Regulate the credit reporting industry more, specifically the amount of time that negative items may be listed

Many people have been negatively impacted by the bad economy, and are unable to recover due to the credit reporting agencies. This especially impacts those that tried to live responsibly but were forced to file for bankruptcy. The credit reporting agencies have different criteria for how long they will list derogatory items. They should be required to use the same criteria (i.e a bankruptcy may only be listed for x years, charge offs for x years, etc). The time that they can list those items should also be reduced due to the unprecedented recession.