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Credit Advice
Topics addressed on July 21, 2010:
Paid negative accounts are not deleted immediately
Dear Experian,
If I paid some negative outstanding credit off last year, how can I get those off of my credit report?
- YNC
Dear YNC,
The only way to get them off of your credit report is to wait.
Your credit report is a credit history. It shows not only what the payment status of an account is now, but also what it was in the past. The accounts will be updated to show that they are now current, but they will also continue to show that they were delinquent in the past.
However, negative information doesn’t remain forever. Most negative information, including late payments, is deleted in seven years from the date they became delinquent. So, the length of time the accounts will remain is not impacted by when they are paid. For example, if they were reported delinquent four years ago, they will remain another three years.
While the negative information will remain on your credit report, paying off the accounts should help your creditworthiness recover more quickly, especially if you still have some open accounts that you are using well and demonstrating that you are now in control of your finances.
Thanks for asking.
- The "Ask Experian" team