How long does bad credit last in the US?

Negative credit information does not last forever. The Fair Credit Reporting Act limits how long most of it can be reported — generally seven years. Understanding the timeline helps you know when to expect your reports to improve and what options you have in the meantime.

How long different types of information last

• Late payments: seven years from the date of the delinquency
• Charge-offs: seven years from the date of first delinquency that led to the charge-off, not from the charge-off date
• Collection accounts: seven years from the date of first delinquency on the original account — selling the debt to a new collector does not restart the clock
• Chapter 7 bankruptcy: ten years from the filing date
• Chapter 13 bankruptcy: generally seven years from the filing date
• Hard inquiries: two years on the report, but they generally stop affecting scores after about twelve months
• Civil judgments and most tax liens: generally no longer included on consumer credit reports at all, though they remain public court records

The clock starts at the date of the event

An important distinction: the seven-year clock generally runs from the date of first delinquency — the first missed payment that was never brought current — not from when the account was charged off, sold to a collector or eventually paid. Paying a collection does not restart the clock, and neither does the debt being sold on. This is worth checking on your report, because a date of first delinquency reported incorrectly keeps an entry on your file longer than the law allows.

What a clean credit file means in practice

Negative entries are removed automatically when the reporting period expires — you do not need to request it, though it is worth checking that it actually happened. Once removed, they no longer affect your score. Bear in mind that a lender's own application form may still ask about past bankruptcy beyond the reporting period, and public court records remain searchable regardless of what appears on your credit report.

Rebuilding while negative information is still on file

You do not have to wait seven years to have access to credit again. Building positive history alongside existing negative information — consistent on-time payments, low utilization, a secured card or credit-builder loan used carefully — gradually improves your position. Scoring models weight recent behavior more heavily than older entries, so the effect of an old late payment fades long before it drops off entirely.