There are a number of financial issues that can negatively impact a credit report for several years and it is often issues of civil judgments and bankruptcies which stay on a credit report the longest. Any judgment collection activity will likely stay on a credit report for at least seven years and will be visible to potential creditors for quite a while even after it's been paid. If a civil judgment is paid in full then the credit rating won't likely be damaged, but if there is no information on whether a person paid, the credit report may report this as a very negative thing.