How to Find Out When You Last Filed Bankruptcy

To find out when you last filed bankruptcy, start with your credit report if the filing was within the last 10 years, then move to federal court records for anything older or more detailed. Bankruptcies appear in the public records section of reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, and every case ever filed lives in the federal court system, where the records are public and searchable by name, Social Security number, or case number. Between a free credit report, the PACER system, and a free court phone line, most people can pin down the filing date, the chapter, and the outcome without paying anything.

Start With Your Credit Report

Your credit report is the fastest place to look. Bankruptcy filings appear in the public records section and typically include the filing date, case number, and the chapter you filed under. You can get free reports from all three major credit bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com or by calling (877) 322-8228.¹

Federal law allows credit bureaus to report bankruptcy for up to 10 years from the date the court entered the order for relief.² The statute draws no distinction between chapters, though some bureaus voluntarily remove completed Chapter 13 cases after seven years as a matter of policy.³

The limit is the obvious one. If your case is more than 10 years old, it won’t be on the report at all, and you’ll need to go through court records instead.

Search PACER for Federal Court Records

Every bankruptcy case in the United States is filed in federal court, and those records are public.⁴ The Public Access to Court Electronic Records system, known as PACER, is the official online index. You can search by name, Social Security number, or case number.

Registration is free. PACER charges $0.10 per page to view documents, capped at $3.00 per document. If your total charges stay under $30.00 in a billing quarter, the fees are waived entirely.⁵ Looking up a single old case, you’ll almost certainly pay nothing.

PACER shows the filing date, the chapter, whether the case ended in discharge or dismissal, and the full docket of what happened during the proceeding. Short of visiting the courthouse, it’s the most complete record you can get.

Call the Free Bankruptcy Court Phone Line

If you’d rather skip the online account, the Multi-Court Voice Case Information System (McVCIS) is a free automated phone line covering bankruptcy courts nationwide. Call 1-866-222-8029 from any touchtone phone. The system runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with prompts in English and Spanish.⁶

You’ll need at least one of the following: your case number, your name, or your Social Security number.⁷ After you select the district where your case was filed, the system reads back the filing date, the chapter, case status, and attorney information. If all you need is the date, this is the path of least resistance.

Visit the Bankruptcy Court Clerk

If you don’t know which district handled your case, or if PACER and the phone line aren’t giving you what you need, the clerk’s office at your local bankruptcy court is a reliable fallback. Staff can search by name and other identifying information to locate the case.

Viewing docket information is free. A certified copy of your discharge order or another document costs $12.00 for the certification plus $0.50 per page for paper reproductions.⁸ A certified copy is worth having if a mortgage lender or a future bankruptcy filing requires proof of your discharge.

Check Your Own Paperwork

Before you spend time on anything else, look through what you already have. Many people hold onto bankruptcy paperwork without realizing it. Discharge orders, the original petition, correspondence from your attorney, and letters from the court trustee all show the filing date and chapter type. Even an attorney engagement letter or retainer agreement typically states when the case was being prepared.

Tax records can help too. If a creditor canceled a debt as part of your bankruptcy, they may have filed a Form 1099-C with the IRS. That form includes a date-of-event field and a code indicating the debt was discharged in bankruptcy.⁹ The date on the 1099-C isn’t the filing date itself, but it tells you which tax year to focus on when searching court records.

Order Archived Files From the National Archives

Bankruptcy cases that closed years ago may no longer be on PACER. Courts eventually transfer closed case files to National Archives Federal Records Centers for long-term storage, and you can order copies through the National Archives online ordering system.

Three packages are available:¹⁰

Pre-Selected Documents ($35): the discharge or dismissal order, voluntary petition, summary of debts and property, and creditor schedules. This is enough to confirm the filing date and outcome.
Docket Sheet ($35): a chronological list of every document filed in the case.
Entire Case File ($90): the full file, up to 150 pages. Pages beyond 150 are billed at $22.00 per 15 minutes of staff labor.

Certified copies cost an additional $15. To place an order, you need specific identifying information: the court’s city and state, debtor name, case number, transfer number, box number, and location number. If you don’t have all of that, contact the bankruptcy court clerk first, since they can look up the transfer information for closed cases.¹⁰

Filing Date Is Not the Same as Discharge Date

This distinction trips people up, and the stakes are real. The filing date is when you or your attorney submitted the petition to the court. The discharge date is when the court officially released you from your debts, which comes months later in a Chapter 7 and years later in a Chapter 13. They are two different dates, and using the wrong one throws off any eligibility calculation for a future filing.

Refiling waiting periods run from filing date to filing date. Under 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(8), a court will deny a Chapter 7 discharge if the debtor received a prior Chapter 7 discharge “in a case commenced within 8 years before the date of the filing of the petition.”¹¹ “Commenced” means filed. The clock starts on the date you filed the earlier case, not when you received your discharge.

Credit report timing works on a different rule. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the 10-year window runs from “the date of entry of the order for relief or the date of adjudication.”² In most voluntary bankruptcies, the order for relief is entered on the filing day, so the two dates line up. Involuntary petitions and other complications can separate them.

A dismissed case is a different situation. If the court dismissed the case without prejudice, the refiling waiting periods generally don’t apply, because the dismissal treats the case as if it never happened. A dismissal with prejudice is more serious and can carry a court-imposed waiting period before you can file again.

Why the Filing Date Matters for Filing Again

Most people searching for a prior filing date are trying to figure out when they can file again. Federal law sets minimum intervals depending on which chapter you filed before and which you want to file next. All are measured from filing date to filing date.

Chapter 7 after Chapter 7: eight years. A court will deny the discharge if the prior Chapter 7 was filed within eight years of the new petition.¹¹
Chapter 7 after Chapter 13: six years, unless you repaid 100% of unsecured claims under the Chapter 13 plan, or at least 70% in a plan proposed in good faith and representing your best effort.¹¹
Chapter 13 after Chapter 7: four years between filing dates, per 11 U.S.C. § 1328(f)(1).
Chapter 13 after Chapter 13: two years between filing dates, per 11 U.S.C. § 1328(f)(2).

Filing before the waiting period expires doesn’t automatically get your case thrown out. The petition can still trigger the automatic stay that protects you from creditors. But the court will deny the discharge, which defeats the reason most people file. Getting the prior filing date wrong by even a day can cost you that discharge, so if you’re using the date to plan a new case, confirm it with court records rather than relying on memory.

1
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Do I Get a Free Copy of My Credit Reports?
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports
3
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Does a Bankruptcy Appear on Credit Reports?
4
United States Courts. About U.S. Bankruptcy Courts
5
United States Courts. Electronic Public Access Fee Schedule
6
United States Bankruptcy Court – Eastern District of New York. Voice Case Information System – VCIS
7
United States Bankruptcy Court Northern District of California. Multi-Court Voice Case Information System (McVCIS)
8
United States Courts. Bankruptcy Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule
9
IRS. Instructions for Forms 1099-A and 1099-C
10
National Archives and Records Administration. Bankruptcy Case Files
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 727 – Discharge