A public record is one of the many components of a credit report. If it is on your credit report, you need to know what it is and how it impacts your credit score. It usually means someone has taken legal action against you related to a debt you owe.

What Is a Public Record?

A public record is one of several legal actions that might be taken against you, including a lien, bankruptcy, or a civil judgment. Public records are legally visible to anyone that wants to look up that information. They are reported based on the court that filed them, which could be your local county court, a state court, or a federal court, depending on the legal action taken.

The credit bureaus report any public records relating to your financial information. This information is entered into your credit report for anyone that pulls the report to see. They will learn the following:

• What the debt is
• What action was taken
• When this action was taken
• The status

For example, if you file for bankruptcy, the court will submit that information to the credit reporting agencies. That information then remains on your credit report, typically for 7 to 10 years.

Your lenders, employer, property managers, and others with valuable data about your creditworthiness can report this information to the credit bureaus. Public records are data that is legally available to anyone that requests it. However, criminal records are not placed on your credit report.

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcy is a type of legal action in which you ask the court to reduce or eliminate your debt because you cannot repay it. There are several forms of bankruptcy, each with different impacts on your credit health.

• Chapter 7 bankruptcy occurs when you ask the court to forgive your debt. This means the lender can no longer legally pursue you for that debt obligation. This information is reported by the court – that you did not repay the debt, which was forgiven by the court.
• Chapter 13 bankruptcy occurs when you ask the court to recognize your debt, often reducing what you owe so that you can pay it off in 3 to 5 years. This has lesser of an impact on your credit report, but it is still a severe notation that you did not repay your debt on time as you agreed to.

Remember that bankruptcies stay on your credit report for 7 to 10 years. They will have the most significant impact on your credit score initially, but that can fade some over time.

Tax Liens

A tax lien occurs when you fail to pay your income or property taxes. If you fail to make payments on tangible assets, like your home, the government agency can pursue a tax lien. You cannot sell the property until the tax lien is repaid. It can also mean that, over time, the court can require that the property be sold to repay what you owe on your debt.

Tax liens remain on your credit report for up to 10 years. If you pay them off, they are generally released and removed from your credit report within seven years.

Judgments

A judgment is a legal action taken against you in court due to some debt you owe. Judgments represent a lender or another person you owe money to filing a lawsuit against you and the court agreeing with the lender.

If you have these on your credit report, it can impact your score negatively. You may still have to repay this debt, and the amount will remain present throughout that time. Most of the time, judgments stay on your credit report for up to seven years.

Collections

Collections are listed on your credit report. A collection record occurs when a lender does not receive payment on time from you, so they use a third-party agency designed to collect the debt. The collection account will likely be reported on your credit report until you pay it off, and it will remain on your credit report for up to seven years. Some collection agencies will remove these records if you make a payment on the account. Be sure to ask that before you make that payment.

Collections can be from credit cards or other loan nonpayments. They can also be the result of not paying a medical debt.

Foreclosures

A foreclosure occurs when a mortgage lender files a legal action in a court to reclaim a home or force the sale of a home because the consumer did not make payment as agreed. Every late payment you make on your home loan is reported on your credit report. This information is also reported to the credit bureaus if you enter into foreclosure with the lender.

Foreclosures typically remain on your account for seven years, and they tend to have the most impact immediately and then lessen over time. They usually appear on your credit report within a month or two of the foreclosure process beginning.

Evictions

If you have been evicted from an apartment or home you were renting, you may be worried about this appearing on your credit report, making it hard to obtain a loan lease at another location. The eviction does not show up on the credit report directly, though.

Instead, the landlord may seek a judgment against you with the help of a collection agency to collect the debt. If this happens, then it could be reported to the credit bureaus. The action of a collection of the debt you owe – your unpaid rent, for example, can remain present on your credit report for up to seven years.