topic Re: ANOTHER QUESTION ON CHILD SUPPORT POSTING TO CR in General Credit Topics

ANOTHER QUESTION ON CHILD SUPPORT POSTING TO CR

RUSTY101 — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 22:33:24 GMT

This is another question I have. My child support went to collection in 2010. The mother closed it out in 2001, then re-opened in 2010. Young and dumb

I did not know, since it is court ordered, that I still had to pay. So I did not pay since 2001 until I got a notice from them to pay in full, or it

would go on CR in 2010. My question is what would the DOFD be? The credit report says reported in 2010, but does not give DOFD but does have on it

opened since 2001. Thank You for any help given

Re: ANOTHER QUESTION ON CHILD SUPPORT POSTING TO CR

RobertEG — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 03:50:20 GMT

As I understand it, their is a judgment dating from 2001 that is still effect, but not reporting, and the issue is one of a debt collector now attempting to collect?

I am unsure as to how the mother "closed it out in 2001." What was closed? She would not close out a judgment. Then, what was "re-opened in 2010?"

Who is the creditor upon whose behalf the debt collector is attempting collection? The mother?

The debt collector, when reporting, must provide the date of first delinquency to the CRA within 90 days after reporting. If the creditor is the mother, then the DOFD would be the date of your first delinquency in whatever payment agreement was in effect. Was their such an agreement? If the DOFD reported by the debt collector was more than 7 years plus 180 days ago, the CRA will exclude it from your credit report. Perhaps their lack of current reporting is due to the fact that the exclusion period has already passed, and their threat to have it included is thus without merit.

I am having trouble determining who and when a first missed payment was due to, and what set the terms of the agreement that was delinquent....

Re: ANOTHER QUESTION ON CHILD SUPPORT POSTING TO CR

InvincibleSummer2 — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 03:36:30 GMT

I'm going to take a stab here, since I have some familiarity with these issues....

Rusty, here's the thing - DOFD isn't going to matter much here if you're thinking that CRTP is going to eventually cause this to disappear. Child support will not drop off the same way a revolving account will. Generally speaking, support orders are written for a certain amount to be paid each month. Even if the 2001-era stuff drops, if you are behind in any month in the last seven years, the debt can show up on your credit report. Think of it as a series of monthly debts - this is why child support can be so "sticky".

Mom couldn't have closed anything out, so I think you might have some misinformation happening there. I am guessing that the state's CSEA agency is enforcing the court order on Mom's behalf?

Re: ANOTHER QUESTION ON CHILD SUPPORT POSTING TO CR

RobertEG — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:53:37 GMT

The only relevance of DOFD is with respect to the CRA calculation of the exclusion date of either a charge-off or a collection.

If any type of ongoing agreement or order permits continued billing, then the billing due date establishes a date upon which, 30-days thereafter, a delinquency can be reported.

It is quite possible that the reported collection could pass its credit report exclusion period of 7 yrs + 180 days from DOFD, and yet other reported monthly delinquencies could still exist. Collection thus gone, but delinquencies remaining.

That is not the case with most consumer accounts, as the creditor usually attempts to collect delinquent debt by way of collection activities, either internal or external, rather than continuing to bill monthly and pursue via escalating monthly delinquencies. A primary reason for a collection referral is to rid themselves of the monthly chore of what appears to have become fruitless billing.

Additionally, most agreements entered into between a creditor and a debt collector stipulate that any future collection activities be conducted thru the debt collector. Since a debt collector cannot bill you themselves, as you have no agreement with them, reporting of delinquencies almost always ceases upon collection referral. However, if the judgment creditor chooses to continue to bill, and thus accrue additional delinquencies, they could, as stated, keep it on your CR for years. DOFD is meaningless as to the exclusion date of those delinquencies.

Re: ANOTHER QUESTION ON CHILD SUPPORT POSTING TO CR

RUSTY101 — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 23:58:52 GMT

Ok let me try to be more clear. In Arkansas, a custodian parent( in my case the mother) can ask that child support enforcement

stop any action against non- custodian. Even court ordered she can do this. What I have learned since is that, cs enforcement will not

bother you, but the support still keeps accuring. So she stopped child support enforcement from inforcing the order, but (and I didnt know this),

the order is still in effect.

So she stopped it in 2001. In 2010 she re-started the child support thru the child support enforcement. So they went back to when

I quit paying and added it all up and said they were putting into collection on my credit report until paid in full. So in 2010 child support enforcement

put it on my credit report as a collection. I paid it off May 2, 2012.

A credit report from experian in 2010, said went into collection Dec 2010.

I pulled another report from experian last week, it says went into collection April 2012. Thats like re-ageing this, isnt it?

Also when would it drop from CR? And why would status say open, when I am paid in full on all arrears and up to date on everything.

This never went to an out side collector, it stayed thru child support enforcement the whole time

Re: ANOTHER QUESTION ON CHILD SUPPORT POSTING TO CR

InvincibleSummer2 — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 02:05:53 GMT

Ok let me try to be more clear. In Arkansas, a custodian parent( in my case the mother) can ask that child support enforcement

stop any action against non- custodian. Even court ordered she can do this. What I have learned since is that, cs enforcement will not

bother you, but the support still keeps accuring. So she stopped child support enforcement from inforcing the order, but (and I didnt know this),

the order is still in effect.

Right. Because the only thing that changes a court order is another court order. It happens in a lot of states, just not Arkansas.

So she stopped it in 2001. In 2010 she re-started the child support thru the child support enforcement. So they went back to when

I quit paying and added it all up and said they were putting into collection on my credit report until paid in full. So in 2010 child support enforcement

put it on my credit report as a collection. I paid it off May 2, 2012.

So you have no arrears currently at all?

A credit report from experian in 2010, said went into collection Dec 2010.

I pulled another report from experian last week, it says went into collection April 2012. Thats like re-ageing this, isnt it?

Also when would it drop from CR? And why would status say open, when I am paid in full on all arrears and up to date on everything.

This never went to an out side collector, it stayed thru child support enforcement the whole time.

I'm thinking one of two things is happening; either the child support enforcement people still think you owe money....or there's some kind of reporting error. In either case, your first step would be to call child support enforcement and ask what their take on the matter is. It's going to be almost impossible to answer your re-aging question, as the credit report won't say if this is debt that somehow didn't get paid off in 2010 or if it's a different debt.

ETA: there's been a number of posters on the family law boards who have tradelines that show as "open" after a child support delinquency. Their take is that administratively it's easier to keep the tradeline listed as "open" in case a payor goes delinquent again. I have no idea if that's true or not, but it would be worth a call to the CS enforcement agency to ask. You might even be able to get a feel for whether they'd be willing to remove the TL now that you're caught up.....a little GW isn't unheard of, if you can catch someone sympathetic.

Re: ANOTHER QUESTION ON CHILD SUPPORT POSTING TO CR

RUSTY101 — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 14:22:26 GMT

In answer to your question, no there is nothing else owed. I have paid all my back child support in full. I have a letter from them

saying it is paid in full with the date of May 2, 2012.

My orginial question, can they say went to collection in April 2012, when I have older credit reports that say ( and is correct)

that it went to collection Dec 2010?

In answer to your other question, yes I have written them asking for delection, but have received no response.

I know it sounds like I was a dead beat dad. I was not in this case. The mother and I was in agreement, I still helped her

with my daughter, and not only our daughter, but her other daughter as well. When I sent money for my daughters support, I

also sent same amount to help with her other daughter. When it comes to holidays, if I keep one , I keep both. I have

tried to stay in my daughters life as much as I can.

Re: ANOTHER QUESTION ON CHILD SUPPORT POSTING TO CR

RobertEG — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 19:20:03 GMT

As I see it, the continued inclusion of any collection in your CR is dependent solely upon the DOFD on the account.

The date of reporting of the collection is irrelevant to CR exclusion, which is always based only on the DOFD. So is any issue of payment or non-payment.

So that begs two questions. First,what was your actual first date of delinquency after which you did not brings the arrears to date prior to the reporting of the collection?

And second, what date did the debt collector report as the DOFD? Do those two dates match?

I would begin by writing the CRA and obtaining the DOFD reported by the debt collector. The CRA is required to disclose "any information in the consumer's file", upon providing proof of your identity and payment of the current processing fee of $11.00, under FCRA 609(a)(1).

You then have an actual reported date upon which to contest accuracy. If the DOFD was more than 7 years plus 180 days prior, exclusion from your CR is mandated under FCRA 605(c). In that event, you have nothing to contest... the CRA must exclude.

Re: ANOTHER QUESTION ON CHILD SUPPORT POSTING TO CR

InvincibleSummer2 — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:12:56 GMT

I don't think you're a deadbeat whatsoever. Trust me, I know from deadbeats.....those parents (and they come in both genders) don't care about their credit at all. :smileyfrustrated:

I'm thinking this: they probably tagged the last month they possibly could on your credit report. Mom renewed enforcement efforts in 2010. You were then hit with a very large arrearage bill (2001-2010) plus, I'm assuming, a regular monthly CS amount to pay. Typically, the norm is for a payor to pay the regular payments plus extra to pay down the arrearages. Is this what you were doing 2010-2012? Or was there just a lump-sum payoff in 2012?

I'm wondering if they applied your payments to arrearages in a weird way making it seem like you were behind in March/April 2012. That would happen if they applied your payments to arrearages first - which isn't the way it's supposed to happen but it's not unheard of.

Re: ANOTHER QUESTION ON CHILD SUPPORT POSTING TO CR

RUSTY101 — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:07:55 GMT

No, it was like you said. They garnished my check #1 for weekly child support. # 2 an amount for arrears. They also hit fed and state income tax

refunds. So in May 2012, all arrears were pd in full. They released garnishment on #2. They only take out now for regular child support.

All my past CR says went to collection in 2010. The one I pulled last week says "went to collection April of 2012". Just seems like

re-age to me. Will this hurt my CR worse for it reading April 2012?

Re: ANOTHER QUESTION ON CHILD SUPPORT POSTING TO CR

RUSTY101 — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:17:45 GMT

Thank You Robert for your input.

There is no DOFD on my CR. I quit paying in Sept. of 2001. Child Support enforcement put it on my CR as a collection in Dec 2010.

Now one of my CR says put in collection April 2012, which is not so.

Experian has on my report that it will continue until 2017. That is the 7 years from the orginal collection date' not from DOFD.

I dont know what to do about this. Its paid completely. I wrote them, but they wont delete. Is there anything I can do now?

Re: ANOTHER QUESTION ON CHILD SUPPORT POSTING TO CR

InvincibleSummer2 — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 20:42:55 GMT

I thought about you all morning, Rusty. I was trying to figure out what I would do if I were in your situation.

I suspect that if you try to dspute with the CRA's over an inaccurate DOFD, it is unlikely to get yu anywhere. They aren't doing anything illegal by reporting the way they are. The CRA's are legally obligated to report information as given to them by the child support enforcement people, and as you may have read here they are not really in the business of investigating disputes all that thoroughly. If you choose to dispute with the CRA's, you should know that it's a one-shot deal, and if the CS agency verifies you've got no second chance at disputing this.

Your beef is with the CS people. Now, they are required to give accurate information - but in their eyes, you were behind all the way up through April 2012. Certainly you could try to argue that the actual DOFD is 2001, and if you get a sympathetic ear at the CS agency, you might have a shot at getting it corrected. But if the only way to get it corrected is to sue and get in front of a judge? You're looking at considerable time and energy expense. There may not be a quick fix.

I guess the question now is what is this worth to you in terms of effort? If your credit is otherwise stellar, then maybe it might be worthwhile to push a little harder in getting this off. But if you have other rebuilding projects you're working on, and you're not planning on any major home/car loans in the next couple of years? I'd be less concerned with it. I would encourage you to consider the impact of this one tradeline as part of an overall picture, and to make decisions based on that.