Do Payday Loans Disappear After 7 Years?

Payday loans are short-term credit agreements that must be repaid within a month. Learn more about how long they stay on your credit report and what happens if you default.

Do Payday Loans Disappear After 7 Years?

Payday loans are short-term credit agreements, usually comparatively expensive, that must be repaid within a month. When an account goes into delinquency, it can be sold to a third-party collection agency and this will almost certainly appear on your credit reports. This bad debt will remain on your credit file for seven years and will be negatively counted in your credit ratings. Payment history is the most important consideration for credit scoring, and when an account goes into collection, it's a clear indication that you didn't pay your bill as agreed.

As a result, your scores will sink. In most states, the debt itself doesn't mature or disappear until you pay it. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, debts can appear on your credit report generally for seven years and, in some cases, longer. This law states that a collection cannot confiscate its property without a court order.

Since a payday loan is an unsecured unsecured debt, the collector cannot keep your property without going to court first. They would have to win a case against him in civil court to garnish his wages. Default on a payday loan can result in bank overdraft fees, collection calls, damage to your credit score, a day in court, and a garnishment of your paycheck. Payday loans stay in your credit history for six years, and as more time goes by, the less impact they will have. Because payday loans are expensive and the consequences of falling behind are severe, it is best to prioritize these types of debts while the loan is current and absent from your credit reports. If all that fails and the delinquent payday loan is sent to collections, you have another potential opportunity.

Payday loans are fine, but since the interest rate they charge is quite high, those loans should be taken with that knowledge and repaid as quickly as possible. In the long term, you can also work to fix the underlying financial issues that lead you to a payday loan counter. If you apply for a payday loan for an emergency, do your best to return it on time and avoid renewing it. Although mortgage lenders will check your credit score, using payday loans can cause your mortgage to be rejected. The loan can address the emergency, but the other living expenses are still there when the loan is due and many people are short of it.

Payday loans will not directly affect your mortgage application or new mortgage, but if you have taken out one in the past six years, lenders may be wary of you and this could result in your mortgage application being rejected. Lenders don't have to lend the maximum amount and are likely to consider your income when deciding how much to lend. Because lenders don't report loans to the Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion credit bureaus, repaying the loan will not improve your credit.