Credit Basics

Repair Your Credit

When does the 7 -year period start?

If you have collection or charged off accounts listed on your credit report, you'll want to read this section carefully. It may be confusing at first, but because mistakes are often made, you'll want to make sure you understand it.

For collection or charged-off accounts, the clock starts ticking 6 months from the date you first fell behind leading up to the collection or charge-off. It does not start when the account was placed for collection or to the date of last activity.

For example: Let's say your credit card payment was due on June 1, 2006. You lost your job and couldn't make your required payments. In November of 2006, the issuer charged off your account (wrote it off as a bad debt). In January 2007, it was placed with a collection agency. By law, the original date of delinquency starts the 7-year clock. The collection agency is required to inform the credit bureau of the original date of delinquency (June 1, 2006).

Warning: Beware of collection agencies that tell you they have ways of reporting the collection account "forever" to the credit bureaus if you don't pay. That's simply not true.

Below is a worksheet to help you track negative information that appears on your credit report. This will ensure that negative information only remains on your report for as long as it has to.