I got turned down for a student loan, because I defaulted on a loan 15 years ago. I'm actually kind of surprised it's still on record.
Am I correct in remembering you are in Canada, eh?
Here in the US adverse info stays on a credit report for 7 years (I think bankruptcies are for 10). This is why if you are near the time limit on an old dept it is critical to do NOTHING to reaffirm the debt. Even making a token payment of $5 or saying something like "I agree to pay" can reset that 7 year clock.
I haven't paid anything on it in 15 years, and it was in collections then. I know it's not on my credit report anymore, because the company I had my credit card with would send me a copy of my credit report every few months. I remember seeing it in the beginning, but after a few years, it was gone. The problem was when I applied for a student loan, though the government program (not sure how student loans go in the US) I got a message saying that there was a restriction on my account. Problem was, when I called the phone number that came up with the message, they said they had no record of me, and when I told them what province I was in, they said they didn't deal with PEI, which makes absolutely no sense. I feel like I'm getting the runaround from these people again, which is what happened years ago and caused it to go into collections back then