How Long a Bankruptcy Stays on Your Credit Report
Almost every article on this subject says ten years for Chapter 7 and seven years for Chapter 13. Only one of those numbers is in the law. Knowing which is which decides whether you have a right to enforce or a favour to ask for.
Editorially Reviewed — Content reviewed for accuracy using published legal research, government data, and verified court records. See our methodology
Reviewed by Leonard Goldberg, Editor · Last updated
The Law Sets One Number, Not Two
The Fair Credit Reporting Act says a consumer reporting agency may not report a bankruptcy that antedates the report by more than ten years from the date the order for relief was entered — in practice, from the day you filed. That is the whole rule, and it is at 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(a)(1).
What the statute does not do is distinguish Chapter 7 from Chapter 13. It does not mention chapters at all. The seven-year figure you have read everywhere comes from the credit bureaus themselves, which for years have voluntarily removed completed Chapter 13 cases after seven years. That is a policy of theirs, not an obligation of theirs — and the difference is exactly the difference between a right you can enforce and a courtesy you can request.
Case Details
Every figure on this page is taken from the statute or the fee schedule it comes from — the Bankruptcy Code at Title 11, the Fair Credit Reporting Act at 15 U.S.C. § 1681c, and 28 U.S.C. § 1930 for court fees. Each quotation was checked word for word against the published text before it was used. Where a number that circulates widely is not in any statute, we say so rather than repeat it.
Ten Years From Filing, Not From Discharge
That distinction is worth real time. A Chapter 13 plan runs three or five years; if the clock started at completion, a five-year plan would put the entry on your file for fifteen years. It does not. Someone who filed Chapter 13 in January 2020 and completed a five-year plan in 2025 reaches the statutory ten-year mark in January 2030 — five years after finishing, not ten.
What You Can Actually Do About It
After ten years: you have a right, and it is enforceable. If the entry is still there, dispute it with each bureau reporting it. This is not a negotiation — the statute forbids reporting it, and a bureau that keeps it after a dispute is exposed under the FCRA.
Before ten years, on a Chapter 13: you have a request. The seven-year removal is bureau practice, so ask for it and cite the practice. If a bureau declines, it has not broken the law, and no one can make it act sooner.
The individual accounts are a separate question. The bankruptcy entry is one item; each discharged debt is another, and those come off on their own schedule — seven years from the original date of first delinquency under § 1681c(a)(4). A discharged account may therefore vanish years before the bankruptcy notation does. It should also be reported with a zero balance and marked as included in bankruptcy; an account still showing an amount owing after discharge is reporting something that is no longer true, and that is a dispute worth making.
What the Entry Actually Costs You
What we can say precisely is what it does not do. It does not stop you opening an account, it does not stop you renting, and it does not prevent a mortgage — the government-backed loan programmes set their own waiting periods, measured in a small number of years from discharge, not ten. Anyone offering to remove an accurate bankruptcy entry early is selling something that cannot be done: an accurate entry within its reporting period is lawful, and no dispute, no letter and no service changes that.
The Sequence, Start to Finish
- 1
The day you file
The order for relief is entered and the ten-year clock starts here — not at discharge, not at plan completion. Note this date; it is the one that governs everything below.
- 2
Discharge, a few months or a few years later
Chapter 7 discharges typically follow within months. Chapter 13 discharges follow the completion of a three- or five-year plan. Neither event restarts or extends the reporting clock.
- 3
Year seven, if it was a Chapter 13
The point at which the bureaus have voluntarily removed completed Chapter 13 cases. Ask; there is nothing to lose. But it is a request, not a demand, and a refusal is not a violation.
- 4
Year seven for the individual accounts
Discharged debts fall off seven years after the original date of first delinquency, independently of the bankruptcy notation. Check that each shows a zero balance and is marked as included in bankruptcy.
- 5
Year ten, for everyone
The statutory limit for the bankruptcy entry itself, whatever the chapter. Pull all three reports. If it is still listed, dispute it in writing and keep the correspondence.
Three Claims to Treat With Suspicion
Credit repair is one of the most heavily advertised corners of consumer finance, and bankruptcy is its favourite subject. These three claims come up constantly, and none of them survives a look at the statute.
“We can remove your bankruptcy early”
An accurate bankruptcy entry inside its reporting period is lawfully reported. No dispute letter, no credit-repair service and no fee changes that. What such services actually do is dispute accurate items in the hope a bureau fails to verify in time — you can send the same letters yourself, and the entry usually returns.
“Chapter 13 is legally seven years”
It is not in any statute. Section 1681c(a)(1) sets ten years for any Title 11 case and never mentions chapters. Repeating the seven-year figure as law leads people to expect an outcome they cannot enforce.
“Pay us and your credit is fixed in 30 days”
Nothing lawful moves that fast here. What genuinely helps — on-time payments, low utilisation, time — costs nothing and cannot be bought. A demand for a large fee before any work is done is the clearest warning sign in this field.
Questions People Actually Ask
Does the ten years run from filing or from discharge?
From the entry of the order for relief, which in an ordinary voluntary case is the filing date. Section 1681c(a)(1) is explicit that the period runs from that date, not from discharge — which matters most in Chapter 13, where discharge can come five years after filing.
Is Chapter 13 really removed after seven years?
Usually, but as a matter of bureau practice rather than law. The credit bureaus have voluntarily removed completed Chapter 13 cases at seven years. Ask for it at that point and cite the practice — just know that a bureau which declines has not violated the statute.
Can I get an accurate bankruptcy removed early?
No. Within the reporting period an accurate entry is lawfully reported, and no service can change that. What you can and should correct are inaccuracies around it — a wrong filing date, a discharged account still showing a balance, or an account not marked as included in bankruptcy.
What happens to the individual debts that were discharged?
They are reported separately and drop off seven years after the original date of first delinquency, not seven years after the bankruptcy. They should show a zero balance and a notation that they were included in bankruptcy. A discharged debt still showing an amount owing is reporting something untrue.
Does it fall off automatically, or do I have to ask?
It is supposed to fall off automatically, and usually does. It does not always. Pull all three reports at the ten-year mark and dispute in writing if the entry is still there — after ten years the law is on your side and the bureau has no discretion.
Can I get a mortgage before the ten years are up?
Yes. The government-backed loan programmes set their own waiting periods measured from discharge, and they are a small number of years, not ten. Lenders weigh what you have done since far more than the filing itself. The entry remaining on file is not a bar to borrowing.
Does a dismissed case count the same as a discharged one?
The statute speaks of cases under Title 11 from the entry of the order for relief, so a case that was filed and later dismissed is still a reportable case from that date. It does not, however, carry a discharge — which means the underlying debts remain owed and continue to be reported on their own terms.
Separate from this case: were you injured in the last 2 years?
Class-action payouts are fixed amounts through an administrator. A personal injury claim is a different case — and often worth far more. Free estimate, no obligation.