Answer: -The only thing I could add is to dispute all of the negative items on your credit history. The Credit Reporting Agency is required to investigate all disputes. If the creditor fails to respond to a dispute investigation the item is deleted automatically. Other then that, it stays on your history.But by doing the other things that DaMan mentions, your credit will start showing improvements fairly soon. Not great, but it will help. -I thought the 7 year rule was for bankruptcy, it takes 7 years for that note on your credit to disappear. You can actually repair bad credit in a matter of months if you have some form of credit that you can keep up with. If you have 1 credit card and a terrible rating, that's all you need - pay the card down to $20 and charge a new $20 each month and pay $20 each month. The problem is if you close all your cards, then you have no way to rebuild. -Generally it's 7 years. It will effect your credit score, especially if it is a complete write off. Ways to improve your score: First pay down your debts, especially unsecured debt (like credit cards). If a reporting agency sees that all your credit cards are near their max, it will effect your credit score. Second, make sure you make payments ON TIME. Having a long time arrangement with a creditor without late payments will increase your score. ANother way is, if the debt is disputable, dispute it. Disputable items are taken off until the issue is resolved.