Credit Education
- Glossary of Credit Terms
- FAQs
- Preapproved Credit Offers
  
  What’s in a credit report, how can you check it and how often should you review it? Make sure your credit information is accurate and check your Experian, Equifax and TransUnion reports side-by-side with Experian’s 3 Bureau Online Credit Report.
  - Mailing Lists and
    Preapproved Offers
  - Opt Out
- Credit Advice
  
  Ask Experian
  
  Get credit information on the hottest topics from Experian’s team.
- Life Events and Credit
  
  Find out how life events affect your credit and how to build good credit for the major purchases in your life.
- Preventing Fraud
  
  Learn the warning signs of credit fraud, and get the credit information you need to protect yourself. Are you already a victim? Experian can help.
- Credit Scores
  
  What are credit scores, and how are they calculated? Get the answers to your credit score questions.
- Credit Reporting
  
  Improve your credit by understanding basic consumer credit information: what’s in a credit report, how to check it and how often you should review it.
Products
Disputes

Tax liens don't remain on report forever

Do you have a question about consumer credit? You may find an immediate answer by using the search engine. If you can't find what you're looking for, please fill out the form, being as specific as possible.

Please note: The Ask Experian team cannot respond to each question individually. However, if your question is of interest to a wide audience of consumers, the Experian team will include it in a future column.

Subscribe to RSS feed

Credit Advice

Topics addressed on July 8, 2009:

Tax liens don't remain on report forever

Dear Max,

If I have taken care of tax liens, will they always be on my report, and if they are does it do any good to try and get them removed.

- ATJ

Dear ATJ,

Tax liens do not remain in a credit report forever, but they can remain longer than anything else.

Unpaid tax liens remain in your credit report for 10 years from the filing date. Paid tax liens remain seven years from the paid date. This is the only negative item in a credit report that remains based on the paid date versus the filing date.

Tax liens are considered very negative, so paying them is a good idea. While the lien won't be removed immediately, it will be removed much sooner. That means you will be able to get the credit you want that much faster.

Thanks for asking.

Credit Reporting

Improve your credit by understanding basic consumer credit information: what’s in a credit report, how to check it and how often you should review it.
Credit Scores

What are credit scores, and how are they calculated? Get the answers to your credit score questions.
Preventing Fraud

Learn the warning signs of credit fraud, and get the credit information you need to protect yourself. Are you already a victim? Experian can help.
Life Events and Credit

Find out how life events affect your credit and how to build good credit for the major purchases in your life.
Credit Advice

Ask Experian

Get credit information on the hottest topics from Experian’s team.
Preapproved Credit Offers

What’s in a credit report, how can you check it and how often should you review it? Make sure your credit information is accurate and check your Experian, Equifax and TransUnion reports side-by-side with Experian’s 3 Bureau Online Credit Report.
- Mailing Lists and
  Preapproved Offers
- Opt Out
FAQs
Glossary of Credit Terms

Credit 101

Personal Services