How Long Can Debt Be Reported to Credit Bureaus?

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), most delinquent debts stay on your credit report for a maximum of 7 years, counted from the date of first delinquency (the day the account first became past‑due); this 7‑year ceiling typically covers credit‑card balances, medical bills, collections and most other unpaid obligations, and the clock starts when the creditor reports the first missed payment, not when you eventually pay it off.

Exceptions exist: a Chapter 7 bankruptcy can linger up to 10 years, and certain tax liens or government debts may remain longer, though they are relatively rare, setting the stage for the next section on how paid debts continue to affect your score.

Your debt clock starts the day a creditor first reports the account as past‑due, known as the date of first delinquency (DOFD).

1. Find the DOFD on your credit report; it appears as the month and year the account first became 30 days delinquent.
2. Verify the entry is marked delinquent - under the Fair Credit Reporting Act reporting limits, later payments or settlements do not restart the timer.
3. Add seven years to that DOFD; the record must be removed by the end of that period for most debts.
4. Note key exceptions: bankruptcies, tax liens, and certain government debts can remain up to ten years, and new medical‑debt rules may shorten the window.

Paid debts stay on your credit report for 7 years from the date of first delinquency (DOFD), even after you've cleared the balance, because the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) sets that as the maximum reporting period for most delinquent accounts.

The entry continues to affect your score until it drops off, unless you successfully dispute an error or qualify for an early removal exception. For example, a credit‑card charge you paid off in 2022 will still appear in 2029, while a discharged bankruptcy follows a different 10‑year rule. The next section shows which types of debts can disappear sooner than the full 7‑year window.

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• Credit inquiries disappear after 24 months (the FCRA caps reporting at two years, even though the impact fades sooner). Credit inquiry time limit explained
• Paid tax liens vanish after seven years from the filing date, not from the payment date; older liens may linger up to ten years. IRS tax lien reporting rules
• Settled medical collections can be removed early if the creditor agrees to a goodwill deletion; otherwise they obey the standard seven‑year window. Medical collection removal options
• Disputed entries disappear when a bureau cannot verify them, but only after a mandatory 30‑day investigation, not instantly. FCRA dispute investigation timeline
• State statutes sometimes shorten reporting periods, for example California limits certain small‑balance debts to five years, overriding the federal default. California credit reporting limits

Bankruptcy sticks around for a full decade, not a handful of years. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, both Chapter 7 liquidations and Chapter 13 reorganizations may appear on your credit file for up to ten years from the filing date, regardless of when the case closes.

• Ten‑year clock starts on the bankruptcy filing, not the discharge.
• The ten‑year rule applies uniformly to Chapter 7 and Chapter 13.
• After ten years, the entry must drop off automatically; lenders cannot keep it longer.

This exception overshadows the typical seven‑year limit discussed earlier and will influence how zombie debts reset their own timelines later in the article. Fair Credit Reporting Act details

Zombie debts don't usually restart the reporting clock; the Fair Credit Reporting Act counts the 7‑year limit from the date of first delinquency (DOFD), not from the moment a collector reactivates an old balance. For example, a 2016 charge‑off that a debt buyer later pursues in 2024 will still fall off your report in 2023, three years earlier than the re‑collection effort.

A new reporting period can only begin if the creditor treats the revived balance as a brand‑new account - such as opening a fresh loan after settling a charge‑off - because that creates a separate file with its own DOFD. In that case the 7‑year clock restarts for the new account, while the original entry remains on schedule to disappear.

Bankruptcy remains an outlier, staying on the report for up to 10 years under the Fair Credit Reporting Act limits. This nuance sets the stage for the upcoming changes to medical‑debt reporting rules.

Medical debt now follows a 180‑day waiting period before it can be sent to a collection agency, so the clock for the FCRA's 7‑year reporting limit doesn't start until the bill is actually reported. This gives you time to work with insurers or negotiate the balance before any negative entry appears on your credit report.

Because the debt's reporting date is delayed, paid medical collections disappear as soon as the creditor confirms payment, often within weeks, rather than lingering for years. For example, a $2,000 hospital bill that would have sat on your report for the full 7‑year term now drops off shortly after you settle it, keeping your score cleaner and saving you the hassle of disputes. Medical debt reporting updates from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

You can eliminate inaccurate debt entries well before the standard 7‑year limit by filing a FCRA‑based dispute.

• Pull your credit reports from the three bureaus; note the exact wording, balance, and dates of any debt you believe is wrong.
• Collect supporting proof - payment receipts, settlement letters, or court documents - that show the debt is either paid, not yours, or beyond the reporting period.
• Submit a written dispute to the reporting bureau (online or certified mail) that cites the specific inaccuracy, attaches your evidence, and requests removal under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
• The bureau must investigate within 30 days; if it cannot verify the entry, it must delete the item from your report.
• If the bureau upholds the item, reply with a second dispute including any new proof, or add a brief consumer statement explaining the error.

Removing an erroneous entry instantly erases that debt from your score, resetting the clock and preventing it from lingering for the full 7 years.

State statutes can nudge the federal seven‑year ceiling up or keep it flat, but none of them shave it down for ordinary debts. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) still defines the default clock - seven years from the date of first delinquency (DOFD) - and state provisions must work within that framework.

Maine and Massachusetts, for example, permit civil‑judgment entries to linger for up to ten years, extending the FCRA baseline. California's SB 1215 simply forces medical collections onto the same reporting track as other debts, leaving the seven‑year limit untouched.

Tax‑lien records generally obey the standard seven‑year rule unless the lien is discharged earlier; New York does not impose a six‑year cap. For the full legal backdrop, see the FCRA overview on consumerfinance.gov.

Your credit starts to recover as soon as the debt disappears from your report, because scoring models treat that entry as if it never existed. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) mandates that most delinquent debts drop after 7 years from the date of first delinquency (DOFD), so once the entry is gone, only positive items influence your score.

• Pay all current bills on time; each on‑time payment adds a fresh positive mark.
• Keep credit‑card balances below 30 % of your limits; low utilization signals responsible use.
• Maintain a mix of credit types (installment and revolving) to show diverse handling.
• Limit hard inquiries; each new inquiry can shave points temporarily.
• Use a credit‑builder loan or authorized user status to generate additional positive history.
• Check your report regularly for errors; a swift dispute can remove lingering negatives faster.
• Consider automatic payments to avoid accidental late‑fees that could re‑introduce negative entries.