As far as I know, the unpaid bill will still show up as a negative on your report. Your report shows all open accounts, any balances, late payments, and all closed accounts and why they were closed.

That unpaid bill will only be off your report 7 years AFTER you pay it off and there is a zero balance.

That is incorrect Kelkat. The timeline is from last activity. They can not keep an upaid balance on your credit report past 7 years from the last time you actually made a payment.

I believe that it is seven years. I know that is seven years when you go bankrupt. I am sorry I cannot be of more help.

If you haven't made a payment, the account would still be considered open and show a late payment. I don't see how you could keep this from showing up on your credit report.

Otherwise, people would just stop paying everything, wait seven years and start the process over again.

After 7 years of inactivity, the debt will drop off of your credit report. However, your credit rating isn't based solely on that and reviews of bad debts are often required in mortgage lending.

If the debts are five years old, it won't affect you as negatively as a debt that is five months old. However, both debts will remain on your report until seven years from your last payment or activity. Paying on it will make it more relevant from a timeline perspective and show you as past due each month until it is paid off. The thing to do is save up the money to pay it off in one chunk. Then, while new activity is being reported on the debt, the activity is a $0 balance.

Paying off your bad debts and keeping your current credit clean will have an immediate positive impact on your credit score. Ignoring your debts will have a negative impact that wears off over time. If you clean up all your debts, you can watch your credit rating improve each month. If you leave them, all you can hope is that they expire from your credit rating before your creditors take you to court.

I have always heard that it was seven years. But I really do not know for sure. It could be longer or shorter. I would like to find out because I really think it is a good thing to know.

I'm confused. You mean to say that by not paying on a debt I cause the account to go "inactive?" I would think having a balance on it, and a monthly interest charge would keep it active and passed due until I paid it off.

I'm not getting something here.

Riskey: By law, debts must be dropped off the credit report 7 years from the last point of consumer activity. It can drop before 7 years, but it is not allowed to remain longer than 7 years.

Kelkat: I think I know where the confusion is coming from. A bad debt will not continue to accrue interest for very long. A bad debt will be sold into collections and interest will stop accruing at that point. Without a change in the balance via interest or payment, there will be no consumer activity to report.

Ah - but then the debt is in collections. Which brings us to a whole new situation. And that collections will show up on your report!