company, according to the CFPB.

The Federal Trade Commission gives the same warning on its credit repair FAQ. Credit repair companies cannot legally remove accurate, current negative information, the FTC says, and it is illegal for them to charge before they have helped. The credit bureau and the business that reported an item are both responsible for fixing inaccurate or incomplete data, and disputes are free. All three nationwide bureaus also offer a free report each week at AnnualCreditReport.com, the FTC says.

Lawsuits, judgments and tax liens keep their own clocks

Civil suits, civil judgments and arrest records can be reported for seven years from entry, or until the statute of limitations runs out, whichever period is longer. The statute uses the words “whichever is the longer period,” so a judgment can outlast the seven-year mark that applies to a collection account. The CFPB says the same of lawsuits and judgments: seven years or until the statute of limitations expires, whichever is longer.

Paid tax liens run seven years from the date of payment. A bankruptcy is measured differently from both. Its 10 years run from the date of the order for relief.

Collection accounts count from 180 days after the first missed payment

The seven years do not start on the day an account lands with a collector. For an account placed for collection or charged off, the statute starts the clock 180 days after the delinquency that immediately preceded that action began, according to 15 U.S.C. 1681c(c).

Take a card account that first fell behind on Jan. 1, 2020 and was later charged off. Its seven years run from about late June 2020, so the item should come off around late June 2027. The date the account was sold or handed to a new collector is not the starting point.

Loans over $150,000 and jobs over $75,000 skip the limits

The time limits do not apply to every user of a report. The statute lifts them when a report is used for a credit transaction with a principal amount of $150,000 or more, for underwriting life insurance with a face amount of $150,000 or more, or for a job with an annual salary of $75,000 or more, including one reasonably expected to reach that amount. The CFPB lists the same exceptions, naming credit or life insurance over $150,000 and jobs paying over $75,000.

In those cases a bureau can include items older than seven or 10 years. A home loan of $150,000 or more is one place where older items can be reported. For a car loan, a credit card or an apartment application, the standard limits apply.

The FTC notes that some older negative information can appear in these high-value job, loan and insurance checks. In practice, the date check runs by item type: a bankruptcy is measured from the order for relief, a judgment from entry, a paid tax lien from payment, and a collection account or charge-off from 180 days after the first missed payment. An item still listed after its own date is the one to raise with the bureau.

The open question for each person is what a report shows today: which items, and with which dates. The statute’s seven- and 10-year marks are the yardstick, and the CFPB says errors can be disputed free.

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.