What stays on a credit report? (2024)

FAQs

What stays on a credit report? ›

Your credit report includes details about your credit history, including the number of credit accounts you have open, as well as closed accounts; your history of on-time and delinquent payments; accounts that are in collections; the number of times you have applied for credit; and more.

However, they do not consider: Your race, color, religion, national origin, sex and marital status. US law prohibits credit scoring from considering these facts, as well as any receipt of public assistance, or the exercise of any consumer right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act.

Hard inquiries serve as a timeline of when you have applied for new credit and may stay on your credit report for two years, although they typically only affect your credit scores for one year. Depending on your unique credit history, hard inquiries could indicate different things to different lenders.

To get an inquiry removed within 24 hours, you need to physically call the companies that placed the inquiries on the telephone and demand their removal. This is all done over the phone, swiftly and without ever creating a letter or buying a stamp.

The good news is that positive and neutral information can stay on indefinitely and might help improve your credit scores.

Your credit report won't, however, list your gender, race, religion, citizenship, political affiliation, medical history, or criminal records (unless you were convicted of a crime related to your finances, e.g. bank fraud). It could list marital status if you applied for joint credit with your your spouse.

While your credit report features plenty of financial information, it only includes financial information that's related to debt. Loan and credit card accounts will show up, but savings or checking account balances, investments or records of purchase transactions will not.

1. Payment History: 35% Making debt payments on time every month benefits your credit scores more than any other single factor—and just one payment made 30 days late can do significant harm to your scores. An account sent to collections, a foreclosure or a bankruptcy can have even deeper, longer-lasting consequences.

Is your social security number on your credit report? ›

Your credit report is a summary of your credit history. It lists: your name, address, and Social Security number.

Examining the C's of Credit

For example, when it comes to actually applying for credit, the “three C's” of credit – capital, capacity, and character – are crucial.

In general, most debt will fall off of your credit report after seven years, but some types of debt can stay for up to 10 years or even indefinitely. Certain types of debt or derogatory marks, such as tax liens and paid medical debt collections, will not typically show up on your credit report.

Make Your Payments on Time

Late or missed payments can cause your credit score to decline. The impact can vary depending on your credit score — the higher your score, the more likely you are to see a steep drop.

Like any other accurate data, legitimate hard inquiries can't be removed from your credit report. You can dispute hard inquiries you didn't authorize.

Your credit report does not include your marital status, medical information, buying habits or transactional data, income, bank account balances, criminal records or level of education. It also doesn't include your credit score.

Most of Your Everyday Bills Are Not Reported

While your credit card accounts and lines of credit are pulled into your credit report, your day-to-day bills, such as your rent and utility payments like Internet, water, and electricity aren't roped in. (Cell phones on contract are an exception; they are reported.)