@Anonymous wrote:I have a negative account with a car company. The account was opened in Feb 2001. I had several late payments in '01,'02, and in '03 the car was repossessed. The day it was repossessed I called the company and paid the fees, and it was reinstated. I finished paying the loan in Feb 2006. My question is how come it hasn't fallen off my credit report yet. Its only on Equifax, but its there.
On the report it has the follwing listed:
Date of First Deliquency: N/A
Date of Reported 2/2006
Date Closed 2/2006
Comments: Redeemed or reinstated repossession
There is no payment history listed
I thought it would be off by now. My date of first deliquency was in '01, the repo was in '03, either way shouldn't it be gone? If so, how should I go about fixing it?
Hello and welcome to the Forums.
The actual definition of DoFD is the first time you ever got behind and never again got caught up. It looks like you paid everything which brought you current so that first late payment way back in 2001 no longer applied as the DoFD.
Since you were good on this until it was paid and closed in 2/2006 IMO (In My Opinion) that is the applicable date. Accounts in good standing usually report for up to 10 years after being closed but that actually helps you because this adds to your AAoA and credit length history.
All this is predicated on my reading and assumption that this account is reporting positively. If I am wrong I'm sure someone will come along and gently correct me. 
From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".
+1 Agree with MarineVet. The only thing that should be off the report in regards to this account would be the old lates. The account was reinstated following the repo in '03 so that wouldn't count as the date you went delinquent and never caught up. Acount was reinstated, paid and closed in 2/06 and will remain on your reports for 10 years.
You could try and write them a GW letter asking them to remove the repo notation since the account has been brought current and paid in full.
@Anonymous wrote:Its definitely not listed under my "good" accounts. Its the only account I have listed as negatively affecting my credit report.
I dont understand the got caught up part in respect to the DOFD, dont you always get caught up after every late payment etc? So if I had an open account with a late payment say 10 years ago, that would still be showing as negative? Because the account never closed?
Let's say you had a 30 day late in March 2001. But then never had a late payment after that until the account closed in 2006. In March 2008, that 30 day late payment would fall off and the account would become a positive account. But the account would continue to report until at least 2016.
Now let's say you had the same 30 day late in March 2001, a 60 day in April, a 90 day in May, a 120 day in June and then it was sent to collections the date of first delinquency would then be March 2001. You went deliquent and NEVER brought the account current and the account would fall off 7-7.5 years from that March 2001 date.
It's possible that it's coded as a payment plan during a repo and wasn't satisfied until the final payment was made. Another possibility is that the repo was at the end of 2010 and you are still in the 7-7.5 year time frame for the negative to drop off...The consumer reports we get don't always give the best information, have your pulled your free report from annualcreditreport.com? Those reports have more details that shed light on questions like this. If you ahven't gotten that report, get it and take a look at what it says. I'd also try the GW letter. It is an older account and most likely, the length will help you more than the negative impact of the account will.
Yes, it is odd that when you try to do the right thing and pay your bills you get punished. But you still did the right thing...and that's what's important.
Edited - just saw your edited post about where the report was from...nevermind then. lol