Credit Help Center

If you have ever missed a payment / bill in the past, you have probably noticed  that it shows up on your credit report relatively fast.

Now, the question is how long does this debt stay on your credit report?

For starters, if you don’t owe those payments, or there are some errors, you will want to contact the credit bureaus immediately to solve the issues.  You will want to make sure that you have as much evidence as possible.

If you did owe those bills and never decided to pay, you will find that on average, your debt is going to stay on your credit report for around 7 years.

Federal law will state that an account can appear on a credit report for 7.5 years.  After the first delinquency on the account, the clock will start after 180 days.  When you add 7.5 years to the first delinquency, this is when you will find out when your overpaid bill will disappear.

Now, for a bankruptcy, this can show up for up to 10 years from your final order.  Other loans such as student loans and more will stay on there until they are paid off.   These type of loans are immune to bankruptcies and you will owe until the balance reaches $0.

What happens if I challenge?

When you contact the credit bureaus, you’re going to want to send a dispute letter.  Once the bureaus receive a dispute letter, the credit bureau will forward that dispute to the actual creditor.  From there, they will be able to fight it, or agree to it.

Depending on the outcome, you will find that if they dispute it, it will be on hold.  If the creditor agrees to it, your debt will be wiped from your credit report.  This is why it’s important that you dispute all errors that show up on your report.  People don’t realize how much it can come back to haunt you.

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