How long a debt stays on your report

Two clocks get printed as one. These dates are United States law. The Fair Credit Reporting Act, at 15 U.S.C. §1681c, tells consumer reporting agencies when they must stop reporting most negative information. For accounts placed for collection or charged off, the period is generally seven years from the date of the delinquency that led to the collection or charge-off. Bankruptcies are reported for a longer period. That is a rule about files. It does not say the debt is cancelled, and it does not say a lawsuit is barred.

The statute of limitations is the state deadline for filing a suit. It varies by state and by the type of debt. A payment or a written promise can restart the period in some states and not in others. This site will not print a fifty-state table. The lawsuit clock is state-specific. The reporting label is the federal period, written here as REPORTING:7Y.

A collector can still ask to be paid after either clock ends. Once the lawsuit period has run, the right to sue is what expired, if the dates were measured correctly. A payment can restart that period in some states. Read the state statute before you pay an old balance in order to “reset” it.

Disputing an item that is too old to report is a §611 problem about the file. Asserting that a lawsuit is time-barred is a defense under state law. A §609 letter does not start or stop either clock.