Confused about DOFD

[CBuff]

I have a Cap One account w/ multiple lates.  It was never assigned to a CA, and Cap One always remained the OC.  The account was PIF and closed in 2010. 

One of my reports shows the first 30 day late as April 2004, but the others don't have any information prior to 2007.  I contacted to Cap One yesterday to determine the true DOFD and a nice rep did some investigating for me.  At first he told me there was a late in 2009, I told him I showed lates farther back than that, he came back and said he found lates in 2006.  He then placed me on hold and looked as far back as 2004 when the account was opened and confirmed a 30 day late in April 2004 and another in September 2004.

I asked him to confirm if the April 2004 date was considered the DOFD and he said yes.  Do the same rules regarding accounts dropping off your credit report 7 years post the DOFD for original creditors?  If so, then I'm under the impression that this account should no longer be reporting.

I called TU and spoke with a rep; I gave her the background info and she said she thought I was correct and initiated a dispute so that Cap One can verify the April 2004 DOFD.

I called EQ and spoke with a rep who gave me an entirely different story.  He said the DOFD is the SAME as DOLA.  I asked him to explain the logic in that and he could not.  He simply repeated DOFD = DOLA about 5 times.  Then tried to sell me on a buying my scores through them. 

Any suggestions?? TIA!

[llecs]

DOFD is the date you first went late and never recovered again. If you look at the full 7-yr history, a 30 will show, then a 60, 90, 120, and maybe even into 180, then eventually you'd see "CO" mentioned in every month from that point until PIF. In other words, if your DOFD was 4/2004, then you'd see a 30 the, followed by a 60, 90 and so on. If you ever brought the account current after 4/2004, then your DOFD would have been reset assuming you went late again after that. If there was a 30 day late in 9/2004, then your 4/2004 date isn't the DOFD. If there are "OK"s listed after 9/2004, then your DOFD is even later than that. Each time the account goes current again, then the 7-yr clock restarts, and that's assuming it became CO'd and closed.

Per the lates, then the 7-yr clock applies to those individual lates and fall off at 7 yrs from that date.

If your account was current when you PIF and wasn't CO'd, it may never have a DOFD.

If you look in your EQ reports, it'll list DOFD. TU and EX do not list that, but if you get your reports directly from the CRAs, they'll usually list a drop off date assuming the TL was a CO.

DOFD does not equal DOLA. DOFD can never ever never change once the TL goes south and doesn't recover. Any future CAs must abide and report off that DOFD. However, DOLA is much different. Many things can reset the DOLA, including a dispute, a payment, etc. DOLA will always be after DOFD.

[CBuff]

Ilecs - THANK YOU so much for your very informative and succint reply.  It totally makes sense now.  I was not aware that becoming current would reset the DOFD.  I guess in my mind "first delinquency" is well, the first delinquency, in my case the April 2004 date.  I did become current again before lates were reported. 

Do you have any suggestions on how to handle the disutes now?  Is there any way to recall them?  I don't want that to hurt my credit score/report.

Thanks again!

[RobertEG]

+1

In the scenario you outlined, the DOFD is totally irrelevant to your current credit scoring since your CR does not include the reporting of a charge-off or collection.

The only relevance of DOFD is for the calculation of the period that any charge-off or collection can remain in your credit report after 7 years plus 180 days from that DOFD.

If the account is closed and paid, it is no longer delinquent, and thus no new charge-off or collection could be made.

The only relevancy I can see is that IF the OC referred the debt for collection before it was paid, AND the debt collector did not report it to a CRA, they could still do so provided they received collection assignment prior to your payment of the debt.  That is not  probable, but is possible.  Unless and until a collection is reported, the DOFD is meaningless.

Also, the expiration of any of the credit report inclusion periods under FCRA 605(a) does not equate to deletion of the OC account itself.  They only relate to the specific derogatory item of information that has passed its CR exclusion date.  The OC account itself wont be deleted based on CR exclusion of individual items reported under that account.

[llecs]

OP, what kind of lates are reporting within that TL? More importantly, how severe is the worst late and how recent was that? Finally, how old is the account in relation to your others?

If the lates are accurate, then the OC can report them. Some OCs are receptive to GW requests. If you can afford to lose this account, then it is worth mailing some GW letters. Some OCs will give up and delete a TL after receivng a request to only lose the lates, so keep that in mind. However, CapOne doesn't fold too easily and mailing a GW wouldn't likely result in a TL deletion, but they sometimes are open to removing lates here and there if asked.

[CBuff]

Robert - thanks for further clarifying this issue!  It all makes sense to me now. 

Ilecs - unfortunately I have multiple 30 day lates, 1 60, 1 90 and 1 120 from 2004 - 2009.  My most recent late is a 30 day late in January 2009.  I have tried to GW for the lates but with no success.  The account is about 7-8 years old and I only have a few other accounts (HSBC, HSBC/Best Buy and Chase) all around the same age. 

[CS800]

Buff,

Who did you send the GW to? About 4 months ago, I just called and ask to speak to a supervisor since I have 1 late I was trying to remove, initially he said they couldn't but 1 month after talking to him, the late disappeared from all 3 CRA's. I was stunned. But i did call him about 5 times in 1 month.

Persistance pays. I'm trying the same thing with Kay to have one of my PIF collection removed. I think two things can happen, they either get pissed off and stop replying to you or they give in and basically just delete the late/ CO.

I had one CO with comcast and took me about 5-6 called to have them remove it.

[CBuff]

Hi CS800 - I mailed my GW's to the PO Box listed on my reports, although one was returned for a bad address.  Do you mind sharing the number of the person you spoke with at Cap1?  I'm a little hesitant to call seeing that I have multiple lates, not just one or 2.  I'm hoping they will remove the most recent late though.