What Happens to Your Credit When You Get Evicted?

Eviction is a legal process where a landlord removes a tenant from a rental property, often due to a lease breach like unpaid rent. While the process is legal, its financial repercussions can extend to a tenant’s credit history. Understanding this impact is important for managing your financial standing and future housing prospects.

How Evictions Impact Your Credit

An eviction notice or filing typically does not directly appear on a standard credit report, which primarily tracks financial obligations like loans and credit cards. However, the circumstances surrounding an eviction can significantly harm your credit score through other channels.

One common way an eviction impacts credit is through unpaid rent or damages sent to a collection agency. If a tenant leaves owing money, the landlord may sell this debt to a third-party collection agency. This collection account will then be reported to the major credit bureaus—Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion—as a derogatory mark on your credit report. Such entries indicate a failure to pay a debt and can severely lower credit scores.

Furthermore, if a landlord pursues a civil lawsuit for unpaid rent or damages and obtains a judgment against the tenant, this judgment can become a public record. While changes in credit reporting standards mean many civil judgments no longer appear on credit reports, they remain part of public records. These public records can still be accessed by tenant screening companies, which landlords often use to evaluate prospective renters. Therefore, even if a judgment doesn’t appear on a credit report, it can still hinder future rental applications.

Collection accounts can substantially impact credit scores. Payment history accounts for a significant portion of a credit score, and a collection account indicates a severe delinquency. This can make it more challenging to obtain new credit, secure loans, or even rent another property.

The Lifespan of Eviction Records

Negative information related to an eviction, such as collection accounts or civil judgments, typically remains on your credit report for seven years. This period begins from the date of the original delinquency or the judgment’s filing. Even if a debt is paid, the record can persist for the full seven-year duration.

While these records remain visible for seven years, their impact on your credit score may lessen over time. Newer credit scoring models may regard paid collection accounts more favorably than unpaid ones. However, for the entire seven-year period, these entries will be considered negative factors by lenders and landlords reviewing your credit history.

Accessing Your Credit Report

Understanding the contents of your credit report is important for managing your financial health, especially after an eviction. You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report annually from each of the three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. The official source for these reports is AnnualCreditReport.com. You can request all three reports at once or space them out throughout the year to monitor your credit more frequently.

Once you obtain your credit reports, carefully review each section for any eviction-related information. Look specifically in the “Public Records” section for civil judgments. More commonly, check the “Collection Accounts” section for any debts owed to former landlords or collection agencies. Since information can vary between the three credit bureaus, it is advisable to review all three reports to ensure a comprehensive understanding of your credit profile.

Challenging Inaccurate Eviction Information

If you discover inaccurate or outdated eviction-related information on your credit report, you have the right to dispute it with the credit bureaus. Disputes should only be initiated for information that is genuinely incorrect, such as an incorrect amount, an account that is not yours, or an item that has passed its legal reporting period.

To dispute an inaccuracy, you can contact the credit bureau online, by mail, or by phone. When submitting a dispute, clearly explain what information you believe is wrong and provide any supporting documentation, such as proof of payment, court documents showing dismissal of a case, or identity verification. It is advisable to send disputes by certified mail with a return receipt if mailing, and to keep copies of all correspondence and documents for your records.

Upon receiving your dispute, the credit bureau typically has 30 days to investigate the claim. This period can be extended to 45 days if you provide additional relevant information after the initial dispute. During the investigation, the credit bureau will contact the entity that furnished the information, which could be the landlord or collection agency, to verify its accuracy. If the information is found to be inaccurate or unverifiable, it must be corrected or removed from your credit report.