There are time limits for how long negative credit can remain on the report. In reality, there is no “MUST”, and the creditor or the credit bureau can decide to have the negative credit items deleted whenever they please.

Except: The FCRA exists to protect against something remaining on a report forever.

The credit bureaus would report every piece of negative information forever if not for the FCRA, which mandates that most negative items must be deleted from the credit report in no more than 7 years from the date of last activity (DOLA).

By The Way: DOLA means your activity, not the creditors!

Bankruptcies can remain on a report for up to 10 years.

Regardless of how bad the credit item is, the law will require that the credit bureaus stop reporting it after these set periods. The keyword above is “no more.” The fact is the credit bureaus can remove items whenever they want to. So if you see an item on your credit report that is past the allowed reporting date, immediately dispute it, or have the licensed credit professional do so on your behalf.