After discharge of your Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you are no longer responsible for paying off those debts. However, a record of the bankruptcy and your closed accounts still remain.
Because there is still a record, bankruptcy continues to affect your credit score. Nevertheless, following discharge, an automatic update to the record reflects your current status.
How long do discharged accounts stay on your record?
According to Experian, it depends on whether the accounts included in the bankruptcy were delinquent or not. If not, the accounts remain on your record for seven years, starting from your bankruptcy filing date. Any accounts that were delinquent at the time of filing remain on your record for seven years starting from the date of delinquency, not the date of filing.
What if your bankruptcy information is inaccurate?
Updates to your record should occur right away after filing. Included accounts should show a zero balance on the report. However, because mistakes and oversights do happen, you should perform a review of your credit report a month or two after your discharge to make sure it is accurate. If there have not been updated to your status or there are other issues, you can contact your lender for the incorrect account and ask that they update it. You can also contact the credit bureau with corrections.
While accounts remain on your credit record for seven years, the Chapter 7 bankruptcy itself remains on the record for ten years following filing. However, having debts discharged through bankruptcy gives you the opportunity to start rebuilding your credit, meaning that the bankruptcy notations have less effect.
