You are considering bankruptcy and have a valid concern wondering how long bankruptcy will stay on your credit report. How long does your bankruptcy stay on your credit report?

A Chapter 13 bankruptcy will stay on your credit report for 7 years while a Chapter 7 bankruptcy will stay on your credit report for 10 years.

The calculator below helps you determine how long bankruptcy stays on your report.

The purpose of this article is to answer the question of how long bankruptcy stays on your credit report while giving you some insights into how it also may affect your credit score. The article will also answer such common questions as:

1. Understand How Bankruptcy Affects Your Credit Score
2. How does Equifax, Experian or TransUnion find out about your bankruptcy filing
3. Know how toget a bankruptcy removed from your credit report.
4. How long bankruptcy stays on your credit report after bankruptcy is complete
5. How Bankruptcy Affects Your Day to Day Financial Management

1) How will bankruptcy affect my credit score?

You may be most interested in two aspects of your credit:

1. Credit Score
2. Credit Report

The two are different. Your credit score is determined by the lines on your credit report, but sometimes creditors may look at things a bit differently. For example, a creditor might set criteria that there cannot be a bankruptcy filing on the credit report, regardless of what your credit score is at the time of applying for credit.

The change in your credit score from a bankruptcy filing is often dependent on the starting point of your credit score at the time of filing for bankruptcy. One attorney partner stated that there are times where your credit score will actually increase after filing for bankruptcy because bankruptcy may wipe away the negative credit lines.

2) How Does The Credit Reporting Agency Find Out About My Bankruptcy Filing?

Furthermore, bankruptcy filings are public record. Credit reporting agencies routinely check the bankruptcy court records for bankruptcy filings. A credit reporting agency should verify that the Social Security Number reported on your bankruptcy case matches the Social Security Number on your file. 

Once the credit reporting agency verifies that it was you who file the Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 case, the agency reports the bankruptcy case on your credit history.

When you file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, your credit report should be updated to show the accounts that were included in the bankruptcy filing. A notation “account included in bankruptcy” typically appears as the status of the account. Once your Chapter 7 case is discharged and closed, the status of accounts with discharged debts is updated to read “discharged in bankruptcy.”

Accounts included in Chapter 13 cases should be handled in the same manner. However, because you enter a debt repayment plan, the status is not change until you complete the repayment plan and receive a discharge.

Each credit reporting agency has different procedures for reporting information on your credit report. However, all credit reporting agencies must follow the laws regarding fair credit reporting practices. 

When Does My Bankruptcy Filing Show Up On A Credit Report?

Your bankruptcy filing could show up on your credit report within days of the filing of your Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition. The timing depends on how often the credit reporting agency checks the bankruptcy records for new filings.

Regardless of when the credit reporting agency adds the bankruptcy filing to your credit file, the bankruptcy filing should be removed within ten years from the “filing date” of your bankruptcy petition.

3) How Can I Get A Bankruptcy Filing Removed From My Credit Report?

You cannot remove accurate negative information from your credit report. Therefore, you cannot have the bankruptcy filing removed from your credit report unless you did not file for bankruptcy relief.

You can request an investigation or dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. If the investigation reveals the information is inaccurate, the credit reporting agency must remove the information or correct the information on your credit report. 

If your bankruptcy case has been discharged and the time has passed for the bankruptcy case to be removed from your credit record, you can send a copy of your bankruptcy discharge to the credit reporting agency to request that the bankruptcy case be deleted from your record.

4) How Long Does a Credit Account Stay On My Credit Report After Bankruptcy?

Credit accounts discharged in bankruptcy should be removed from your credit report seven years from the original delinquency date. If an account is not removed after that date, you should contact the credit reporting agency.

You may see a credit account was included in your bankruptcy and is not showing on your credit report or discharged in bankruptcy. If that is the case, contact the individual creditor. You may also provide the individual credit reporting agencies with copies of your bankruptcy forms that prove the account was included. 

5) How Does The Bankruptcy Filing Impact My Day-to-Day Financial Management? 

In many cases, a person’s credit score has already been damage by the time the person files for bankruptcy relief. Late payments, debt collections, and other negative information lowers the credit score. Filing bankruptcy also lowers a credit score, but the drop in the credit score depends on the person’s credit score when he or she filed for bankruptcy relief.

After your bankruptcy case is complete, you can begin rebuilding your credit rating. Tips for improving credit scores after bankruptcy include:

• Obtain free copies of your credit reports and review each report for errors or mistakes. Work with your creditors and the credit reporting agency to correct errors. You can obtain free copies of your credit reports every 12 months. Continue to monitor your reports each year for errors.
• Make all payments on time. Late payments can seriously hurt your credit score.
• Create and live within a budget. Financial management is the key to handling debt effectively. Your Debtor Management Course gives you tools and information about budgets.
• Use online budgeting and money management tools to make it easy to budget and manage money.
• Apply for a secured credit card. You are require to deposit money with the bank with a secured credit card. That said, it can be a good way to build credit. Just make sure the credit card company reports the account to the credit reporting agencies.
• Review information from the Federal Trade Commission and USA.gov to learn more about credit reports. As well as how to improve credit scores.

In Conclusion

Let’s summarize how bankruptcy affects your credit report. You can use the calculator below to help determine how long bankruptcy will be on your credit report.

In most cases, a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing remains on a credit report for 10 years from the date the Chapter 7 petition was filed. Read more about the Chapter 7 bankruptcy process. Thankfully, The Fair Credit Reporting Act does now allow a credit reporting agency to report Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing on your credit report for more than ten years from the bankruptcy filing date.

Generally, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing remains on a credit report for 7 years from the date the Chapter 13 petition was filed.

If you read this article and do not want to pursue bankruptcy, you may have other options. Ascend has tools, resources, and information regarding your other options, including debt settlement, bankruptcy, and debt management.