Bankruptcy is a serious financial issue that can have a lasting impact on your credit score. Depending on the type of bankruptcy, it can remain on your Equifax credit report for up to 10 years. Unfortunately, the debt itself does not go away after seven years, even if it is no longer visible on your credit report. Lenders can still attempt to collect the debt, even after it has been removed from your credit report. The Fair Credit Reporting Act states that most negative information can be reported for seven years.
This includes late payments, foreclosures, delinquencies, and cancellations. If you have updated the account after a non-payment, then the seven-year rule still applies. However, the entire account history will be preserved and not deleted from your credit report. Once seven years have passed since the date of your first late payment, the negative items should automatically be removed from your credit reports. If you want to speed up this process, you can file a dispute with the three major credit bureaus to remove any inaccurate negative items from your credit report.
Derogatory items can remain on your credit reports for seven to 10 years or more. Over time, the negative items will have less of an influence on your credit rating and will eventually disappear from your credit report completely. Unpaid medical debt may not affect your overall credit rating as much as other accounts being collected. The exact number of years an adverse credit mark lasts on your credit report depends on the type of debt in question.