From What Date are Negative Items Removed
from Credit Score

Consumers who have either missed a payment or made a late payment on an installment loan or revolving line of credit will ask the inevitable question: "From what date are negative items removed from credit score?"

The following is a list of the most common negative items contained in consumer credit reports and will adversely affect your credit score.

• Late payments – Payments made 30 or more days past the due date will remain on your credit report for seven years from the date your payment became late.
• Chapters 7 and 11 bankruptcies – Ten years from the date it is discharged.
• Chapter 13 bankruptcy – According to the Fair Credit Report Act (FCRA), a Chapter 13 bankruptcy will stay on your credit report for seven years from the discharge date.
• Paid tax liens – Seven years beginning on the date in which the lien was paid.
• Unpaid tax liens – Fifteen years to forever.
• Collection accounts – Seven years beginning six months after the date the account first became delinquent. Meaning, if you missed your first payment in January 1st, this account will appear on your credit report for seven years beginning six months after that January 1st date, in this case the beginning date would be June 1st.
• Civil judgments – Seven years or the statute of limitations for your state, whichever one is longer.
• Charge-Offs – These are treated in the same manner as collection accounts and remain on your credit report for seven years, beginning six months after the first date your account become delinquent.

It is important to understand that negative items are not removed from your credit score; they are removed from your credit report, which affects your credit score. The most common negative items that appear on your credit report are:

• Late payments - Anything that is paid 30 days or more late. This includes your household bill payments.
• Tax liens - If you owe property, federal or state taxes and a lien has been placed against the title of your property, it will be on your credit report.
• Civil judgments - Civil judgments are court actions against you in which a creditor is attempting to collect a debt. Some common types of civil judgments are: child support orders, small claims court cases filed against you and wage garnishments.
• Collection accounts - Whether you are paying or not paying a collection account, it will appear on your credit report. Accounts that have gone to collections but have been paid in full will also appear as negative items.
• Bankruptcies - All chapters of bankruptcies are reported.
• Charge-Offs – Any account that has been deemed "uncollectible" by the creditor and has been subsequently written off as a bad debt.

Now that the pressing question of from what date are negative items are removed from credit score has been answered, there are a few more things you should know about how credit scoring works.

• 35 percent of your overall credit sore is determined by your account payment history - Both late payments and on-time payments are included in your account payment history.
• 30 percent is comprised of the dollar amounts outstanding - How much you owe on each credit account.
• 15 percent is based on the length of your credit history - The length of time in which your accounts have been open.
• 10 percent is based on much new credit has been issued to you - How often you are applying for a new line of credit has an affect on your credit score.
• 10 percent based on the types of credit you use - There are two main types of credit accounts: Revolving lines of credit, like credit cards and installment loans like mortgages and car loans.

• Although the FCRA states that Chapter 13 bankruptcies are to remain on your credit report for seven years, they more often than not, remain on your credit report for ten years. It is up to you to contact Experian, Equifax and Transunion to get a Chapter 13 bankruptcy removed if the 7-year time limit has elapsed.
• Remember, the 7-year date for any form of bankruptcy begins on the date your bankruptcy was discharged not the date you filed a petition for bankruptcy. This means the bankruptcy court entered a judgment in which you were no longer responsible for repaying the debts included in your paperwork and not the date you filed.
• Be aware of "re-aging". If you contact a creditor years after your account first went delinquent, some creditors will use the date of your most recent contact as the date you became delinquent and your seven years begins from that most recent date. The Federal Trade Commission is urging consumers to petition the credit bureaus to get this recent date changed back to the original date.
• The older a negative item, the less impact it has on your credit score. That is not to say negative items don't affect your credit six years down the road, because they do. Creditors are usually more interested in you recent credit behavior.
• Paid off collections are still negative items. There will be a notation that the item has been paid off, but it will remain for seven years nonetheless.

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