How long does a late payment stay on your credit report?

A late payment (30, 60, 90, or 120 days late) remains on your credit report for 7 years from the date of the first delinquency. If you were 90 days late on a credit card payment in March 2020, that late payment notation falls off your report in March 2027. Making the payment on the account now does not restart this clock. Paying off a collection does not shorten or eliminate the 7-year reporting period.

Does paying off a collection restart the 7-year clock?

No. The FCRA clock starts on the date of first delinquency, which is the date the account first became delinquent and never recovered. Making a payment afterward, settling the debt, or paying in full does not restart the clock. An account that went delinquent in January 2020 falls off in January 2027 regardless of when you paid it.

How long does bankruptcy stay on your credit report?

Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies stay on your credit report for 10 years from the date of filing (the date of the order for relief or adjudication). A Chapter 7 bankruptcy filed in June 2024 stays on your report until June 2034. Chapter 13 bankruptcies also stay 10 years because the 10-year rule in FCRA Section 1681c(a)(1) applies to all bankruptcies under Title 11.

Do tax liens ever fall off automatically?

Paid tax liens were removed from the 7-year rule under a 2017 CFPB rulemaking. Under the current interpretation of FCRA Section 1681c(a)(3), paid tax liens can be reported for 7 years from the date of payment. Unpaid tax liens have no specific time limit under federal law and may remain indefinitely, though many states treat them as having a collection statute of limitations that can affect reporting.

Can I get an item removed before the 7-year mark?

Yes. You can dispute any item that is being reported inaccurately or that the bureau cannot verify. If the bureau cannot verify the information is accurate, it must be removed. You can also negotiate a goodwill removal with the creditor, particularly for isolated late payments on accounts with otherwise strong history. A 100-word consumer statement can also be added to mitigate the impact of an accurate but old item.

When does the 7-year clock start for a charged-off account?

The FCRA 7-year clock for charged-off accounts starts on the date of first delinquency, defined as the date the account first became 180 days past due. If an account was charged off in July 2020, the clock started when it first went 180 days delinquent (roughly January 2020 for a typical billing cycle). The item falls off 7 years from that first delinquency date, not from the charge-off date.

How Long Do Things Stay on Your Credit Report (Complete 2026 Timeline)

The FCRA Timeline: What the Law Says

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. Section 1681c) sets the time limits for how long consumer reporting agencies can report negative information about you. These limits are federal law, the bureaus and data furnishers must comply with them.

The most important thing to understand: the clock starts on the date of first delinquency, not on the date the event was reported to the bureau, not on the date the account was closed, and not on the date you paid it.

Source: Cornell LII, 15 U.S.C. Section 1681c (Requirements for Certain Disclosures)

7-Year Items: Late Payments, Collections, Charge-Offs

Under 15 U.S.C. Section 1681c(a)(2), most negative credit information can be reported for 7 years from the date of first delinquency. This covers:

Late payments (30, 60, 90, 120, 150 days late)
Accounts placed for collection
Charge-offs (when a creditor writes off a debt as uncollectible after a prolonged delinquency)
Accounts sent to collection agencies
Closed accounts with negative status
Paid collections (yes, even a paid collection stays on your report for 7 years from the date of first delinquency, though the CFPB has indicated in guidance that paid collections should carry less weight in scoring)

The 180-day delinquency rule: For accounts added to your file on or after September 30, 1996, the 7-year period begins on expiration of the 180-day delinquency period before the account was placed for collection or charged off. This means if an account went 180 days delinquent on March 1, 2020, and was charged off on June 15, 2020, the 7-year clock started March 1, 2020, and the item falls off March 1, 2027.

10-Year Items: Bankruptcies

Under 15 U.S.C. Section 1681c(a)(1), bankruptcy information can be reported for 10 years from the date of the order for relief or adjudication.

This applies to all bankruptcy chapters:

Chapter 7 bankruptcy (liquidation), 10 years
Chapter 13 bankruptcy (reorganization with repayment plan), 10 years
Chapter 11 bankruptcy (business reorganization), 10 years

A common misconception is that Chapter 13 bankruptcies fall off faster than Chapter 7 because they involve a repayment plan. They do not, the FCRA treats all bankruptcies under Title 11 the same way, with a 10-year reporting period.

Early fall-off for completed Chapter 13: If you completed a Chapter 13 repayment plan, you can request that the bankruptcy notation be removed from your credit report earlier than the 10-year mark. Some bureaus will remove it at the discharge date if the bankruptcy was completed in good faith. This is not guaranteed, but it is worth requesting.

Paid vs Unpaid: Does Payment Restart the Clock?

This is one of the most persistent misconceptions about credit reporting. Paying off a debt does not restart the 7-year clock.

The clock is anchored to the date of first delinquency. This was established in the FCRA and confirmed in case law. A collection account that went delinquent on June 1, 2019 falls off on June 1, 2026, whether you paid it in full in 2020, settled it for less in 2022, or never paid it at all.

What paying off a collection does:

Removes the balance from your current debt obligations
Can improve your credit utilization calculation (if it was a credit card collection)
May change how the item is displayed on your report (from "unpaid" to "paid" or "settled")
Does NOT shorten or restart the 7-year reporting period

What does NOT restart the clock:

Making a payment on an old delinquent account
Paying off a collection
Re-aging an account
Updating the account status to "current"

If a creditor or collection agency reports a delinquency date that is more recent than the actual first delinquency date, either accidentally or intentionally, you have the right to dispute the date and request correction under FCRA Section 1681i.

Tax Liens: The Expired Rule

Tax liens have a complicated history in credit reporting:

Paid tax liens can be reported for 7 years from the date of payment under 15 U.S.C. Section 1681c(a)(3).
Unpaid tax liens have no specific federal time limit under the FCRA. They can theoretically be reported indefinitely.

The CFPB has noted that the collection statute of limitations for tax liens varies by state, and that unpaid tax liens should be reported only for the period during which they are legally enforceable. If a tax lien has passed its state statute of limitations for collection, it may no longer be legitimately reportable, this can be disputed with the bureaus.

For consumers: If you have an unpaid tax lien on your credit report, the fastest path to removal is to pay it off. Once paid, the 7-year clock for paid tax liens begins. If the lien was already old when it was paid, it may fall off relatively soon after payment.

Criminal Convictions: No Time Limit

Under 15 U.S.C. Section 1681c(a)(5), criminal convictions can be reported indefinitely. There is no time limit. A conviction from 1994 can still appear on your credit report in 2026 if it was reported to the bureaus.

This is one of the most significant differences between credit reporting and credit scoring rules. Negative credit information generally has a 7-year horizon. Criminal convictions do not.

What can help if you have criminal convictions on your report:

Some states restrict how far back criminal records can be considered for housing and employment purposes, even if they remain on your credit report
Expungement of a criminal record does not automatically remove it from your credit report, you may need to dispute with the bureaus
Negative information resulting from identity theft (including false criminal records) can be blocked under FCRA Section 1681c-2

Credit Inquiries: When They Fall Off

Hard inquiries (from credit applications) remain on your credit report for 24 months. They affect your credit score for approximately 12 months, though they are visible to lenders reviewing your report for 24 months.

Inquiry Type	Stays on Report	Score Impact Duration
Hard inquiry (credit application)	24 months	~12 months
Soft inquiry (self-check, pre-qual)	Not reported to bureaus	None
Account review (existing issuer)	Varies; often not reported	None

Inquiry Deduplication and Rate Shopping

When you shop for a mortgage, auto loan, or credit card within a short period, multiple inquiries are treated differently by FICO vs VantageScore:

FICO: Multiple inquiries for the same type of credit (mortgage, auto, credit card) within 14-45 days are treated as a single inquiry for scoring purposes.
VantageScore: Multiple inquiries within 14 days are treated as a single inquiry across all loan types.

This means rate shopping (getting quotes from multiple lenders) within a short window does not multiply your score damage, but each inquiry still appears on your report and will be visible to any lender reviewing your file.

How to Calculate When an Item Should Be Deleted

The formula is simple: find the date of first delinquency, then add 7 years (for most items) or 10 years (for bankruptcies).

Where to Find the Date of First Delinquency

On your credit report, each account has a date of last payment or a date of first delinquency field. The date of first delinquency is the official start of the 7-year clock.

If an account shows a date of first delinquency of October 15, 2019, the item should fall off your report on October 15, 2026.

The 180-Day Rule for Charge-Offs

If you are looking at a charge-off, the first delinquency date should be approximately 180 days before the charge-off date. If a credit card was charged off in August 2020, the first delinquency date should be approximately February 2020.

If the first delinquency date on your report is less than 180 days before the charge-off date, or is dated after the charge-off date, the bureau is reporting an incorrect date, and you can dispute it.

How to Dispute Items That Should Have Been Deleted

If an item has passed its FCRA time limit and is still appearing on your credit report, you have grounds to dispute it under Section 1681i. The dispute should focus on the age of the item, not just its accuracy.

Step-by-Step

Pull your credit reports from all three bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com. Identify the item and its date of first delinquency.
Calculate the deletion date. Add 7 or 10 years to the date of first delinquency. If that date has passed, the item is past its FCRA time limit.
File a dispute with the bureau that is reporting the item. Use the bureau's online dispute portal. State clearly: "This item is past the FCRA time limit under 15 U.S.C. Section 1681c and should have been removed. The date of first delinquency was [date], which means the 7-year reporting period expired on [date]."
Provide supporting documentation. If you have records showing the actual first delinquency date (old bank statements, letters from the creditor), include them.
Follow up in 30 days. If the bureau does not remove the item, file a complaint with the CFPB and your state attorney general.

How Long Do Things Stay on Your Credit Report (Complete 2026 Timeline)

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