What Is the Time Frame to Remove Negative Credit Information Excluding Bankruptcy?

If you exclude bankruptcy from the federal credit reporting time limit, negative items may remain on your report for from two years until the end of your life. Although bankruptcy is the worst financial incident you can experience, is not always the most serious event for a credit report. Owing the government money comes with extra punishment to motivate taxpayers to repay their debt.

Identification

Most negative credit report information abides by the "seven-year reporting time limit," except inquiries, which remain for two years, and unpaid tax liens, which can remain indefinitely, according to Smart Credit. Bankruptcy usually takes more points off of a credit score than a tax lien, but the government allows the credit bureaus to report a lien forever, because it does not want to give citizens any incentive to avoid paying tax.

Exception to Tax Lien Rule

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the credit bureaus can shorten the federal credit reporting time limit. As of 2011, only Experian utilizes this provision and reports unpaid tax liens for 15 years. However, the states can also shorten the reporting time frame, but this is rarely exercised by the states. California, for example, is the only state that does this, reducing the time limit on unpaid tax liens to 10 years.

Shortcut

The FCRA also lets citizens dispute inaccurately reported negative information as long as the bureaus report it, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Because negative items are usually the most important to a credit history, it is in a consumer's interest to dispute inaccurate negative items immediately. Consumers can dispute an item through an agency's online website or by writing a certified letter detailing why the item is inaccurate. Include documentation that supports your dispute. The credit bureaus are required to investigate the claim, and if it cannot verify the validity of the disputed item, it must be removed from your credit report.

Tip

Federal law allows the credit bureaus to ignore all credit reporting time limit statutes when the borrower requests more than $150,000 in credit or life insurance or when he applies for a job that pays more than $75,000 a year, according to the FTC. As of 2011, the credit bureaus follow the federal reporting limit in all cases, but this does not mean they cannot change their policy in the future.