Scenario is this...
Auto loan had primary account holder and co-signer. Primary account holder fell behind on payments approximately three years into the loan. The initial statement reflected one month late. The next statement reflected two months late. The third statement reflected three months late. At this point, the primary account holder began making payments.....but.....never did "catch up". Instead, he would make ONE month's payment going forward. Therefore, although he was making "consistent" payments going forward, his "statements" ALWAYS reflected a "Previous Balance" of at least a month. Sometimes one. Sometimes two. The auto finance company finally got tired of the "previous balance" (read: "never catching up") situation, and repossessed the car, even though it was currently only ONE MONTH BEHIND at the time of the repossession (much better than the earlier THREE MONTHS BEHIND when they SHOULD have repossessed it).
The question is: At the point of repossession, and working backward, each of the statements reflect a "Previous Due" of at least a month or two.....even though payments were being made. When it comes to the "clock starts ticking" rule, does the time begin when the initial statement reflects a "Previous Balance Due" of at least a month's payment FOLLOWING the most recent time when everything was caught up?
To put it more simply, let's say that we have the following timeline:
2007 January: no lateness at all; bill reflects a payment due of $300 (monthly amount)
2007 February: payment not made; bill now reflects past due $300 and a current $300 due
2007 March: payment not made; bill now reflects past due $600 and a current $300 due
2007 April: payment not made; bill now reflects past due $900 and a current $300 due
2007 May: payment of $600 made; bill now reflects $600 payment and $600 past due and a current $300 due
2007 June: payment of $600 made; bill now reflects $600 payment and $300 past due and a current $300 due
2007 July: payment of $300 made; bill now reflects $300 payment and $300 past due and a current $300 due
2007 August: payment of $300 made; bill now reflects $300 payment and $300 past due and a current $300 due
2007 September: car repossessed even though ONLY ONE month behind in payment
As you can see above, it would be ironic that the car is repossessed NOW with a ONE MONTH delinquency when it SHOULD have been repossessed back in April.
Anyway, since the payments were never actually "totally caught up" since the initial delinquency in February 2007, does the "clock start ticking" in February 2007.....or.....because the repossession took place in September based on a ONE MONTH delinquency, does it merely go back to "August 2007" due to it only being ONE month delinquent (even though the delinquencies "started" in February and "never caught-up")?
Reason for asking is that I'd like a clearer understanding of when the "7-1/2 year" point is reached for it to be removed from the credit report.
Thanks.
