topic Re: Who decided on SEVEN years. in General Credit Topics

Who decided on SEVEN years.

gabbygail — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 20:12:25 GMT

I've always been curious about who decided on seven years as the magic number for removing baddies and why? I mean why not six or five or

eight? Why seven? How did seven years of reporting something like a late payment become the norm- the non codified law? Why decides these things?

Re: Who decided on SEVEN years.

Gunnerboy — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 20:36:51 GMT

My guess, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Re: Who decided on SEVEN years.

Varsity_Lu — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 21:10:47 GMT

@Gunnerboy wrote:
My guess, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Whoever drafted the bill probably had a baddie sitting at 7 years and 1 month. "Hmmm...let's only look back 7 years."

Re: Who decided on SEVEN years.

FicoMike0 — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 22:42:24 GMT

It was me.

Re: Who decided on SEVEN years.

JoeRockhead — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 22:51:46 GMT

The particulars of the FCRA (a codified law) were presented, debated and ultimately passed by Congress in 1970, then signed into law as part of U.S. Code by Richard Nixon.

They likely settled on 7 years as a limit for reporting most adverse information as an amount of time to provide a sufficient amount of "look back" time for lenders to fairly assess history and risk.

For consumers it serves as a protection by putting a time limit on adverse reporting. But 7 and 10 year reporting consequences also serve as deterrent for those that might try to game the system if shorter time frames existed.

Not a perfect system, and certainly doesn't seem fair when unexpected illness or loss of income happens.

Re: Who decided on SEVEN years.

Tdatb64 — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 07:24:04 GMT

They rolled a "4" and a "3"...

Re: Who decided on SEVEN years.

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 13:18:11 GMT

Mike: "Hey Joe, how many years bad luck when you break a mirror?"

Joe: "Seven"

Re: Who decided on SEVEN years.

TrapLine — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 01:06:48 GMT

My offering would have followed the idea of the "Statute of Limitations" being seven years. However, that is not true every where so I am just thinking out loud. Joe has it...