Credit Scores & Credit Monitoring What To Do About Bad Credit Why Some Accounts Don't Appear on Your Credit Report Account Not Showing on Your Credit Report? Here's Why. By LaToya Irby LaToya Irby LaToya Irby is a credit expert who has been covering credit and debt management for The Balance for more than a dozen years. She's been quoted in USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, and the Associated Press, and her work has been cited in several books. learn about our editorial policies Updated on March 21, 2022 Reviewed by Cierra Murry In This Article View All In This Article The Account Was Too Old to Be Reported The Business Doesn’t Report to Any Credit Bureau How Unreported Accounts Impact Your Credit Score Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Photo: SpiffyJ / Getty Images When you're reviewing your credit report, you may notice that some of your financial accounts don't show up. In some situations, you may see accounts on your credit report from one bureau but not on the other two. There may be accounts that don’t appear on any of your credit reports from any of the major credit bureaus. There are a few explanations for this, and it's all based on how credit reporting works. The Account Was Too Old to Be Reported The account you're looking for may have dropped off your credit report. This could happen either because the credit reporting time limit passed, or the credit bureau’s internal reporting time limit for that type of account expired. Accounts closed in poor standing—for example, if you were delinquent when the account was closed—will fall off your credit report after seven years. That's based on the credit reporting time limit outlined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Other closed accounts will fall off your credit report after 10 years or so, depending on how long the credit bureau decides to report these types of accounts. There is no law defining the amount of time in which accounts that have been closed in good standing must fall off your credit report. The Business Doesn’t Report to Any Credit Bureau In the credit reporting world, businesses decide which of the three credit bureaus they’re going to subscribe to, if not all three. Your account will not appear on your credit report if the business doesn’t subscribe to a particular credit bureau. This explains why you may see an account on just one of your credit reports but not the other two. The account may not be a traditional credit account. Accounts like utilities, cable services, telephone, and water fall into this category. Depending on the company and the state, some utilities may report to the credit bureaus, but they’re not required to do so. Note Unfortunately, delinquent accounts may be reported even when regular, timely payments are not. It’s important to pay on time even if you don’t see the account on your credit report. Many rent payments don’t appear on renters’ credit reports, especially if you’re renting from a smaller landlord who doesn't subscribe to a credit bureau. Accounts with larger property management companies are more likely to appear on either your Experian or TransUnion credit report. Historically, rent payments haven’t shown up on credit reports—except in cases of severe delinquency—so don’t be surprised if your rental history isn’t on your credit report. Note Some third-party services will work with your landlord or property management company to report rent on your behalf, but you'll have to subscribe to the service. How Unreported Accounts Impact Your Credit Score Credit scores are calculated based only on the information on your credit report at the time the credit score is generated. It does not consider what was on your credit report last year or even last week. If an account never appeared on your credit report, there should be no change to your credit score based on your payment behavior with that particular account. However, you may be missing out on a potential credit score boost from timely payments on an account. On the other hand, your credit score could rise or fall (relative to the last time you checked your score) if an account falls off your credit report, for example, because the credit reporting time limit has passed. It’s hard to predict which way your credit score will go, because it depends on the account that falls off and all of the other information on your credit report. Businesses aren’t required to report to the credit bureaus; it’s strictly voluntary. If an account isn’t showing on your credit report and you think it should be, contact the business to find out their credit reporting policies. There may have been a mistake with your account, and the business can update the credit bureaus with the correct information. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) How long does it take for a new credit card to show up on your credit report? You can expect credit cards to show up on your report within a couple of months. The exact timing will depend on when your credit card company reports information to the credit bureaus. All companies do so roughly once per month. If you happen to get a new card just after the company has reported information to the credit bureau, you may have to wait until the end of the next billing cycle for the information to appear on your credit report. If one credit bureau removes information from your credit report, do the others have to, as well? No, a credit bureau does not automatically have to remove information just because another one did. However, if one bureau removed information because it's outdated or otherwise inaccurate, then other bureaus will likely want to do so if they haven't already. It may be an oversight that the bureau hasn't deleted the information. Disputing the information with each bureau individually is the best way to ensure that your credit reports are accurate and complete. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Legal Information Institute. "15 U.S. Code § 1681c. Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports." Experian. “When Are Closed Accounts Deleted?” Accessed Jan. 14, 2021. Equifax. “Why Aren’t All My Accounts Listed in My Equifax US Credit File?” Experian. "Can Utility Bills Appear on Your Credit Report?" myFICO. “What’s in My FICO Scores?” Accessed Jan. 14, 2021. Experian. "Credit Score Went Down When Positive Account Was Removed."