If you’ve worked hard to build a good credit history and suddenly find your account closed for one reason or another, you may be afraid that all your work has been for nothing. Here’s the good news: if you’ve used your account, the lender most likely reported all of your charging and payment activity to the credit bureaus. This credit history is yours for good and can’t be erased. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), all positive credit information can be kept and reported forever. Negative reports, however, will drop off of your credit history after seven years. As long as you spent the time the account was open creating good credit history you’re in good shape.

The story is different with negative credit history. The good news for anyone with bad credit is that all bad credit history drops off of your credit report after seven years has lapsed. For example, all collections accounts are deleted from your record seven years from the time of the first delinquency with the original lender. Keep in mind that this doesn’t happen automatically; you’ll need to contact the credit bureaus with dispute letters once the time frame has passed.

If you had your one and only credit card closed while trying to build credit, don’t panic: there are still options for you. While remembering that the good history you worked for is still with you, try applying for a new credit card. If your credit score is still low, consider a highly rated secured credit card. You can also consider credit cards through your bank or credit union. You can also think about a co-signed account with someone with excellent credit history. Co-signed accounts mean that you benefit from the other individual’s good credit history, although you are equally responsible for all debt on the account.

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