No, it is not a violation for a debt collector to report their collection after 7 years plus 180 days from the DOFD.
The credit report exclusion provisions, as set forth in FCRA 605(a), are imposed on the CRAs and not furnishers.
Thus, furnishers can report information regardless of the date of the adverse information, provided they provide the proper dates relevant to the adverse item.
It is then up to the CRA to determine whether the adverse item can be included in credit reports they issue.
For a collection, the pertinent date that determines its exclusion is the DOFD.
The debt colletor is required to provide the DOFD to the CRA no later than 90 days after reporting their collection.
If the reported DOFD is more than 7 years plus 180 days ago, then the CRA is barred from included the collection in normal credit reports they issue.
The consumer would thus not even be aware of its reporting.
It would, however, be a violation for a debt collector to knowingly report an incorrect DOFD in order to have their collection appear in credit reports issued by a CRA.
To emphasize that furnishers are not barred from reporting, it is noted that none of the credit report exclusion provisions of FCRA 605(a) are absolute.
Under the conditions provided in section 605(b), the CRA can still include any of the normally excluded items in a full factual credit report, such as if the report is requested in regard to a consumer request for credit in an amount of $150K or more. Thus, a debt collector is not barred from reporting to a CRA at any time, as the info could possibly still be included in a full factual credit report.
