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Equifax deleted good accounts before 10 years!

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Equifax deleted good accounts before 10 years!

"Accounts paid as agreed generally remain on your credit file for up to 10 years from the date of last activity (DLA)" This is from Equifax's website FAQs.

 

I had taken a break from working on my credit and now have started back up again.  Comparing credit reports from May. 09, there are 17 accounts that were closed and in good standing that are not listed any longer. Only 2 DOLA or in March 2000, which would mean those would come off this year.

But the rest are DOLA from 2002-2005.  So, my credit score went down with now mostly neg. info.

 

I am planning on writing Equifax but thought I would get other opinions before I tackled this.

 

Message 1 of 15
14 REPLIES 14
llecs
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Equifax deleted good accounts before 10 years!

There's nothing, legally, that requires the CRAs to report good, closed accounts for the full 10 years. It isn't uncommon to stay or go before or after the 10 years has passed. And who knows, maybe it was the OC that ordered the deletion vs. the CRA.

 

The subtraction of the positive info didn't drop your score but likely the loss in your length of history and/or your AAoA dropped.

Message 2 of 15
BungalowMo
Senior Contributor

Re: Equifax deleted good accounts before 10 years!

Ilecs is right...they don't have to report those, and dropping those accts is the likely culprit that hurt your score. 

 

You can send a letter with a copy of those accts & ask for them to be returned to your history.  It certainly can't hurt.  I know I'd try it!

BK 7 discharge 06.24.2020 No Fico score at all. Smiley Sad
Message 3 of 15
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: Equifax deleted good accounts before 10 years!

There are no requirements for how long the CRA must maintain closed accounts in your CR.

The ten-year period is usually followed by the CRAs in order to ensure that the account is not dropped until all of the possible disputing periods set forth in FCRA 611(a) have expired, and these range for 7-10 years.  These dates arent based on DOLA.

If all that is involved are monthly delinquencies on the OC account, the period for deletion expires at 7 years from any deliquency dates, so deletion at any time after 7 years from date of closure of the account would be reasonable.

Message 4 of 15
smallfry
Senior Contributor

Re: Equifax deleted good accounts before 10 years!

You can try rebuilding your Equifax account but it is not easy. I spoke to someone in one of their departments last Summer. Actually 3 different people who were fairly high up the food chain. I had copies of my reports with confirmation numbers from reports I received online and through the mail. I gave the reps more than ten different confirmation numbers directly off the reports. Supposedly none of the numbers could be found. The accounts they deleted were anywhere from 3-7 years away from the ten year period. They lopped off over half a dozen "old" accounts. Subsequently my AAofA with EQ is nearly 2 years lower than TU and EX. Good luck.
Message 5 of 15
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Equifax deleted good accounts before 10 years!


@Anonymous wrote:

"Accounts paid as agreed generally remain on your credit file for up to 10 years from the date of last activity (DLA)" This is from Equifax's website FAQs.

 

I had taken a break from working on my credit and now have started back up again.  Comparing credit reports from May. 09, there are 17 accounts that were closed and in good standing that are not listed any longer. Only 2 DOLA or in March 2000, which would mean those would come off this year.

But the rest are DOLA from 2002-2005.  So, my credit score went down with now mostly neg. info.

 

I am planning on writing Equifax but thought I would get other opinions before I tackled this.

 


 

Message 6 of 15
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Equifax deleted good accounts before 10 years!

I don't think any of you truly gets it, from your posts.

 

There's no requirement for ANY OC to report ANY positive TL for ANY reason to ANY CRA ANYTIME! Not for 1 day, not for 10 years.

 

CRAs keep them as a pseudo agreed upon industry standard, but there's no force of law behind it, AT ALL!

 

As for writing EQ, you might as well fill your bladder and wait for the wind.

Message 7 of 15
ScoreBooster
Frequent Contributor

Re: Equifax deleted good accounts before 10 years!

Sure, there is no law that says the OC has to report a TL. In my case, 8 accounts from 5 different creditors are gone - and ONLY on Equifax. So it's safe to say it's not the OC who's causing this mess.

 

The question is: If an OC reports a TL, has the CRA the right to pick and chose which TL they report and which not? I find it rather strange that all TLs missing are positive TLs. And here's another thing: What if the OC has an agreement with the OC about reporting their accounts?

 

Don't the CRAs get money from the OCs for reporting?

Message 8 of 15
CS800
Super Contributor

Re: Equifax deleted good accounts before 10 years!

I always wondered that myself whether the OC had to pay the CRA's to report any item.

 

If they CRA's get $$, they might just pester the OC's to report up till the 7-10 year mark. Why let $$ out the door.

 

I'm not sure how the process work if OC'c have to by law report up to 7 years. Someone could shed some light on this.




Message 9 of 15
ScoreBooster
Frequent Contributor

Re: Equifax deleted good accounts before 10 years!

The problem is that there is no law that says how long something HAS to be reported. In fact, there is nothing that requires any reporting at all. Only what's reported has to be accurate.

 

However, IF an OC has to pay something for credit-reporting and has an agreement with a data-furnisher or CRA, I can only imagine that the OC is not very happy if a CRA is just deleting TLs without the OC's knowledge.

 

In my case, I was recently denied an Auto-loan by Ford-Credit. From the 8 accounts missing, 3 were satisfactory auto-loans and leases, 2 of them from - you guessed it - Ford Credit. So only 1 of the 4 cars I paid on time so far are showing up. And of course, Ford pulled Equifax.

 

Now imagine Ford paying for their credit-reporting AND missing a business-opportunity by not extending credit due to the fact that Equifax removed the accounts - said accounts Ford paid for to have them reported.

Message 10 of 15
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