10 year old "charge off" reported in 2011

[Anonymous]

I received an alert from Equifax saying that I have a new charge off account.  When I pulled my report I saw that an electric co. here in Texas stated that I had an outstanding balance.  The report shows that I obtained the balance from July of 2002 to October of 2002.  Prior to this notification, I have heard nothing of a bad debt on my behalf.  I disputed this on all 3 reporting bureau's.  Can they report this debt or charge off after such a long period of time? 

[pizzadude]

Hi, and welcome to the forums !

This collection/CO should only be appearing on your reports for 7.5 years from the DOFD.    DOFD is the date of first deliquency ~ the first point in time when the debt became late without becoming current again.    It sounds like you are saying that this was in 2002.

If that is the case then your dispute with the CRAs should suffice to have it excluded based on the fact that it is past CRTP.

[Anonymous]

Well the DOFD is contridicting?? When this hit my credit report last month it showed the following:  Date opened: 01/2009 Date Reported 12/2011 Date of last payment: 02/2009 Comments: charged off account.  Now, this is the first time that I have been aware of anything relating to this company.  Upon contact to a rep, it shows that I opened my account on July 2, 2002 and the account was closed Oct 14, 2002.  Then she told me that I had another bill Feb 16 2009?? for .39cents. Was this done to renew the deliquent account due to the passing time period from 2002?  During the the 2002 time period I did live at the listed address that this company reports but, do not remember if I used this company as a provider.  I moved from that address in late 2004/2005 and have been with two other eletric companies from 2004 to present.  So, since the dates of service they provide are from 2002 and this contridicts my  credit report....What else can I do.  When I disputed this with the bureau's I listed it as not my account as I had little knowledge of the 7.5 year time period at that time.  By the way, I have learned a lot from this forum.  Thanks for your earlier response.

[Anonymous]

Oh and I forgot to add...they state that this account was opened with my name and soc sec number in 2002.

[pizzadude]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Well the DOFD is contridicting?? When this hit my credit report last month it showed the following:  Date opened: 01/2009 Date Reported 12/2011 Date of last payment: 02/2009 Comments: charged off account.  Now, this is the first time that I have been aware of anything relating to this company.  Upon contact to a rep, it shows that I opened my account on July 2, 2002 and the account was closed Oct 14, 2002.  Then she told me that I had another bill Feb 16 2009?? for .39cents. Was this done to renew the deliquent account due to the passing time period from 2002?  During the the 2002 time period I did live at the listed address that this company reports but, do not remember if I used this company as a provider.  I moved from that address in late 2004/2005 and have been with two other eletric companies from 2004 to present.  So, since the dates of service they provide are from 2002 and this contridicts my  credit report....What else can I do.  When I disputed this with the bureau's I listed it as not my account as I had little knowledge of the 7.5 year time period at that time.  By the way, I have learned a lot from this forum.  Thanks for your earlier response.

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This sounds very much like an attempt to renew the DOFD for this debt, which is not kosher with the FCRA and FDCPA.  

If you have an account with a company that hasn't been paid since 2002, it is past CRTP.   They can send you as many bills as they want, but this does not create a new account for you.   

[RobertEG]

Their dates of reporting or billing are immaterial.  FCRA 605(c) sets one definative, date-certain after which the CRA can no longer include a charge-off in any CR they issue.

That date is the DOFD on the OC account.  You dont need to argue about whether this or that reporting changes its exclusion date.  Unless they have updated the actual reported DOFD, their later reporting does not reset the CR exclusion date.

As to how to address this?  I would not dispute.  The OC is entitled to report the charge-off forever, so it is not an issue of improper or inaccurate reporting on the part of the OC.

I would only dispute if you have evidence of actual updating of the DOFD itself, which is a clear violation of FCRA 623(a)(5) if they report a date that does not clearly comply with the provisons of that section.

File a complaint with the CRA for THEIR violation of FCRA 605(a)(4) and 605(c).  They are the party resposible for monitoring the DOFD and ensuring CR exclusion, not the OC.

[Anonymous]

And It just keeps getting better!!  So now my credit score has dropped again.  In the past month it has dropped 65 points.  This is the latest.......

"

The following changes were reported for your TXU ENERGY account :
Comments on your account changed from Consumer disputes - reinvestigation in process , Amount in high credit is original charge-off amount to Charge off account , Utility , Amount in high credit is original charge-off amount"

and this is on my report twice in the past 3 days.  I have read through your comments and am a little confused.  I understand the 7.5 years from the last date of payment.   I don't understand how they tell me on the phone that my negative account status is from 2002 yet they report 2009 as last date of payment.  Or better yet, that my account was opened in 2009.  I was no where near that address after 2004. Do I have any ground to stand on fighting this company?  Or should I pay the $329 and try to convince them to completely remove this negative account? Please help as I am not very knowledgeable with credit issues. 

[IOBA]

If you really owed the money to begin with, I would suggest paying off the bill.   Ask for deletion.

I agree it's not fair to report it now, when it's well past the date of last action (which, from your posts, I believe is 2002).

I wonder if this is going to start happening to others - old debts popping back up on CR?

[Anonymous]

Well thats the thing....the address in question is an apt complex. I am alost 100% sure that I had another electric co. the entire time I lived there.  I have called the electric co and they do show that i was provided with their service in 2002 although the exact dates are in question.  I have since called my old bank and they dispose of all checking and savings records after 7 years by law.  So basically, I have no proof.  Thats why I have been questioning the SOL for this type of account.  The way I understand it is....they cant report any credit after 7.5 yrs of the date that the account was last paid? 

Does it really take 45 days to hear back from the bureau's in ref. to my dispute?

[RobertEG]

There is no provision of the FCRA that prevents a creditor or debt collector from furnishing information to a CRA after any specific date, provided it is accurate.

The 7 years plus six months date is imposed on the CRAs, not the furnishers of information.

It is the duty of anyone furishing information regarding a charge-off (or collection) to provide the CRA the accurate DOFD on the OC account to the CRA within 90 days of reporting any information pertaining to the account/debt.  FCRA 623(a)(5).  Thereafter, the responsibility is on the CRA to monitor that date, and to exclude the charge-off from any CR they issue after its exclusion date.  So the OC has violated no provision of the FCRA by reporting the information, even if the exclusion date has passed.

The CRA can only go by the DOFD reported to them, and presumes that the party who reported it has complied with section 623(a)(5).  If the consumer has specific evidence that the furnisher has provided the CRA with a DOFD that does not comply with the requirements of section 623(a)(5), then the consumer can file a dispute over the accuracy of credit reporting.  To speculate that, by reporting some other activity on an account that was charged-off, the furnisher has illegally re-aged the DOFD, is not proof of illegal re-aging.

The consumer is entitled to any information reported to their credit file under FCRA 609(a).  If you suspect illegal re-aging of the DOFD, then first obtain the information showing what was reported (section 609(a)(1)), and who reported it (section 609(a)(2)).