topic Re: How long do you keep OLD copies of your credit reports? in General Credit Topics

How long do you keep OLD copies of your credit reports?

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 15:04:07 GMT

Hi everyone!

I have SEVERAL copies of credit reports from over the years. They are all in a large binder along with notes of any accounts that I had worked on clearing up. I have them separated by CRA, oldest to newest. My oldest copy is a page that a lender copied for me from a TU report on 01/26/2000. Most of my bulk is from 2008, 2010, 2012. (I do have copies since then, but fewer and farther between).

I have always kept them as a reminder of where I never want to be again. Time to clean house and move on. Planning to keep last 5 years.

I am curious how long do you keep yours; at what point do you get rid of them?

Thanks!

Re: How long do you keep OLD copies of your credit reports?

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 15:23:47 GMT

I've been starting to scan and shred old statements and CR's. I recently got a good deal on a printer that will scan two-sided through the automatic feeder, which makes it easy to save PDF's and ditch the paper. The only things I've kept older than a few years on paper are any documents from opening accounts.

Re: How long do you keep OLD copies of your credit reports?

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 21:25:50 GMT

I don't have a very long history and not many copies of credit reports either. But I keep the reports in electronic version (PDFs) for future reference. There are rarely hard copies of the reports sent to me anyways, all the big-3 are electronic versions when I requested, the rest are other bureaus and I don't request them often.

Re: How long do you keep OLD copies of your credit reports?

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 22:25:59 GMT

I use a rapid scan app on my smartphone which automatically "squares" stuff I scan and puts it all into PFDs, which I file by Subject>Year>Month on a cloud drive.

I don't keep any paperwork very long anymore, unless it's for tax purposes, then I keep it for the legally required time frame.

Re: How long do you keep OLD copies of your credit reports?

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 23:49:34 GMT

Good feedback, thanks everyone!

Re: How long do you keep OLD copies of your credit reports?

Revelate — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 08:22:28 GMT

I just print to PDF any reports I get online anyway... and paper ones (sigh Equifax) I just throw away.

My online count of reports over the years is probably 30:1 as compared to paper reports.

Re: How long do you keep OLD copies of your credit reports?

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Jan 2018 01:42:27 GMT

When you request free annual credit reports, can you opt to get them in sent via a file or do they have to come as a hard copy?

Re: How long do you keep OLD copies of your credit reports?

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Jan 2018 02:13:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
When you request free annual credit reports, can you opt to get them in sent via a file or do they have to come as a hard copy?

They can deliver the reports online, through the bureaus' websites, as long as they are able to verify your identity. They may or may not be able to provide you a pdf directly (TransUnion allows you to download the pdf, but Experian doesn't have this option), but you can always print the web page as a pdf and save it by yourself.

Re: How long do you keep OLD copies of your credit reports?

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Jan 2018 02:52:32 GMT

I’d say as long as you wish. I only keep my most recent one. I would keep any paperwork showing deals on accounts for 7 to 10 years. But credit reports to me doesn’t need to be kept longer than when the next newest one comes out. Or put older ones in a folder on the computer if you are OCD :-)

Re: How long do you keep OLD copies of your credit reports?

expatCanuck — Sun, 21 Jan 2018 13:51:52 GMT

Keep old credit reports ... ?