How long do credit cards stay on your credit report?

Unpaid credit card debt will drop off an individual’s credit report after 7 years, meaning late payments associated with the unpaid debt will no longer affect the person’s credit score. Unpaid credit card debt is not forgiven after 7 years, however. You could still be sued for unpaid credit card debt after 7 years, and you may or may not be able to use the age of the debt as a winning defense, depending on the ... read full answerstate’s statute of limitations. In most states, it’s between 3 and 10 years. After that, a creditor can still sue, but the case will be thrown out if you indicate that the debt is time-barred.

Here’s what happens to unpaid credit card debt after 7 years.

• Possible lawsuit: As long as the statute of limitations period is open, a company has the right to sue you for unpaid debt, and you won’t be able to use the age of the debt as a valid defense. If the debt collector wins the lawsuit, that judgment will stay on your credit report for 7 years after it’s filed. After the lawsuit, debt can be collected through wage garnishment and through the (mandated) sale of your assets. And depending on the state, interest will continue to accrue until the debt is paid. It is also technically possible to receive jailtime as a punishment for failure to pay your debt. While you cannot be sent to jail for not paying civil debt (including credit card debt), you can receive jailtime for failure to pay a civil fine assessed when your creditor takes you to court.
• Negative reflection on credit report: If you are 30+ days late on a credit card payment, the late payment will be reported to the credit bureaus and stay on your credit report for 7 years. Similarly, if you are 120+ days late making payments, the lender will write the debt off its books. This is called a “charge-off” and the credit card account will then be reported as “Not Paid as Agreed.” Charge-offs will stay on your credit report for 7 years as well.
• Credit score damage lessens with time: When late payments and charge-offs appear on your credit report, they have a negative impact on your credit score. Just how badly they affect your credit score depends on your overall credit health. It’s possible for one late payment to cause your score to drop by as much as 80 – 100 points. Once a charge-off is reflected on your credit report, you can expect your score to drop by as much as 110 points; the majority of this drop comes from the late payments.

You aren’t off the hook for unpaid credit card debt after 7 years. If you are still within your state’s statute of limitations, you may want to work with debt collectors to settle the debt rather than risk being sued. You do run the risk of resetting the clock on statute of limitations if you do so, so you should consider your options carefully. If you choose to contact your creditor, you may be able to pay less than what you owe or work out a payment plan. However, if the debt collector wins a lawsuit against you, it could result in wage garnishment or the forced sale of your assets. You can read some tips in our guide on How to Pay Off Credit Card Debt.

No. Credit card debt does not go away, unless it is discharged through bankruptcy. Credit card debt will eventually disappear from your credit report, and creditors will ultimately face an uphill legal battle when suing over repayment, but your actual debt does not just go away under normal circumstances. Until you repay your credit card debt (if you choose to do so) or the debt is discharged through a ... read full answerChapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you will always owe that amount to your creditor.

More specifically, the length of time that credit card debt remains relevant for a lawsuit depends on your state’s laws (generally 3-15 years), and credit card debt can only stay on your credit report for up to seven years from the date your first late payment is reported to the credit bureaus and the account is never brought current again. After these dates, the debt will not affect your credit score, and you won’t be legally obligated to repay what you owe (as long as you inform the court that the debt is time-barred). But the debt will still exist, and debt collectors can still at least attempt to pursue repayment.

How Long Credit Card Debt Stays on Your Credit Report

Assuming your credit card debt is not in good standing (you fell behind on payments and never brought your account up to date), both your debt (which will appear as a collections account) and your late payment notices will fall off your credit report after seven years. This seven-year period starts with the first late payment that's reported to the credit bureaus in the string of late payments that led to the account being closed in bad standing.

How Long Creditors Can Sue for Collection of Your Credit Card Debt

Every state has different rules governing how long creditors can sue you for the repayment of your credit card debt. Timeframes range from 3 to 15 years, starting on the date of your last payment. You can read more about the statute of limitations for credit card debt in our guide.

You can also check your TransUnion credit report for free to see when your credit card debt (and other items) will fall off.

You cannot remove a closed accounts from your credit report unless the information listed is incorrect. If the entry is an error, you can file a dispute with the three major credit bureaus to have it removed, but the information will remain on your report for 7-10 years if it is accurate.... read full answer

How To File a Dispute To Remove a closed accounts From Your Credit Report

1. Review your credit report to locate the closed accounts.
2. Investigate the entry to confirm it is inaccurate.
3. Choose a dispute method (online, phone or mail) if the information is not accurate.
4. File your dispute via the chosen method.
5. Wait for the results (30 to 45 days).

If the information is correct and you pay off the outstanding debt, you can then ask the lender via phone or in writing to make a goodwill adjustment, removing the derogatory mark from your credit report. Although the lender is under no legal obligation to do so, goodwill requests are successful in many cases.

Note, the lender may also sell your debt to a collection agency, if it remains unpaid. The agency has the right to pursue further legal action against you.

You can check your credit report for free and also access personalized tips on how to improve your score here at WalletHub.