How Long Things Stay on Your Credit Report in Canada

Why the timelines differ

Canada has two national credit bureaus, Equifax and TransUnion, and each keeps its own file on you. Lenders don't always report to both, and each bureau applies its own retention policies within the limits set by provincial consumer reporting laws. That's why the same event can disappear from one report before the other. Our guide to Equifax vs TransUnion explains the broader differences.

The other thing that matters is the start date. Some items are counted from the date they were reported, some from the date of first delinquency (the first payment you missed before the account went bad), some from the date of last activity, and some from the date a debt was paid off or a bankruptcy was discharged. When you check your report, look at the dates attached to each item, because those determine when it will purge.

The figures below come from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) and from Equifax's own published policies. Bureaus can update their policies, so treat this as a guide and confirm the date on your own reports.

Late payments and negative account history

According to the FCAC, negative information about credit cards and loans, such as late or missed payments, can stay on your report for up to six years. Equifax says a late payment stays for up to six years from the date it was reported, and catching up on the past-due balance doesn't remove the late payment from your history.

That doesn't mean a late payment hurts you at full strength for six years. Scoring models generally weigh recent behaviour more heavily, so a single 30-day late payment from four years ago matters much less than one from last month, especially if everything since has been on time. The fastest way to dilute old negatives is to build a long run of on-time payments on top of them.

Negative banking information, such as cheques returned for insufficient funds, is kept by Equifax for six years from the date reported. Secured loan registrations stay for six years from the date filed.

Collections and charge-offs

When an account goes to a collection agency, it typically shows on your report as a collection. Equifax removes a collection account six years from the date of first delinquency on the original account, which is usually around when the account went to collection. A charged-off account, one the lender has written off as unlikely to be repaid, follows a similar clock of up to six years from the first missed payment.

Paying a collection doesn't restart that clock, and it doesn't make the item vanish early either. Equifax says a paid collection stays on your report until its six years are up, but it may have less impact on your score than an unpaid one. Lenders reviewing your file manually also tend to view a paid or settled collection more favourably.

Be careful not to confuse this with the legal limitation period for suing over a debt, which is a separate clock set by provincial law. Our guide to debt in collections explains how the two interact.

Consumer proposals and debt management plans

A consumer proposal, the legal arrangement administered by a licensed insolvency trustee in which you repay part of your debts, is removed by both Equifax and TransUnion three years after you've paid off all the debts included in the proposal, or six years after you signed it, whichever comes first, according to the FCAC.

That rule rewards finishing early. If you sign a five-year proposal and complete it on schedule, it falls off at the six-year mark from signing. If you pay it off in two years, it falls off three years later, at the five-year mark. Our guide on consumer proposals vs bankruptcy compares the two in more detail.

A debt management plan, the informal arrangement set up through a credit counselling agency, is shorter. The FCAC says it's removed two years after you finish paying the debts in the plan, and Equifax's policy is two years after it's paid in full or six years from the start date, whichever comes first. The individual accounts in the plan may carry their own notations, and those follow the usual account rules.

Bankruptcy, and where your province matters

A first bankruptcy is generally removed six years after the date you're discharged, at both Equifax and TransUnion. The key exception is provincial: TransUnion keeps a first bankruptcy for seven years after discharge if you live in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Prince Edward Island or Quebec. Equifax notes that if there's no discharge date, the bankruptcy stays for seven years from the filing date.

If you go bankrupt more than once, the stakes rise sharply. Both bureaus keep multiple bankruptcies for 14 years. Equifax says the accounts included in a bankruptcy also stay for six years from their date of last activity, marked as included in bankruptcy.

Court judgments, where a court has decided you owe money, follow a similar provincial split. They usually stay for six years, but TransUnion keeps them for seven years in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario and Quebec, and for ten years in Prince Edward Island.

A sample timeline

Dates are easier to follow with an example. Imagine someone in Manitoba who missed a credit card payment in early 2025, fell further behind, and saw the account sent to collections later that year. In mid-2026 they signed a consumer proposal covering that card and two other debts, and they finish paying it off in mid-2029.

• The late payments on the card are counted from the dates they were reported, so they age off around six years later, in 2031.
• The collection is counted from the first delinquency in early 2025, so Equifax would remove it around early 2031.
• The consumer proposal is removed three years after it's paid off (mid-2032) or six years after signing (mid-2032), whichever comes first. In this case the two dates land in the same place; had they paid it off faster, it would have dropped off sooner.
• Any hard inquiries from applications made along the way disappear from Equifax after three years and from TransUnion after six.

The same person in Ontario would see the same proposal timeline, but if they had gone bankrupt instead, TransUnion would keep a first bankruptcy for seven years after discharge rather than six. Your own dates will differ, which is exactly why it pays to pull both reports and write down the date attached to each negative item.

Notice too that the items fall away in stages rather than all at once. Each one that disappears tends to help, and in the meantime the on-time payments you add every month are building the record that lenders will see once the old items are gone.

Credit checks and positive information

Hard credit inquiries, the checks a lender makes when you apply for credit, stay for three years at Equifax and six years at TransUnion, according to the FCAC. They typically affect your score for a much shorter time than they appear, and soft checks, like checking your own score, don't affect it at all.

Positive information is just as important when you're rebuilding. TransUnion keeps positive account information for up to 20 years, whether the account is open or closed. Equifax keeps accounts in good standing on your report for as long as they're open and reporting; for closed accounts paid as agreed, Equifax's current guidance says up to six years after they're reported closed, while the FCAC's summary describes up to ten years.

This is one reason not to close your oldest card in good standing in a hurry. Its positive history is part of what offsets the negatives while they age off.

What to do while you wait

You can't remove accurate negative information early, and anyone who promises to do that for a fee is someone to avoid. The FCAC is clear that accurate information in your credit history generally can't be changed or erased. What you can do is make sure your reports are accurate and build new, positive history.

• Check both reports. You can get your reports from Equifax and TransUnion for free.
• Dispute anything that's wrong or past its removal date. Negative information still showing after the maximum allowed time is an error you can have corrected.
• Get one or two accounts reporting on-time payments, such as a secured card if you can't get approved for a regular one.
• Keep balances low relative to your limits and pay every bill on time.

For a step-by-step plan after a proposal or bankruptcy, see our guide to rebuilding credit after bankruptcy. Many people see meaningful improvement well before the negative items formally drop off.

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