How Long Does a Collection Account Stay on Your Credit Report?

Seven years. If you've looked into collections at all, that's the number you've heard. It's close. But hardly anyone tells you when those seven years start — and that one detail decides whether a collection drops off next spring or hangs on much longer than you expected.

Where the seven years come from

Section 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act bars the credit bureaus from reporting accounts placed for collection or charged off once they're more than seven years old (15 U.S.C. § 1681c(a)(4)). The next part of that section is the one people skip: the seven years start 180 days after the delinquency that led to the collection or charge-off began (§ 1681c(c)(1)).

That starting point is your date of first delinquency (DOFD): the month you fell behind on the original account and never got current again. For collections, it's the most important date on your report.

Free toolRemoval Date CalculatorWhen must a collection come off your credit report?

If the same debt shows up twice — as the charged-off card and as a collection — both run off the same DOFD and come off on the same schedule.

What does NOT restart the clock

• Paying it. The account updates to $0 or paid; the DOFD stays.
• The debt being sold. Whoever reports a collection must give the bureaus the real DOFD (15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(a)(5)). The new collector inherits the old date.
• Disputing it.
• Talking to a collector.
• A partial payment.

The other clock: statute of limitations

The credit reporting clock is federal. The statute of limitations is set by each state and controls how long a collector can sue you. In some states, a payment or written acknowledgment can restart the statute of limitations even though it does nothing to the reporting clock. Check your state's rule before you pay anything on an old debt. Time-barred debt.

When the date is wrong: re-aging

Reporting a DOFD later than the real one is called re-aging, and it keeps a collection on your report longer than the law allows. Furnishers must report accurately, including this date, and a debt collector that reports credit information it knows is false can also violate the FDCPA (§ 1692e(8)).

Warning signs:

1. The removal date is well past seven years from when you actually stopped paying.
2. The three bureaus show different DOFDs for the same debt.
3. The DOFD on a collection matches when the collector bought the account, not when you fell behind.

What to do:

Keep copies of everything, and send mail certified with a return receipt.

How to find your own dates

At AnnualCreditReport.com you can pull all three reports free, weekly. Each bureau labels things differently: look for "date of first delinquency," "original delinquency date," or an estimated removal date ("on record until"). Write down what each bureau shows for each collection, side by side. If one's off, that's the one you dispute.

Exceptions and edge cases

Medical collections (current bureau policy). Paid medical collections are removed; medical collections under $500 aren't reported; unpaid medical debt must wait a year before it can appear. This is a voluntary bureau policy, not federal law. The CFPB finalized a rule in January 2025 to remove medical debt from credit reports, but a federal court vacated it in July 2025. Some states have their own protections. Medical debt on your credit report.

FCRA § 605(b). The seven-year limit doesn't apply when a report is used for credit or life insurance of $150,000 or more, or for a job paying $75,000 a year or more (15 U.S.C. § 1681c(b)).

You don't always have to wait. Anything inaccurate can be disputed at any time, and some collectors will agree to pay-for-delete — they're not required to.

Older collections weigh less. And some scoring models — FICO 9, VantageScore 3.0 and 4.0 — ignore paid collections, while FICO 8 still counts them.

The short version

The clock runs on the date of first delinquency. Paying, selling, disputing, and talking to a collector don't reset it. If the date's wrong, dispute it.