Every credit account on your report gets a two-character code: a letter (account type) and a digit (payment status). Here is what every combination means, how long each stays, and what its scoring impact is.
Credit cards, store cards, home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), and other accounts with a credit limit and a varying monthly balance. You can borrow up to the limit repeatedly as you pay down the balance.
Loans with fixed monthly payments and a defined payoff date: auto loans, student loans, personal loans, boat loans. The loan amount is fixed at origination and decreases with each payment.
Home purchase mortgages, home equity loans (HELoan — fixed amount, fixed payments, not a line of credit). Some reports include manufactured home loans here. Distinguished from HELOCs, which are revolving (R).
Charge cards (American Express Green/Gold — must be paid in full each month), certain utility accounts, and accounts expected to be fully paid monthly. Rare on modern reports; most "open" cards are coded R.
The digit (0–9) describes the current or worst-ever payment history on the account. A credit report may show both the current status and a historical worst-status code depending on the bureau's format.
| Digit | Meaning | Score Impact | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Too new to rate — account exists but not enough history to assign a payment status | Neutral | Disappears once 6 months of history exists. Normal for new accounts. |
| 1 | Paid as agreed — always on time, no derogatory history | Positive | The best possible status. Accounts with a long R1 or I1 history are the backbone of a high credit score. |
| 2 | 30–59 days past due — at least one payment 30 to 59 days late | Minor negative | A single 30-day late payment can drop a score 50–100 points depending on the starting score and account age. Stays 7 years from the late payment date. |
| 3 | 60–89 days past due — payment 60 to 89 days late | Major negative | Significantly more damaging than a 30-day late. Most lenders view 60-day lates as a serious delinquency. Stays 7 years. |
| 4 | 90–119 days past due — payment 90 to 119 days late | Major negative | At this stage many creditors assign the account to internal collections and begin the process leading to charge-off. Stays 7 years. |
| 5 | 120+ days past due — payment 120 or more days late | Severe | One step from charge-off. The account is typically flagged for write-off. Lenders rarely extend credit while a 5-status account is open. Stays 7 years. |
| 6 | Making regular payments under an arrangement — debt management plan, consolidation arrangement, or creditor workout plan | Negative | Shows the creditor agreed to modified terms — this signals prior distress. Often seen when a consumer uses a nonprofit credit counseling agency. Not as damaging as 8 or 9 but negative. Stays 7 years from the arrangement date. |
| 7 | Paying through Chapter 13 bankruptcy — the account is included in an active wage-earner repayment plan | Severe | Chapter 13 involves a court-supervised repayment plan (3–5 years). The account shows 7-status while the plan is active. Chapter 13 filing stays on the report for 7 years from the filing date. |
| 8 | Repossession or foreclosure — the lender took the collateral | Severe | For installment accounts (I8): vehicle repossession, boat/equipment repossession. For mortgages (M8): foreclosure. For revolving accounts (R8): rare but occasionally used for certain secured cards where the collateral was seized. Stays 7 years from first delinquency. |
| 9 | Seriously delinquent — charged off, written off as bad debt, sent to collections, or included in Chapter 7 bankruptcy | Most severe | The worst single-account rating. R9 is a credit card charged off or in collections. I9 is a loan charged off. M9 is a mortgage in foreclosure proceedings (before the lender takes the property) or written off. Stays 7 years from the date of first delinquency — not from the charge-off date. |
All four account types use the same digit scale. The full set of meaningful codes is below. (X0 codes for "too new to rate" are excluded from the matrix — they appear identically for all account types.)
| Code | Account Type | Status | Common Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Revolving | Paid as agreed | Credit card always paid on time |
| R2 | Revolving | 30–59 days past due | Credit card payment missed by 1 month |
| R3 | Revolving | 60–89 days past due | Credit card payment missed 2 months |
| R4 | Revolving | 90–119 days past due | Credit card payment missed 3 months |
| R5 | Revolving | 120+ days past due | Credit card payment missed 4+ months, pending charge-off |
| R6 | Revolving | Arrangement | Credit card under debt management plan |
| R7 | Revolving | Chapter 13 | Credit card included in Chapter 13 repayment plan |
| R8 | Revolving | Repossession | Secured card collateral seized (rare) |
| R9 | Revolving | Charged off / serious delinquency | Credit card charged off or in collections |
| I1 | Installment | Paid as agreed | Auto loan or student loan always on time |
| I2 | Installment | 30–59 days past due | Auto loan payment 30 days late |
| I3 | Installment | 60–89 days past due | Auto loan payment 60 days late |
| I4 | Installment | 90–119 days past due | Auto loan payment 90 days late, lender may repossess |
| I5 | Installment | 120+ days past due | Auto loan severely delinquent |
| I6 | Installment | Arrangement | Student loan on income-driven forbearance arrangement |
| I7 | Installment | Chapter 13 | Auto loan included in Chapter 13 plan |
| I8 | Installment | Repossession | Vehicle repossessed by lender |
| I9 | Installment | Charged off / serious delinquency | Personal loan charged off and written off |
| M1 | Mortgage | Paid as agreed | Mortgage always paid on time |
| M2 | Mortgage | 30–59 days past due | Mortgage payment 30 days late |
| M3 | Mortgage | 60–89 days past due | Mortgage payment 60 days late |
| M4 | Mortgage | 90–119 days past due | Mortgage in early foreclosure warning territory |
| M5 | Mortgage | 120+ days past due | Mortgage severely delinquent, foreclosure proceedings likely |
| M6 | Mortgage | Arrangement | Mortgage under forbearance or loan modification |
| M7 | Mortgage | Chapter 13 | Mortgage included in Chapter 13 reorganization plan |
| M8 | Mortgage | Foreclosure | Home foreclosed — lender took the property |
| M9 | Mortgage | Charged off / serious delinquency | Mortgage written off, short sale deficiency, or deep in foreclosure proceedings |
| O1 | Open/30-day | Paid as agreed | Charge card paid in full each month |
| O2 | Open/30-day | 30–59 days past due | Charge card balance not paid in full when due |
| O3 | Open/30-day | 60–89 days past due | Charge card overdue 2 cycles |
| O4 | Open/30-day | 90–119 days past due | Charge card 90 days overdue |
| O5 | Open/30-day | 120+ days past due | Charge card severely overdue |
| O6 | Open/30-day | Arrangement | Open account under restructured payment agreement |
| O7 | Open/30-day | Chapter 13 | Open account included in Chapter 13 plan |
| O8 | Open/30-day | Repossession | Collateral on open account seized |
| O9 | Open/30-day | Charged off / serious delinquency | Open account charged off |
| Codes | Removal Timeline | Clock Starts From |
|---|---|---|
| X0 | Disappears on its own — typically within 6 months once payment history builds | N/A |
| X1 | Stays indefinitely while account is open and in good standing; typically 10 years after closing | N/A (positive accounts may remain) |
| X2 – X5 (late payments) | 7 years | Date of the specific late payment |
| X6 (arrangement) | 7 years | Date arrangement began or date of first delinquency leading to it |
| X7 (Chapter 13) | 7 years | Filing date of the Chapter 13 bankruptcy |
| X8 (repossession / foreclosure) | 7 years | Date of first delinquency that led to the repossession or foreclosure — not the date the vehicle/property was taken |
| X9 (charge-off / collections) | 7 years | Date of first delinquency — not the date of charge-off, not the date sent to collections, not when a new collector buys the debt. This is the most commonly misunderstood rule: a debt collector cannot reset the 7-year clock by re-reporting the account as a new collection. |
The exact point impact depends on your baseline score, account mix, and other factors — but the relative severity is consistent:
| Digit | Typical Score Impact | Recovery Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Positive — contributes to a higher score over time | N/A (builds score) |
| 2 (30-day late) | −50 to −100 points depending on starting score; higher scores fall further | Score begins recovering within 12–18 months of no further lates |
| 3 (60-day late) | −70 to −130 points | 24+ months to recover meaningfully |
| 4 (90-day late) | −100 to −150 points | 3+ years to largely recover |
| 5 (120+ late) | −100 to −150 points; similar to charge-off scoring impact | 3–5 years |
| 7 (Chapter 13) | −130 to −200 points | 5–7 years; score begins recovering as plan payments are made on time |
| 8 (repo/foreclosure) | −150 to −250 points | 5–7 years |
| 9 (charge-off / collections) | −100 to −250 points; impact lessens as the account ages | Score begins meaningful recovery 3–4 years after the event even if the account is still on the report |
This is the most common misunderstanding about X9 codes:
1. It will not remove the R9/I9/M9 code. Paying a charged-off account settles the debt but does not erase the derogatory mark. The account will update to show a $0 balance with a note like "Paid charge-off" but the original charge-off history and the R9/I9 notation remain for the full 7-year period.
2. It will not stop the 7-year clock. The removal date was set when the first payment was missed. Payment — whether voluntary or after a lawsuit — does not change that date.
3. It will not prevent a collection account from also appearing. When a charged-off account is sold to a collection agency, a new tradeline from the collector appears separately. You may see both the original creditor's R9 and the collection agency's account. Both count against you. Paying the collector does not remove the original creditor's R9.
The exception: Pay-for-delete. Some collection agencies agree in writing to remove their tradeline entirely upon payment. This is not required by law and is at the collector's discretion. If a collector offers this, get it in writing before paying. It affects only the collection tradeline — the original creditor's charge-off remains.
If you believe a rating code on your report is wrong — wrong status, wrong dates, wrong account — you have the right under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to dispute it at no cost.
What can be disputed: Factual errors only — an R9 on an account you never missed a payment on; an I8 repo on a loan you paid off; a late payment date that is wrong; an account that is not yours. Accurate negative information cannot be forced off early by disputing.
How to file: Submit disputes directly to each bureau that shows the error: Equifax (equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/), Experian (experian.com/disputes/), TransUnion (transunion.com/credit-disputes/). Include supporting documentation — payment records, account statements, bank confirmation numbers.
Timeline: Bureaus have 30 days to investigate (45 days if you provided additional documentation) and must notify you of the result. If they cannot verify the information, they must remove or correct it.