• United States
  • Find Experian Worldwide Locations

Getting four years of credit history for a new employer

Ask Experian

E-mail Address
City
State
Question
Your privacy and the information collected here.

Do you have a question about consumer credit? You may find an immediate answer by using the search engine. If you can't find what you're looking for, please fill out the form, being as specific as possible.

Please note: The Ask Experian team cannot respond to each question individually. However, if your question is of interest to a wide audience of consumers, the Experian team will include it in a future column.

RSS icon  Subscribe to RSS feed

Credit Advice

Topics addressed on January 9, 2008:

Getting four years of credit history for a new employer

Dear Max,

I have been offered a very desirable job. However, they are asking for my credit report that goes back four years. They just want to see whether or not I have any evictions or bankruptcies reported. How do I get that from Experian?

- ERS

Dear ERS,

All you have to do to get that information is request a copy of your personal credit report. The age of your report depends on when you first began using credit and when the accounts were first reported to Experian.

Bankruptcies are reported for as long as 10 years from the filing date depending on the chapter filed. Chapter 13 bankruptcy remains for seven years and Chapter 7 remains for 10 years. The latter stays on your credit report longer because you do not repay any of the debt.

An eviction would not necessarily be reported to a credit reporting company. A civil court judgment would be the most likely way that an eviction would become part of your credit report. Civil judgments remain seven years from the filing date.

Other negative information, like late credit card or loan payments, remain on your credit report for seven years from the original delinquency date, which is the date the late payment was first reported.

Positive, open accounts remain indefinitely, so by simply getting your personal report you may have more than the past four years of your credit history for your new employer.

Congratulations on your new job and thanks for asking.

  • © 2009 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.