How Long Does a Termination Stay on Your U5?

The short answer: On your regulatory record, it stays. A Form U5 remains in FINRA's CRD system, which regulators and the firms that register you can see. A firm can amend it, though the original stays in the filing history, and it comes out only through expungement, which takes an arbitration award and often a court's confirmation. What the public sees is different. A termination disclosure (a yes to Question 7F) shows on BrokerCheck while you are with a FINRA member firm and for ten years after, and it is not among the events BrokerCheck keeps showing after that. The Section 3 termination reason itself never appears on BrokerCheck.

Does a U5 termination ever come off your record?

On the regulatory record, it stays. A Form U5 is filed into the Central Registration Depository, which FINRA describes as covering individuals' "qualification, employment and disclosure histories." When FINRA changed its BrokerCheck rule in 2009, it explained to the SEC that information is retained in CRD even when BrokerCheck does not display it, and becomes available for display again if the person re-registers.

Two audiences use that record. FINRA, other self-regulatory organizations and state regulators use Form U5 information for registration and licensing decisions, and firms use it to make employment decisions, as FINRA's Regulatory Notice 10-39 puts it. Two things change what CRD holds: an amendment filed by the firm, and expungement. Both are covered below.

How long does a termination show on BrokerCheck?

While you are associated with a FINRA member firm and for ten years after your last association with one. FINRA Rule 8312 releases information reported on your most recently filed Form U4 and Form U5 while you are associated with a member firm, and for anyone who was associated with one "within the preceding ten years." A yes to Question 7F is part of that information. BrokerCheck shows it as a termination disclosure with the termination type (voluntary resignation, discharged or permitted to resign), the date and the allegations, released three business days after FINRA processes the filing.

What "leave the industry" means. The ten years count from the last day you were associated with a FINRA member firm, or with an exchange member that uses CRD. An advisor who drops a broker-dealer registration to work only as an investment adviser representative at an RIA has left the firms Rule 8312 counts, so the ten years start then, though the advisor is still registered: the RIA's Form U4 asks the same termination question, and that answer stays public on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) database while the advisor is registered there; BrokerCheck shows basic information from IAPD, with links to fuller reports there. A separate clock also starts when you leave. Under FINRA Rule 1210, a person out of registration for two years generally has to pass the representative exams again, and FINRA's Maintaining Qualifications Program can extend that to five years for people who meet its conditions.

What restarts if you re-register. Registering with a member firm again makes you "currently associated" under Rule 8312, so BrokerCheck releases your record again, and the ten years then run from your next departure. The new firm's Form U4 also asks, in Question 14J, whether you have ever voluntarily resigned, been discharged or been permitted to resign after allegations, so the termination is reported again in your own answer. Form U4 vs Form U5 explains how the two forms connect.

What stays on BrokerCheck permanently?

Final regulatory actions stay on BrokerCheck permanently, and so do criminal convictions, certain investment-related civil matters and sales-practice arbitration awards or judgments for anyone registered on or after August 16, 1999, under FINRA Rule 8312(c). They apply to a former associated person who:

• was ever the subject of a final regulatory action reported to CRD, by the SEC, the CFTC, a federal banking agency, the NCUA, another federal agency, a state regulator, a foreign financial regulator or a self-regulatory organization; or
• was registered on or after August 16, 1999, and was convicted of or pled guilty or nolo contendere to a crime; was the subject of an investment-related civil injunction, a civil court finding of an investment-related violation, or an investment-related civil action by a state or foreign financial regulator dismissed under a settlement; or was named in an investment-related, consumer-initiated arbitration or civil litigation alleging a sales practice violation that ended in an award or judgment against the person.

For those people, BrokerCheck shows the listed events, employment and registration history, exams passed and the person's own comment. A 7F termination disclosure is not on the list. If the same facts also produced a final regulatory action, that action stays public.

Can a firm amend or remove the termination?

A firm can amend its Form U5, and the original stays in the filing history; only expungement takes information out of CRD. Under the Form U5 instructions, a firm may amend the reason for termination, the explanation, the date of termination, the Section 7 disclosure answers and the disclosure reporting pages. It should file promptly and must explain the basis for any change to the reason, explanation or date. FINRA's By-Laws require an amendment within 30 days of the firm learning that the filing has become inaccurate or incomplete, with a copy to you.

When FINRA began allowing firms to amend the reason and date of termination in 2009, it said it would notify other regulators and your current firm of the change, and that "the original date of termination or reason for termination will remain in the CRD system in form filing history." Our guide to what "Discharged" means on a Form U5 covers the reasons and the explanation in detail.

What is U5 expungement?

Expungement removes information from CRD, and with it from BrokerCheck, which draws on CRD. Form U5 termination information is cleared by a claim against the firm in FINRA arbitration. Under a position that its predecessor, NASD Regulation, set out in 1999 in Notice to Members 99-54, FINRA removes the information from CRD with no court order if the award says plainly that expungement is granted because the information is defamatory. Without that statement in the award, a court of competent jurisdiction must confirm the award before FINRA acts on it.

Customer dispute information is a separate category, governed by FINRA Rule 2080. In Regulatory Notice 26-06, published in March 2026, FINRA invited comment on whether the defamation standard for termination information should stay; a request for comment adopts no rule change.

Expungement is legal work, and the specifics belong with securities employment counsel. Do you need a lawyer for a Form U5? covers when to call one, and our Form U5 guide for terminated advisors covers arbitration, expungement and state defamation law in more depth.

Will the next firm see the termination?

Yes, if it is a FINRA member firm. FINRA Rule 3110(e) requires a member firm to review an applicant's most recent Form U5, including amendments, within 60 days of the filing date of the registration application, or show FINRA it made reasonable efforts to do so, and to "take such action as may be deemed appropriate." That review covers the Section 3 reason and explanation the public never sees.

Our guide to the first 72 hours after a termination puts the early steps in order, and our free guide, What Are Your Options After a Termination?, covers the paths forward.

Counsel handles the legal side. Winthrop & Co. handles the career side: where you can land next, with the whole record in view. If you do not have your own attorney, we can help you find one, and the legal work stays with them. The firm pays Winthrop & Co., and the advisor never pays.

Every situation is different, and the specific answer comes from a confidential conversation about where you can land: the best deal we can win through our relationships and our record of past deals, and how culture, technology, support and service compare at the firms that fit. Request an introduction.