Four separate periods run, and they do not line up. Only two of them come from the Act at all.

Here is what each one is, where it comes from, and what you can do about it. How long a Minimal Asset Process lasts covers the periods that are fixed by statute.

Three named sources give it. mygov.scot says bankruptcy remains on your credit file for a minimum of six years, Citizens Advice Scotland says your credit rating is affected for six years, and National Debtline says the same.

The agencies publish it too, and this is unusual

Insolvency is one of the categories the credit reference agencies do describe. Experian’s published retention periods give insolvency data as six years, or until settled where that is different.

Equifax’s retention summary says that for discharged records, data is retained for live decision making for six years from the court date. TransUnion describes insolvency records as usually six years.

What that does and does not settle

It settles the shape of the answer, which is six years rather than six months. It does not make the period a rule of Scots law, because the Act says nothing about credit files at all.

The clock also runs from the start of the case rather than from your discharge. How long debt information stays on your credit file covers the other entries alongside it.

The four periods side by side

The first two rows are statute. The last two are what public bodies publish, and the article treats them as such.

Through the register. Alongside the free public search, the Accountant in Bankruptcy’s guidance on the Register of Insolvencies describes a paid commercial data download service used by the major credit reference agencies.

You do not have to tell anyone

There is nothing to report to Experian, Equifax or TransUnion. The information reaches them through that route without you doing anything.

The register itself is open. Section 200(7) requires it to be available for inspection at all reasonable times, and requires a certified copy of an entry to be provided to any person on request.

What the register records

Estates that have been sequestrated are one of the categories section 200(2) lists, alongside trust deeds sent for registration and bankruptcy restrictions orders. A Minimal Asset Process sits in the first of those.

The entry that starts before the bankruptcy

This one is rarely mentioned. Section 200(2)(a) puts a person who has given notice of intention to apply for a statutory moratorium on the register during the moratorium, before any award has been made.

So taking a moratorium is itself a public step. Whether a MAP stops a wage arrestment explains what a moratorium does and does not reach.

So the register is the source and the credit file is the copy. Correcting one does not automatically correct the other.

Because a different body sets that period, and it is not law. mygov.scot says a Minimal Asset Process entry stays registered for 18 months, against at least five years for other bankruptcies.

There is no statutory retention period at all

Section 200 of the 2016 Act sets out what the register contains and who may see it. Neither it nor the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Regulations 2016 says how long an entry stays.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy’s own guidance describes keeping information until the longer of a year after the trustee’s discharge, a year after a recall, or a year after the end of a period of bankruptcy restrictions.

Those two statements do not reconcile precisely. One is outcome-driven and the other is a flat figure, and we have not tried to force them together.

Keeping an entry off the register

Information may be withheld where the Accountant in Bankruptcy considers that including it would be likely to put someone at risk of violence or otherwise jeopardise their safety or welfare.

A request can be made with the application. Raise it with your adviser at the start rather than after the entry has appeared.

The accounts themselves. The Information Commissioner’s Office says a defaulted account may show for six years from the date of the default, and a settled or closed account for six years from the date it was closed.

Which is why files rarely tidy up neatly

A default recorded 18 months before the bankruptcy runs out 18 months before the bankruptcy entry does. Each item carries its own clock from its own date.

The register and the credit file are separate things

One is a statutory register kept by the Accountant in Bankruptcy. The other is a commercial record held by three private companies, each with its own retention policy.

They are linked only by the data feed between them. That is why one can clear years before the other.

What to check on your own file

• That accounts included in the bankruptcy are marked accordingly rather than left showing as in arrears.
• That no entry is still showing after the retention period the agency itself publishes.
• That the same picture appears at all three agencies, since they hold separate files.

Ask in writing where something looks wrong. Rebuilding after council tax arrears covers the practical steps that follow.

Legally, anything, as long as you disclose. Section 146 imposes disclosure duties rather than a borrowing ban, and they last six months from your discharge.

The two thresholds

Both figures are on the face of section 146 and have stood since the Act came into force on 30 November 2016. Neither has been amended since.

Most content on this point gets it wrong. You are not prohibited from taking credit, and the offence under section 147 is taking it without telling the lender.

Where a restrictions order changes the picture

The same two thresholds apply for the life of a bankruptcy restrictions order, which runs for years rather than months. The grounds include failing to supply accurate information and alienating property for no consideration.

In an honest case one does not arise. How long a MAP lasts sets out the durations and the window in which an order can be made.

It normally does. mygov.scot says Equifax, Experian and TransUnion may remove the entry after six years, and that you can ask them directly if it is still showing.

Six years is what the sources give, and mygov.scot calls it a minimum

Six years is what the published sources give, and mygov.scot puts it as a minimum rather than a fixed end date. Individual accounts run their own clocks and can clear earlier or later.

Check all three

They hold separate files and take their data separately. An entry can persist with one agency after the others have cleared it.

The register entry is different again. It goes without you asking, and there is nothing to request.

Keep your discharge paperwork

You may apply to the Accountant in Bankruptcy after discharge for a certificate of discharge in the prescribed form. It is the simplest documentary proof that the case ended and when.

If something is still showing

Ask the agency in writing to correct or remove an entry that has passed the retention period it publishes. Quote the date the bankruptcy was awarded and the date you were discharged.

Nobody can remove an accurate entry early

Accurate entries stay for the period the agency publishes. Any firm promising to remove one sooner is selling something it cannot deliver.

Free advice stays free after discharge. Citizens Advice Scotland, StepChange, National Debtline and Advice Direct Scotland will all talk the rebuilding stage through without charging, and how long debt information stays on your file sets out the retention periods for everything else.

It can be frozen or closed. mygov.scot advises keeping emergency money accessible before you apply, which is worth acting on rather than reading past.

What tends to follow

National Debtline notes that people often end up opening a basic instant access account without an overdraft or cheque facilities.

There is a statutory hook behind the freeze, at section 86(9) of the 2016 Act. The trustee must serve notice on a bank holding funds that have vested, and whether a wage arrestment affects getting a bank account covers the wider question.

Plan for it rather than around it

Talk to your adviser about where your wages or benefits are paid before the application goes in. How a Minimal Asset Process works sets out the sequence, and whether you are eligible covers what a savings balance does to the tests.

None of this is a reason to rule a Minimal Asset Process out. It is a cost to plan for, and our Scottish debt solutions pages set out what the alternatives would do to your record instead.