How long do negative items stay on your credit report?

Under FCRA § 1681c, most negative items — including late payments, collections, charge-offs, repossessions, and judgments — must be removed after 7 years from the date of first delinquency. Bankruptcy under Chapter 7 can remain for 10 years. Certain items such as criminal convictions, tax liens that haven't been paid, and credit applications involving $150,000 or more have no time limit.

What is the 7-year rule for credit?

The 7-year rule comes from FCRA § 1681c, which prohibits consumer reporting agencies from including most adverse information in a credit report after 7 years. The clock starts on the date of first delinquency — the date the account first became late and was never brought current — not the date the debt was sold, assigned to a collector, or charged off. Re-aging a debt to extend this window is an FCRA violation.

Does a charge-off fall off after 7 years?

Yes. A charge-off must be removed from your credit report 7 years from the date of first delinquency on the original account — not the date it was charged off, which typically happens 180 days later. If a debt collector purchases the charged-off account and reports it with a new, later date of first delinquency, that is a violation of FCRA § 1681c and can be disputed. The underlying delinquency date never resets when a debt is sold.

The 7-Year Reporting Limit (and Exceptions)

The Fair Credit Reporting Act sets time limits on how long negative information can stay on your credit report. The default is seven years, but the rule has nuances and several specific exceptions that consumers often miss.

This post walks through what 15 U.S.C. § 1681c actually says, what triggers the seven-year clock, and the six categorical exceptions where no time limit applies.

The basic seven-year rule

§ 1681c(a)(4) prohibits credit reporting agencies from including most adverse items more than seven years after the date of "the original delinquency that immediately preceded" the action that produced the negative item.

The phrase "original delinquency that immediately preceded" is the key. The clock does not restart when:

The account is sold to a debt collector
The account is purchased by another collector
A new collection action is initiated
A judgment is entered on the underlying debt
The consumer makes a partial payment

The clock starts on the date of the original delinquency — the first missed payment that led to the eventual default — and runs uninterrupted from there. After seven years from that date, the item must be removed from the credit report.

Cornell LII for § 1681c: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/1681c

The 10-year exception for Chapter 7 bankruptcy

§ 1681c(a)(1) creates a separate 10-year window for bankruptcies. For Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the clock starts on the filing date (not the discharge date), and the bankruptcy can remain on the report for up to 10 years.

Chapter 13 bankruptcy is subject to the standard 7-year rule, measured from the filing date. Some bureaus voluntarily report Chapter 13 for the full 10 years, but the federal floor is 7 years.

A consumer with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filed in 2020, for example, will see that bankruptcy on their report through 2030.

What "re-aging" is and why it matters

"Re-aging" is when a furnisher resets the seven-year clock by changing the reported date of first delinquency. This is a violation of § 1681c.

Common re-aging patterns:

A debt collector buys an old debt and reports it to the bureaus with a date of delinquency that matches the collector's purchase date (rather than the original delinquency date)
A creditor restarts the clock after a partial payment by reporting the partial-payment date as the new "date of last activity" or "date of first delinquency"
A creditor charges off an account multiple times after attempted collection, each charge-off creating a new reported date

If you see an item on your report whose date of first delinquency doesn't match your records — particularly if the date is suspiciously recent for an old debt — that's a re-aging flag.

How to dispute re-aging

Re-aging disputes are filed under § 1681i (with the bureau) and § 1681s-2(b) (with the furnisher). The dispute should:

Identify the item by account number, furnisher name, and the reported date of first delinquency
Provide your evidence of the actual date of first delinquency (original creditor's billing statements, the date you stopped making payments, the date of your first default notice)
Cite § 1681c and request that the item be removed because it is past the 7-year window OR that the date be corrected

Re-aging is one of the more egregious FCRA violations and can support a § 1681n willful-violation claim if the furnisher repeats the conduct.

The six exceptions to the 7-year rule

§ 1681c(a) contains specific exceptions where the 7-year rule does not apply:

Exception 1: Credit transactions of $150,000 or more. § 1681c(b)(1). Negative information related to credit transactions of $150,000+ has no FCRA time limit and can be reported indefinitely.

Exception 2: Insurance underwriting of $150,000 or more. § 1681c(b)(2). Same threshold for life-insurance underwriting.

Exception 3: Employment of $75,000 or more. § 1681c(b)(3). When a consumer report is being prepared for employment with annual income of $75,000 or more, the 7-year limit does not apply.

Exception 4: Court records of certain criminal convictions. Conviction records can remain on consumer reports indefinitely.

Exception 5: Tax liens. Note: federal tax liens used to be reportable under different rules and can be subject to the 7-year limit from the date of payment in some cases. As of 2018, most major bureaus voluntarily removed unpaid tax liens from credit reports — but tax liens may still appear on specialty reports (e.g., for high-value transactions).

Exception 6: Adverse information furnished in connection with the consumer's own transaction. Limited carve-out for information the consumer provided.

These exceptions matter mostly for specialty consumer reports — reports prepared for high-value lending, executive employment screening, or insurance underwriting. For ordinary credit cards, auto loans, and apartment applications, the 7-year rule applies.

Civil judgments — the 2017 NCAP change

Civil judgments and most tax liens were largely removed from major credit reports in 2017 under the National Consumer Assistance Plan (NCAP), a settlement-driven change made by the three major bureaus. This was a voluntary bureau-level change, not a statutory amendment.

The practical effect: most civil judgments and tax liens no longer appear on Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion reports, regardless of the FCRA time limits.

But:

The judgments still exist as legal obligations
They can still appear on specialty reports
They can still be enforced through wage garnishment and bank levies
Public-records databases (court PACER, county clerk records) still show them

If you have a judgment that was removed from your credit report in 2017, that doesn't mean the underlying debt is gone. Consult an attorney for the legal status of the judgment itself.

Medical-debt rule changes

In 2022-2024, the major bureaus and the CFPB announced a series of changes to medical-debt reporting:

Paid medical debts are no longer reported (effective July 2022)
Medical debts under $500 are no longer reported (effective April 2023)
Unpaid medical debts have a 1-year delay before appearing on reports (rather than the previous 6-month delay)

These are bureau-level changes for medical debt specifically. The 7-year FCRA limit still applies to medical debts that meet the reporting thresholds.

Practical playbook

If you have negative items on your credit report:

Pull all three reports from https://www.annualcreditreport.com
For each negative item, note the date of first delinquency
Compare to the 7-year rule (or 10-year for Chapter 7)
If the date is past the limit, dispute under § 1681c via § 1681i
If the date appears re-aged (doesn't match your records), gather original-creditor billing statements and dispute the re-aging
If your dispute is denied and you have evidence the item is past the limit, escalate to CFPB or consult a consumer-protection attorney

Sources cited

15 U.S.C. § 1681c — https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/1681c
15 U.S.C. § 1681i — https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/1681i
15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2 — https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/1681s-2
15 U.S.C. § 1681n — https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/1681n
AnnualCreditReport.com — https://www.annualcreditreport.com
CFPB medical-debt guidance — https://www.consumerfinance.gov

Educational content. Time limits apply differently for specialty reports. Cite specific situations to a credit-repair attorney.