Negative information on your credit report can be reported for up to seven years, but sometimes longer if it is serious. The length of time noted in these bullet points means from the start time of your late payment or delinquency, not the last time you made a payment on the amount. Some collection agencies, though, will update their reports to keep your account active with the credit bureaus so they can lengthen the time a negative item stays on your report. You do have a right to challenge this and you should if it happens to you!

So what are some of the negative items that are put on your credit report?

• Bankruptcy information can stay on your credit report for 10 years
• Tax Liens can stay on your credit report for 7 years after they are paid
• US Government insured or guaranteed student loans can be reported for 7 years after certain guarantor actions
• An application for $50,000 or more worth of credit of life insurance can actually stay on your report forever.
• Information about a lawsuit or judgment against you can stay on your report for 7 years.

Gather together with 3 other adult friends and go out to dinner together. One question you may want to ask them, as well as yourself, is if they have checked their credit report for errors lately. In a recent survey, it was found that of all credit reports surveyed, nearly 25 percent of them reported some sort of error.

Many credit reports with errors go unnoticed to the person the credit report belongs to. While in some cases, mistakes may be small, others can cause huge dips in your credit score. These dips in your credit score can disable your chances to get jobs, acquire loans, as well as the ability to buy a new car or house.
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A credit score, put simply, is a number that decides how creditworthy and dependable a person will be when it comes to paying their bills and paying back money an individual has borrowed. This score is a simple 3-digit number that can summarize up your whole credit report to creditors and lenders, basically grounding you down into a “lend to” or “do not lend to” category. It’s an important number, as it is one factor that lets you take out loans for computers, houses, cars, is a main benefactor in the type of insurance rates you get, and can basically say whether or not you are reliable enough to have more credit accounts opened.
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