How long can negative information remain on a credit report?

Question

And at what point does the "clock" start? Is it from the time the account was opened or from the time the account went to collections?

Answer 1

The first poster said 7 years + 6 months - that is incorrect.
The extra 180 days (6 months) is only "allowed" by the FTC to the CRA's for possible data furnisher error of the "true" obsolescence date.
It is 7 years from the obsolescence date - not 7 years + 180 days.

The date of last activity (DOLA) is not always necessarily the true obsolescence date, and may often be after the true obsolescence date.

When the obsolescence date starts depends on what type of account it is.

For accounts that run 7 years:

For credit cards, it would be the first time you became 30 days late and never brought the account current leading to the charge off.

For loans it would be from the last payment before the default/charge off.

For repo's it would be from the date of sale of the repo that created the deficiency.

For medical it would be from the date of service.

For utilities it would be from the last payment before the default/charge off.

Answer 2

In general, 7 years 6 months from the date of last activity (your last activity like payment or charge). Public records (bankruptcies) can remain for 10 years.

Answer 3

not sure but i think it goes back three years for each credit related `transaction. So if after 3 years you screw up again it will be 3 more from that date

Answer 4

10 years for bankruptcy
7 years otherwise