How long does bankruptcy stay on my credit report?

Up to ten years from the filing date — the outer limit the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act sets for bankruptcy cases (15 U.S.C. § 1681c). As a matter of bureau practice, Chapter 13 cases are typically removed after about seven years, while Chapter 7 remains the full ten.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows a bankruptcy case to be reported for up to ten years from filing (15 U.S.C. § 1681c); the bureaus' practice is to drop completed Chapter 13 cases around seven years, while Chapter 7 stays the full period. Reporting rules also govern the individual accounts: debts discharged in the case must be reported with a zero balance and a discharged-in-bankruptcy notation, and a creditor that keeps reporting a live balance is both furnishing inaccurate information — disputable through the FCRA's dispute process — and flirting with the discharge injunction of 11 U.S.C. § 524, which bars collection of discharged debts in any form. The score damage is front-loaded and often smaller than feared, because most filers arrive with delinquencies already reporting; many see improvement once balances read zero. Rebuilding follows a known path — secured cards, credit-builder loans, unbroken on-time payments — and mortgage programs impose their own post-discharge waiting periods, commonly two to four years rather than ten.

Authority: 15 U.S.C. § 1681c