The Today Show's Money 911 on the topic of "Time Barred Debts"

[roxcyn]

This is a financial advisor!? He didn't even answer the question correctly!  The credit report is 7 years from the delinquency date to when it falls off. Also, if you want new credit having something unpaid won't help. If it's a utility bill you could still have to pay even if it's time barren--many don't give service without paying outstanding balance.

[julzheimer1]

He's flat out wrong, about a few things. First off, he's confusing the "right to sue for contract debt" statute of statute of limitations and the "how long it can be reported to the credit bureaus" statute of limitations. Second, the statute of limitations to sue on contract debt in TX is 4 years, yes, but the debt would have had to have been incurred in TX. If the consumer moved to TX from another state where the debt was originally incurred the THAT state's statute of limitations rules

[johnlouisville]

This man is incorrect....he's confusing the statute of limitations with the 7 year time period that bad debt can stay on credit reports.....The 7 year time period is fixed.