@RobertEG wrote:What is in your credit report may not necessaily refect what is in your credit file.
There is a whole lot of information in your credit file that a CRA does not, or cannot, report in a credit report that they issue.
For example, the normal drop off dates set forth in FCRA 605(a) only prohibit reporting of prior derogs to any credit report they issue.
It does not require any deletion from your credit file.
And FCRA 605(b) provides a total exemption of all of the holy drop off dates set forth in FCRA 605(a) in the event of any application for credit that is in the amount of $150,000 or above. If they are still in your credit file, they can remain and be reported forevever.
Old accounts can remain forever. The FCRA has no restrictions on how long a prior account can remain in yoor credit file. Some CRAs may delete at ten years. buit I personally have an old accoujnt that is still in my CR that was closed 20 years ago, and is still showing a 32 yearr credit history.
The exemption requires the lender to make a specific request for a qualifying purpose. Most lenders, including mortgages, never request these any more. There is far too much competition out there who will not require it. You are pretty safe with the 7/10 year rule. And if you end up with a mortgage company that wants to go back further and do the "old fashioned" forever reports, then you just need to find a different company. That is the beauty of free market capitalism....
Also, while the law provides an exemption, it does not require the CRA to maintain the information and thus it may not be retained since CRA's are not actually interested in data, they are interested in marketable data. The special reports don't have much of a market any more.
IMO 