How many years before a bad debt becomes void?

I have heard that it takes up to ten years (credit card charge offs, etc.).

I am assuming that you are UK. The technical term is, "statute barred". Which simply means that you cannot be sued through the courts by a creditor after a certain period of time, determined by law, has elapsed. For ordinary debts, the period is six years, however, for special debts, these can include Government agencies such as the Inland Revenue, and some debts relating to purchase of land and property, the period is longer, twelve years is the norm.

There is a very important caveat relating to the statute barred period, which is that, at any time during the six year period you acknowledge that you owe the money, or even make a part payment toward it, you start a new six year period from the date of your acknowledgement.

I am assuming that the above is what you mean by your word "void".

It is seven years unless it is a defaulted student loan or an IRS tax lien then it can go 10 years.

There are "technical" definitions (through the Courts), but in reality a bad debt NEVER becomes "void"; let's say you lent me $10,000 thirty years ago, and I never paid you back. If you find out I might be entering a business partnership with a close friend of yours next week, are you not going to mention the debt I reneged on because some specific number of years has gone by?

Michael S. is correct. It depends on the statute of limitations for the state that you live in.

Good question.

Here are your rights:

* To clear your credit report:

If any of your accounts were charged off more than seven years ago, the damaging information on that account should have been erased from your credit bureau file, and a collection agency cannot reenter the information. This process take place under a federal law, called the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), that regulates the actions of all creditors and credit reporting agencies. The law is designed to protect consumers, creditors, and credit reporting agencies. The FCRA enforces the seven-year limit; specifically, it says that information in a consumer's file concerning accounts that have been charged off or placed for collection must be completely erased after seven years from the date of last activity; last activity generally means the date the creditor charged off the account. On the copy of your report look at the date of last activity. Has it been seven years from that date? If so, write to the credit bureau and tell it to remove the account from your file. Each one of your accounts is probably different. For many of them, that seven-year limit may not be far away. Making a new payment now would merely create new activity in your account and start the seven-year cycle over. Be very careful about doing this.

* To deal with bill collectors:

When it comes to collection efforts, each state has its own statute of limitations governing how long a debt is considered legally collectible. In general, the limit is about four to five years from date of your last payment. If a creditor waits beyond the time limit set by the statute of limitations to sue you, the case can be thrown out of court. To find out about the statute of limitations in your state, contact the Office of the State Attorney General. If you know that your debt has expired under this statute of limitations and a collection agency happens to call you, do this: Explain to the agency that you will pay only if you are taken to court and a judgment is obtained against you; otherwise, you have no intention to pay what you believe to be a legally uncollectible debt. The key here is to put your argument in writing, adding a clear demand that the agency stop contacting you. The Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, another federal law, declares that if the state-regulated limitation period is up, the agency may not contact you again once it receives your letter-except to say there will be no further contact. If the state statute of limitations hasn't yet run out, paying something on your charged-off accounts will not help clear up your credit report and may start the collection agencies' clock ticking anew, so once again, think hard before you do this. Only time will repair your credit report-specifically, the seven years it takes until the credit bureau must, by law, remove the debt notation.

This depends on what state you live in. Some as few as four years and some are seven or more.

6 years till it comes off from your credit file!!
but debt collectors will sell there debt on to different companys so the debt will last forever

well with collectors buying up bad debt ever time it changes hands the clock starts ove so really the answer is never!!!

It only becomes void if the creditor fails to contact you over a period of 6 years.

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