Bankruptcy information stays in bank system for 10 years

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Published: November 11th, 2011 • Last Updated: January 7th, 2021
Author: Ross Taylor on AskRoss.ca

Bankruptcies can be on record for 10 years, not 6

Dear Ross: How come TD Bank has notes in their system about my personal bankruptcy from 2003? My credit bureau is absolutely clean; score 765; no blemishes, yet I can only get a secured visa from my own bank after all these years! Thanks!

-Confused in North York

Dear Confused: Everyone tells you a first time bankruptcy is wiped from the credit system six years from the date of discharge, but they are only partially correct. In Ontario, it does disappear from your credit report (Equifax or Trans Union Canada). In some provinces, it takes seven years.

Major banks who are your creditors are notified by the bankruptcy trustee when you declare bankruptcy. The bank then attaches a note to your customer profile in their computer systems.

TD Bank’s internal policy is to keep such notes for ten years from the date it was input – which means in your case that note stays there till April 2013.

TD told me this policy is adhered to at all Canadian financial institutions, but I don’t know that for a fact. I will try to find out and put the answer in a later post.

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