What are the guidelines for the 7 year rule on disputing old

First of all get a free annual copy of your credit report from the 3 major credit bureaus separately. If the reports contain any mistake then you can send a dispute letter to them. After getting the letter, the concerned Credit Reporting Agency or Bureau will investigate into the matter and revert back to you within a reasonable period of time (generally, 30 days). If the information in the report is found to be false then the bureau is bound to erase the matter from the report.

A sample dispute letter is given below: -

In a normal course, any negative entry gets eliminated form the report after seven years. Hence, you may have to allow that time limit to pass by before disputing the entry with the credit bureaus. Also not all the three bureaus update their report at the same time. Hence, an account may stay little longer in a report than required. They may update its status in next time.

However, pull out a copy of your credit from all the credit bureaus to check the status of the accounts. If it carries the disputable entries, go ahead and dispute it with the bureau. Also send a letter of validation to the creditor. If they can't validate the entry they will drop it.

Hope the input helps.

In case where negative information in your report is correct then it can only get erased from your report with the passage of time. So, you can also check the Statue of Limitation of your state. You can also check it out from the following: -

[quote]Reporting Accurate Negative Information
When negative information in your report is accurate, only the passage of time can assure its removal. A consumer reporting company can report most accurate negative information for seven years and bankruptcy information for 10 years. Information about an unpaid judgment against you can be reported for seven years or until the statute of limitations runs out, whichever is longer. There is no time limit on reporting: information about criminal convictions; information reported in response to your application for a job that pays more than $75,000 a year; and information reported because you????????ve applied for more than $150,000 worth of credit or life insurance. There is a standard method for calculating the seven-year reporting period. Generally, the period runs from the date that the event took place.
For more information, see Building a Better Credit Report at ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/credit/.[/quote]

Seven years from date of first delinquency is the standard for most trade lines. If the account is still on there after the reporting sol has run,dispute it as obsolete.

I received different advise regarding some. Outstanding accounts that were showing on my credit bureau. I have now paid everything off in full..will I have to suffer and wait 7 years or is there a grace period granted for those who try to clean up there debt's?