DMP
How long does a DMP stay on your credit file?
A DMP has no single entry on your credit file. Each debt paid through the plan is recorded separately, on its own clock. This guide explains how that works and what it means for you.
- Each debt, its own clock
- No public register at all
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Written and reviewed by the AfterMy team · Last reviewed October 2026
Quick answerA DMP is informal, so there is no single DMP marker with one removal date. Instead, each debt in your plan shows on your file with its own history: a default is removed six years from the date it was recorded, whether or not the debt is paid by then, and accounts marked with a DMP flag or arrangement-to-pay markers clear six years after the account is settled or closed. Where defaults are recorded early in a DMP, they can drop off while the plan is still running or soon after it ends. There is no register entry for a DMP at all.
On this page
- Why there is no single DMP marker
- Defaults: six years from the default date, paid or not
- DMP flags and arrangement markers: six years after the account closes
- A worked example
- No register, no public record
- How to check your file, and the errors worth fixing
- Rebuilding while the clocks run down
- Frequently asked questions
Why there is no single DMP marker
This question has a different shape for a DMP than for an IVA or a DRO. An IVA or a DRO is a formal insolvency, recorded on your credit file as its own entry with a six-year life.
A DMP is not: it is an informal agreement between you, your provider and your creditors, with no court, no insolvency register and no standalone entry. What lenders see is the trail on each individual account you paid through the plan: missed payments, arrangement-to-pay markers, a DMP flag where the lender reports one, and defaults where accounts defaulted.
Each of those has its own removal rules, which is why the real answer to how long a DMP shows is: it depends on each debt, and here is how to work each one out. The upside is that parts of your file can clear while the plan is still running.
No court, no register, no standalone DMP entry. Your file shows the individual accounts, each on its own clock.
Defaults: six years from the default date, paid or not
A default is removed from your credit file six years from the date it was recorded, and that clock does not restart or pause for anything: not for payments, not for settling the debt, not for the DMP finishing. A debt that defaulted in March 2022 leaves your file in March 2028 whether the balance was cleared in 2024 or is still being paid.
Where creditors default accounts in the early months of a DMP, those default clocks start early in the plan, so they can expire while a longer DMP is still running. Once you finish, the entry should also show the balance as satisfied or partially satisfied, which reads better to lenders in the meantime.
Six years from the default date, fixed. Paying the debt changes how the entry reads, not when it leaves.
Finished your DMP? Your Comeback Plan maps your dates and shows options from our panel you may be able to apply for.
Start your Comeback PlanDMP flags and arrangement markers: six years after the account closes
Where an account did not default, the lender may report a DMP flag or arrangement-to-pay markers against it instead. These show lenders the account was being paid under reduced terms.
They stay on the account's history while it is open and are removed six years after the account is settled or closed. That is the one part of a DMP that can outlast the plan by a while: an account that never defaulted and settles on the day your DMP ends carries its markers for six more years from that settlement.
It is also why, counterintuitively, a defaulted account can vanish from your file before a never-defaulted one.
Markers on non-defaulted accounts clear six years after the account settles or closes, not six years after they first appeared.
A worked example
Say your DMP started in January 2021 with three debts. Debt A defaulted in March 2021: it leaves your file in March 2027.
Debt B defaulted late, in June 2022: it leaves in June 2028. Debt C never defaulted, carried an arrangement marker, and settled when the plan finished in January 2026: its markers clear in January 2032.
Same plan, three different end dates, and the slowest clock belongs to the debt that was never in default. If any of those dates matter to you, check each debt's default date or settlement date on your credit report.
No register, no public record
Because a DMP is informal, there is no entry on the Individual Insolvency Register or any public record. Nobody can search a register and find your DMP, because no such register exists for it.
The only place your DMP is visible is your credit file, to lenders and companies you give permission to check it. That is one genuine advantage a DMP holds over the formal solutions.
How to check your file, and the errors worth fixing
Pull your report from all three credit reference agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, using their free statutory reports. On each debt that went through your DMP, check three things: the default date is right, because a default re-recorded at a later date extends a clock that should already be running; settled debts show as satisfied or partially satisfied with a zero balance; and closed accounts actually show as closed.
The default-date error matters, and it can happen after debts are sold to collectors, who sometimes record a fresh default on the same debt. The rule is one debt, one default, on the original date, and the agencies must investigate when you dispute it and correct anything that is wrong.
One debt, one default, on the original date. A collector re-defaulting a sold debt at a new date is the error to hunt for.
Rebuilding while the clocks run down
Because each debt runs its own clock, your file improves entry by entry rather than on one big day. The moves are the same as after any solution: electoral roll at your current address, every commitment paid on time, credit kept well inside any limits, and credit-builder products that add clean recent history alongside the ageing markers.
A lender looking at your file sees old, settled entries fading out and fresh, clean conduct coming in, and that is the picture you want them to see.
Guides
Keep reading
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Does a DMP show on my credit file as its own entry?
No. A DMP is informal, so there is no standalone DMP entry and no six-year DMP marker. Your file shows the individual accounts you paid through the plan, each with its own history of defaults, flags or arrangement markers.
How long do the defaults from my DMP stay on my file?
Six years from the date each default was recorded, regardless of when or whether the debt is paid. Settling the debt changes the entry to satisfied, which reads better, but does not move the removal date.
My DMP has finished. Why is my file not clear?
Because each debt runs its own clock. Defaults leave six years from their default dates, and accounts that never defaulted carry their DMP or arrangement markers for six years after the account settled. A finished plan and a clean file are different milestones.
Is a DMP on any public register?
No. Unlike an IVA, DRO or bankruptcy, a DMP appears on no public register anywhere. It is visible only on your credit file.
Can I speed up removal by paying debts off early?
Paying early improves how entries read, showing settled with a zero balance, and can start the six-year clock on non-defaulted accounts sooner by closing them sooner. It cannot shorten a default's six years, which runs from the default date regardless.
Want every clock on your file worked out?
Your Comeback Plan maps your dates and shows options from our panel you may be able to apply for.
Start your Comeback PlanFree to use, no obligation. The plan itself won't affect your credit score.