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