Can Chapter 7 fall off at 7 years from Discharge?

[Anonymous]

Hello All,

I am just wondering if Chapter 7 BK can fall off after 7 years? I dont see any of my accounts that i put in my BK on any of my credit reports for years now, i only see 1 Public Record which is only on my experian and transunion. I have experian.com and have my monthly credit report and i see on the main page, 1 Public Record fall off soon (Your public record with US BKPT CT CA will soon be removed). My credit is good since then, no lates and have some top tier cards like CSR,AMEX,Fidelity,Barclays,UMPCC and capital one, roughly about $100k in credit limits. I know it might not make much of a difference but the BK sometimes hurts when i try to get credit limit increases with AMEX as they state BK on file and i would love to see if completely off. Just wondering if anyone else out there has had their BK CH7 fall off at the 7 year mark? My BK was discharged 10/3/11. 

Thank you Guys!!!

[RobertEG]

Exclusion of a BK at 7 years is based on an interpretation of the FCRA made by the CRAs, and thus is not totally consistent.

It is normally restricted only to Chpt 13 BKs, and even then, some have a history of not being excluded until after 10 years.

Digging into the history, FCRA 605(a)(1) is the explicit exclusion provision pertaining to bankruptcies, and requires the exclusion of reference to any BK after a max of 10 years from filing.

It does not explicitly distinguish between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 discharges, so it is possible for all BKs to remain for up to 10 years.  CRAs are not precluded under the statute from exclusion prior to the max period of 10 years, and the CRAs have had differing views and polices over the years depending upon their own interpretation of the statute.

The primary distinction between Chpt 7 and 13 BKs is that, in general, a Chpt 7 normally discharges the entire debt for accounts included in the filing. While a Chpt 13 involves a court-approved plan that normally requires the consumer to pay at least some ot the debt over a 3-5 year period.   Thus, a Chpt 13 is often less serious in loss to creditors, and the CRAs have interpreted the distinction by excluding a Chpt 13 as being viewed not as a total discharge of debt, but more akin to being “any other adverse item of information,” and thus excludable under the separate provisions of FCAR 605(a)(5) after 7 rather than 10 years.

However, that admin interpretation has not been consistent with each CRA.

Up until 2017, EQ, for example, treated some Chpt 13 BKs differently depending upon whether or not the consumer had completed their payment plan period.  More specifically, if the consumer had failed to complete their plan within the 7 year period, they would  leave the exclusion flag at the full 10 years permiited under FCRA 605(a)(1).

While EQ has apparently made a recent change and now excludes all Chpt 13 after 7 years, it demonstrates the ambiguity in the statute itself, and thus the permissible differing interpretations.

I know of no interpretation or policies whereby any CRA has interpreted any Chpt 7 BK as being viewed for exclusion after 7 years.