Negative information contained in a credit report maintained by one of the three major consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) usually endures for seven years except in certain circumstances. Once a record expires, these reports should automatically drop off your report--you don't need to do a thing. However, the company that submitted a negative credit report to the CRA may list the wrong date, which can penalize you for a longer period than necessary.
Step 1
Obtain copies of all of your credit reports from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. The negative information in your credit reports may be vary depending on the CRA that maintains it. If you want to make sure that negative information older than seven years is removed from all reports, you can obtain a free copy of your credit reports once yearly from AnnualCreditReport.com, the online portal authorized by the CRAs to provide them to you.
Step 2
Investigate the negative information in your credit reports. Items with a seven-year life span include charged-off accounts and those sent to collections, late payments, repossession records, foreclosures and judgments, according to Credit.com. Make note that some types of negative credit reporting can remain on file even longer. Bankruptcy, for example, typically remains in your reports for 10 years, and unpaid tax liens can endure indefinitely (paid tax liens will still be reflected on your credit report for seven years from the date of payment).
Step 3
Identify the date at which the negative information should have been removed from your credit history. Credit.com advises looking for dates on your reports preceded by "purge from ..." or "date of last activity," which are the dates that the CRAs look at when removing reports that are older than seven years.
Step 4
Dispute the negative information with the CRA in writing, according to the Federal Trade Commission, but also send a copy of your dispute to the company that supplied the information to the CRA to fully exercise your rights under federal law (see the sample dispute letter in the Resources section). The FTC advises sending a copy of your credit report with expired records circled or highlighted. Make copies of your correspondence and send your originals to the CRA through certified mail, return receipt requested. The mailing addresses for the three CRAs are as follows:
Equifax
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
Experian
P.O. Box 2104
Allen, TX 75013-0949
TransUnion
P.O. Box 1000
Chester, PA 19022
Step 5
Give the CRA at least 30 days to investigate your dispute and get back to you in writing. If your history reflects negative credit reporting that is older than seven years and the item is in error, the CRA will remove it and send you a revised copy of your credit report. Additionally, the company that originally reported to the CRA must inform all credit bureaus to which it reported the information that the record has expired.
Things You'll Need
- Copies of your credit reports from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion
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