Note that negative information — such as missed payments —
falls off your credit report only after seven years by law, so closing a card won't erase any bad payment history.
Over time, however, having closed the cards can hurt the score, as closed cards with zero balances are excluded from utilization and
ultimately fall off the credit report much sooner than open cards that have been paid off.»
The majority of negative credit report items, including defaults and repossessions, should
naturally fall off your credit report after seven years (some bankruptcies may remain on your reports as long as 10 years).
Do I Pay off the debt, which will take about 8 - 12 months with payment arrangements, or let the bad
reports fall off my credit report in 2014 and get a secured card to build up my credit during that time?
If your credit report has a black mark such as a bankruptcy, you may want to wait to seek credit until that
item falls off your credit report or at least wait until your credit score starts to recover.
So, while open accounts continue to age indefinitely, a closed account will
fall off your credit report after seven to ten years, and that could cause the average age of all of your accounts to go down.
Once the debt is no longer collectible and has been written off you play the waiting game for the record to
fall off your credit report.