Old debt sill reporting

dockfam · ‎03-13-2014

Hi. I'm new to the boards but my husband and I are trying to rebuiild our credit (have been for the last 2 years). All of our current credit is A+ standing but our scores are still low because of really old debt that is still showing up on our reports. I'm talking about old as in past the 7 year mark....and the companies still send settlement letters as well.

I've never written them letters regarding the things they send us but I think I probably need to start. How can I get them to stop reporting this old debt on our reports? I have about 3 and my husband has 1. A few of them have been auto calling us as well. We have just been blocking the numbers.

The companies are LVNV Funding, Midland Credit and RS Clark and Associates. The accounts were opened close to 10 years ago, and default happened within the first year (we fell on bad times). They keep selling the write off over and over and are still reporting to the bureaus.

Help?

gdale6 · ‎03-13-2014

@dockfam wrote:
Hi. I'm new to the boards but my husband and I are trying to rebuiild our credit (have been for the last 2 years). All of our current credit is A+ standing but our scores are still low because of really old debt that is still showing up on our reports. I'm talking about old as in past the 7 year mark....and the companies still send settlement letters as well.

I've never written them letters regarding the things they send us but I think I probably need to start. How can I get them to stop reporting this old debt on our reports? I have about 3 and my husband has 1. A few of them have been auto calling us as well. We have just been blocking the numbers.

The companies are LVNV Funding, Midland Credit and RS Clark and Associates. The accounts were opened close to 10 years ago, and default happened within the first year (we fell on bad times). They keep selling the write off over and over and are still reporting to the bureaus.

Help?

If the accounts are reporting 7.5 yrs post DOFD they are breaking the FCRA law, dispute as obsolete to get them deleted from your file(s). They can still call you even decades later, if these are past your states SOL and you dont want to hear from them you would send them a FOAD letter or a C&D all communications, if it gets sold to someone else they get a C&D as well.

RobertEG · ‎03-13-2014

If an old collection is still appearing in your credit report, there are two possibilites.

Either the CRA is in violation of the requirement to exclude the collection from any credit report it issues after 7 years plus 180 days from the DOFD, or the DOFD that the CRA is using is less than 7 years plus 180 days ago.

The CRA can only use the DOFD that is reported to them to determine when it must be excluded.

To that end, FCRA 623(a)(5) requires any debt collector to obtain the DOFD on the OC account, and report it to the CRA within 90 days after reporting of their collection.

Thus, to determine who is at "fault" for continued showing of a collection beyond 7 years plus 180 days from what you believe to be the accurate DOFD, you must first determine the DOFD that was reported by the debt collector to your credit file.

If you cannot obtain the reported DOFD from the credit reports you have obtained, you can file a formal request with the CRA for that information under the provisions of FCRA 609(a)(1), which entitles a consumer to "any information in their credit file at the time of the request."

Secion 609(a)(1) requests require payment to the CRA of a processing fee, which is currently $11.00.

Once you have evidence of the actual reported DOFD, you then will have basis to determine who is at fault... the CRA or the debt collector.

If the debt collector has reported an inaccurate DOFD, you can send them a direct dispute of its accuracy.