How long do closed accounts stay on my credit report?

Closed accounts stay on your credit report for 7 to 10 years, depending on whether the accounts are closed in good standing. When you close an account that is in good standing, with a positive payment history, you can expect the account to remain on your credit report for 10 years following the closing date.

On the other hand, if you close an account with a history of delinquent payments without bringing the account current (or the lender closes it for you), it will remain on your credit report for 7 years. This period begins when your delinquency is first reported to the credit bureaus.

Finally, if you close an account with a history of late payments after bringing it to good standing, the account will remain on your credit report for 10 years from the closing date, but any late notices will fall off your credit report after 7 years from first delinquency.

You can read more in our guide about how long things stay on your credit report.

Because the credit agencies are very diligent in reporting your late payments, but if you look closely at your credit report.....you will find that only some of your on-time payments show up (depending upon which report you are looking at), usually it just states "no data reported", and that is the fault of the reporting agencies. When you pay your bills on time, they "should" be reporting this to all 3 of the major agencies (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) but they are lax in this and feel if they only report to one, the rest will get the information, but it does not work this way. It is up to YOU to look at all 3 of your reports, compare them, and make sure that everything is correct and that all three are the same. If they are not then you need to contact these agencies that have not reported a closed account, 9 months of on time payments, or any other discrepancies and have them removed, changed, or fixed. If you have a plan with any company where you get your credit report, they have people available 24/7 just for this type of work, get in touch with them and they will help you fix your credit reports until all 3 are correct, but they will stay with you and help you get things removed, fixed and added until everything is correct. I hope this helped.