Derogatory Credit information on your credit file

Generally speaking...derogatory credit information will remain on your credit report for 7 years. The only real exceptions to this is for public records (such as judgments) and bankruptcies which will reflect on your credit reports for up to 10 years.

That is not to say that a 30 day or 60 day late will negatively effect you for 7 years. Creditors now rely very heavily on credit scores (discussed later in a different thread), and those 30/60 day late records will effect your scores less and less as time goes on. Most of your credit tradelines will show a 24 month payment history (you can read the "reading your credit report" thread - once posted for more information) on the report and once your late payment is aged a bit, the late payment will have less and less of an effect on your credit score.

One way that some credit items remain on your credit report for longer periods of time is if the account is in a Profit and Loss status or a charged off account. In many cases, the original creditor will report the account as being delinquent and once the account is sold to a collection agency, they will also report it to the credit bureaus. The fact is that this one account can ultimately end up being sold/transferred to many collection agencies over a period of time.

It is essential, not only with all the identity theft going on, to check your credit file from the 3 major credit bureaus each year. By getting a copy of your credit report you can ensure that inaccurate information is not being reported and any old items have been purged from your credit report.