Do collection accounts age off your credit report after 7 years?
So I have debt from store lines of credit to a bank credit card. I haven't paid on them since at LATEST December 2007. Chase, citi financial (store line of credit) and Sears line of credit all have it showing closed but I am getting reporting from some debt collector companies.
I live in Arizona and just ordered my actual credit report today. I viewed the information online through a credit score tracking website. I read a lot of comments and researched online somethings. My questions are can any of them take me to court still because from what I read some debts are 3 years and some are 6 here in Arizona, I am not sure what they fall under, also at 7 years they have to stop reporting to my credit so I am told. Does this mean that it will show the old reports but they cant continue to report and since the original lenders have the accounts closed can the debt collector who purchased the debt also show up as a closed account or do they just disappear forever?
Any information to better understand when or if this will ever not be an issue for me would be helpful, as these debts were ran up by my ex and are thousands of dollars I cant and haven't been able to afford to even attempt to fix.
Do collection accounts get removed from my credit reports after 7 years?
—Jennifer
Short answer
Yes, but the clock is not the one most people count from. Negative items stay on your credit report for up to 7 years measured from the first missed payment to the original lender, and every entry tied to that same debt should age off on that same date.
Key points on this page
- Original lenders and creditors show payment default for up to 7 years from when you stopped paying.
- The 7 years starts at the first missed payment to your lender, not at the date a collection agency or debt buyer picked up the account.
- All negative trade lines related to the same collection account should age off at that same 7 year mark.
- Only one entry for a bill should show an unpaid balance. If a debt buyer reports a balance owed, check that the original lender no longer shows one.
- A collection account reporting a newer date of last activity prolongs the credit damage, so compare that date against the original lender’s.
- If the debt is still inside the statute of limitations to sue, a dispute can wake a collector who was not bothering you. Weigh that before sending one.
Original lenders and creditors show payment default on your credit reports for up to 7 years from when you stopped paying on the account.
When you first miss payments to a creditor or lender, you will see late pays show up in 30 day blocks of time on your credit report. If the accounts remain unpaid long enough, those 30 day incremental late pays turn into a charge off reporting on your credit. With credit cards, charge offs normally occur within 180 days of consecutively missed payments (they can happen sooner than 180 days).
The 7 years the negative item stays on your credit report starts from the first missed payment to your lender.
When your accounts get this far behind, it is standard to have the account placed with outside collection agencies, and often repeatedly. Many creditors have a practice of selling off debts that remain unpaid long enough to debt buyers. They are legally transferring the rights to the debt to someone else, as is often laid out in your original contract with them.
Collection Agencies and Debt Buyers Showing Up on Your Credit Report
When an additional entry from a collection agency shows up on your credit report it is important to look for some key items:
- Is the new entry showing a balance due? A debt buyer who reports a collection account to the credit bureaus with a balance owed should be matched with the original lenders negative credit reporting to be certain that the original lender no longer shows a balance is owed to them. You should not have more than one credit entry showing an unpaid and due amount on your report for the same bill.
- Does the collection account show a date of last activity on your report that is different than the date your original lender is showing? Collection accounts that are reporting separate from, but related to an existing negative item on your report, should not show a newer date. If a newer date is used by a collection agency reporting, it prolongs the credit damage and will take longer for you to improve your credit.
All negative trade lines related to the same collection account should age off of your credit report at the same 7 year mark you use to calculate your first missed payment to your original lender. The exception used to be when people got sued for collection and ended up with a judgment over one or more of the debts – which would show in the public records section of your credit report for 7 years from the date judgment was entered in the court.
Most judgments obtained in state courts were taken off our credit reports with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion as of July 2017
What to Do If You Need to Dispute a Collection Account on Your Report
I will have an upcoming article about disputing incorrect information on your credit report, but for now, it is important to consider the following:
If your debt is within the SOL (statute of limitations), to legitimately sue you for collection, you should carefully consider whether or not to send a dispute about a collection account on your credit report, even if it is showing incorrect information. When there is still room on the clock to sue you, sending a dispute may wake the collector to the fact that you are:
- Still an unpaid account.
- Care enough to start cleaning up your credit report (usually for some credit goals, which means you are more collectible).
If your debts are beyond the SOL to sue you legitimately, you should have less concern about waking a sleepy debt collector who may not have been bothering you, with disputes about getting your credit reports corrected.
Legislation was passed in 2011 that changed the SOL from 3 to 6 years in Arizona. Given the information you shared about 2007 being the earliest date of last payment, your debts may/may not be off of the current debt owner’s radar. You would need to be certain about the date each of account was last paid. Any of them you know were paid last in 2006 would be clear of the SOL.
Reviewing your credit reports for accuracy when you know you have old collection items is important. Staying on top of when and how to get your credit reports corrected will help you plan for future access to credit at fair prices.
If you have a particular issue or question you can post in the comments below for feedback.
About Michael BoveeMichael started CRN in 2004 with a mission to provide people in need with detailed debt and credit help and education. Michael has participated as an expert panelist in federal consumer protection rule making, collaborated on state law changes governing debt consolidation, has worked as an expert witness in court matters related to the debt relief industry. He is available to speak with you about your financial struggle and helps people resolve their debt problems daily.
Hello Michael,
I have 2 charge-offs past the 7-year mark since my last missed payment with the original creditors. RiseCredit and Capitol One are the original creditors. Both negative marks appear on my credit report by the collection agencies with more recent dates. I have an email trail that confirms my last payment to Capitol One. However, the RiseCredit email trail doesn’t exist. I’ve looked for correspondence with them, but I may have thrown it away. How should I handle the dispute regarding Rise without proof of the date since my last missed payment? I’ve managed to get my scores just over 700, but these 2 negative marks are keeping it lower.
Finally, I don’t carry any credit on my credit cards, but I keep them open for my score. A few years ago, I missed a month’s payment with 2 credit card companies. This is also hurting my score. Should I write a letter to them asking them to remove that “30 days late” from my report? They’ve both given me increased credit recently, so maybe it’s worth a shot?
Thank you for your assistance.
I am in Washington state can you give me that list of debt attorneys in the Seattle Bremerton area. Also I would like to know how long it takes for judgement and bad debts to fall off my credit report here.
You may only need one debt defense contact in Washington, and that is Kirk Miller. He is in Spokane but works with people all over the state.
Check out these resources:
https://consumerrecoverynetwork.com/question/collection-accounts-age-off-credit-reports/
https://consumerrecoverynetwork.com/question/judgment-collection-removed-from-credit-report-public-record/
Can a student loan from 2004 that closed in 2009 be put back on my account add with new money added today this happened my score dropped 54 points
The time limit for negative credit reporting like this is up to 7 and one half years. What month and year did you stop sending in payments? Who is it that is now showing on your credit reports for the loan?
Hi, i have recently retrieved all of my credit reports and it seems as if most of my old debt has been aged off (all except one). i recently received a bill from a lawyers office saying that i owe some money, but it doesn’t show in my credit report anymore. Also, i received a call from someone saying that they were calling with some legal documents for me but i just told them that they had the wrong number. Am i obligated to pay that? It no longer shows on my credit report and the original credit card was from 2009. I live in NYS. (also, this card never sent me to court either because i’ve never received any documents of that sort. Could they try to take me to court now after so long?)
The SOL in NY is passed if you stopped paying on this in 2009.
What is the name of the collection law office contacting you?
I have a question, a judgment that was remove from my credit report because it was there for over 7 years can be put back on my credit report by another debt collector? I got a letter from a collector saying they bought the debt and are asking from payment. I am afraid they might put the debt back on my credit report? I live in virginia
No, at least not legitimately. If that were to happen you could dispute it off your credit reports quickly.
The real problem is a judgment debt means they can garnish wages, levy your bank account, and lien property. The judgment is good for 20 years in Virginia and can be renewed for another 20.
Have a lawyer in Virginia(collection agency) trying to sue me in Maryland on an account where the last payment was over 7 years ago. I know it has been that long as the account no longer shows up on my credit report. It dropped off last summer. How do I respond to the suit if I don’t have proof that the account is well beyond the SOL?
Talk to an experienced debt collection defense attorney in your state. But the gist is that you want to defend this to the point where they have to prove their claim is valid, so you assert the debt is time barred in your filings with the court.
I can email you a list of attorneys you can speak with in Maryland if you like?
My daughter in law shared an apartment in 2010 and now a collection agency is telling her she owes $5,000 in Oregon do you know if their is a Statute of limitations on a utility bill?
There is a 6 year SOL to file a legitimate lawsuit in Oregon. The unpaid bill has up to a 7 and one half year SOL to remain on her credit reports.
I had an account with T-Mobile many years ago. I know for sure it has been past the statue of limitations..I’m thinking at least 10 years ago. Recently a few things finally fell off my credit report because it had been over the 7.5 years…I finally realized what T-Mobile is doing…or the debt collection agencies are doing. It looks as though they keep passing this account on or selling the debt over and over again, now the issue I am having is that each time they do this and there is a new collection agency listed on my credit report they are changing the “opened date” which is making it look like this is a new debt when in actuality it is really really old and shouldn’t even be on my credit report…and should have been charged off approx 10 years ago. Now the new open date on this account shows October of 2016…how do I find out the original date that I opened the T-Mobile account and also when I stopped paying it…so I can prove to equifax it is old…I had disputed it through transition…now its not on my transition report anymore…now it is on the equifax one. The thong that gets me is its only $500 !!
If you know it is that old I would file a credit reporting complaint with the CFPB against the collection agency. Read through that link.
I’ve seen my accounts in collections, using Credit Karma, and there is one bill that reports Last Activity as 3 days ago. But this debt is from 2012, I haven’t paid anything since then, it’s now with a collections agency. Are they trying to re-age the debt or something? It says “Last reported” but then when I read more about it it says “last activity.” I have never, ever contacted them so there is no way there has been any activity at all from me. It’s a fairly small debt but since it’s from 2012, I was just going to wait for it to drop off. I’ve read it’s rarely a good idea to contact and acknowledge the debt, so I don’t want to do that. When it is supposed to drop off in 2019, will I be able to then challenge any fake “last activity” reports? They will have to prove that I contacted them, right? And they won’t be able to because I didn’t. Or does this “last reported” and “last activity” just mean that they’re reporting that the debt is still in collections?
What is the name of the collection agency or creditor reporting?
I been told if a credit card company that you owe a balance to, if they haven’t contacted you over a certain amount of time exa. 7 years, that the balance you owe should fall off your credit? Please respond
P.s. I live in Michigan, I haven’t spoken to anyone from
A credit card place or answered any calls in over maybe 7 years. Is it law that the credit card company Discover, Sears or whoever should fall off your credit? Due to what I heard and just read on your #Wonderful helpful article, it seems the debt should legally fall off
It has more to do with when you stopped paying. After as much as 7 and one half years from when you stopped paying, or missed payments, the negative would typically come off your credit reports. You have to monitor that it does though. Mistakes happen and no one is watching out for your credit reports but you.
Aren’t collection companies required to report a paid debt to the various credit bureaus?
Normally, once you resolve a debt to zero due, the debt collectors and creditors that are furnishing information about that account to the bureaus will update them to show paid.
Who is the collection agency and creditor you are dealing with? When did you pay or settle the debt?
I just got a new credit card and I’m trying to build my score but now that I have done this I got a call from someone about an old Texaco credit card that I never payed back but that Texaco card is like 13 or more years ago what I want to know is can I be sued now for that money or has it been to long should I not worry about it or do I need to start to pay this old card off now or not I’m a stay home mom I don’t work my now husband works but I’m limited to his funds so what do I do can can they now come aftere all over again also when I was talking to the collection agency guy he got me to give my credit card info to set up a pay arangment but I told him after I gave it to him that I wanted to have it removed because I had not talked to my husband yet and I don’t know now whether I reactivated my old account not to be sued can u help me answer this thank
What state are you in?
In 2011 I have no health insurance and acquired a rather large hospital bill, it’s now down to 11,400 . It was sold to cornerstone credit by the hospital . I live in Alaska and most people get a PFD every year.. the issue is I never get one because cornerstone has listed the bills one at a time , so instead of one bad report on my account I have like 12 of many different amounts.. I am low income and can’t work due to my accident and just want it gone .. is there anything I can do? I already tried to talk to the hospital for years many times they say there ha do are tied and take it up with cornerstone credit…. any ideas?
Were you ever sued for the debts?
Hi Mikeal, an old cc debt is still on my credi report and my bank says I have to pay it at my mortgage closing, the last payment on the cc will be 6 years and 2 days, at closing date.I know the statue of limitations in NY is 6 years from the last payment.
My question is why is the bank telling me that it has to be paid if the SOL is up
Thanks foe responding, Bill
That is just how they mortgage underwriting is done. Before the recession and housing implosion you could sometimes get a loan through with unpaid debts passed your state SOL. That is not the case anymore. You have to have be able to show you resolved it by settling for less, or in some cases, show you are making agreed upon monthly payments for several months.
Who is the debt owed to and what is the balance?