...answers appreciated!? I had impeccable credit for over 30 years, but a little over a year ago, things started to go south, including the loss of my job. Needless to say, a very bad time in my life and I was unable to pay my bills for around a year. However life is better now, and I am now in the process of paying off all of my debts, after the not-so-pleasant experience of having to talk to & work with all of the creditors. I was just curious if, when people check your credit rating, they ever take into account all of the years of GOOD credit vs. the short period (in comparison) of time where there were problems, or will the 1 bad year screw-up the rest of my life? I've been reading a lot of the postings here on YA, and truthfully am a little frightened that even after paying off all of my old debts, it won't mean a hill of beans and I will still have bad credit. I know about it staying on your report for 7 years, but since I am older, this is serious to me. Any encouraging words would be appreciated.
A further note - I have already talked to and worked with all of my creditors and have almost completed the process of paying off my bills, so I do not need to talk with credit counselors or get loans. I was really mainly curious if your old very good credit rating was ever considered when you are trying to build your credit rating back up. I'm just scared of going 7 years without any credit at all.

There are a ton of resources on the Internet about credit reporting like CreditReportMonster.com — Learn More About Your Credit Report With Our Daily Tips., you might also want to talk to a credit repair expert.