Sears and Midland Mortgage

[Anonymous]

A few years ago I was trying to rebuild my credit and verbally agreed with Sears if I paid my charge-off account for 12 consecutive months they would remove the negative tradelines to the account. The first date of delinquency was in April 2002. I now realize that I didn't do this correctly and they have refused to remove the account from credit report. Because of this they have reaged the date of delinquency to 2/2008. This is what is beibng reported:

81-Month Payment History

Year

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

2010

*

*

2009

CO

CO

CO

CO

CO

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

2008

*

30

60

90

120

150

180

CO

CO

CO

CO

CO

2007

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

2006

90

120

120

120

90

90

90

30

*

*

*

*

2005

*

*

*

30

60

90

90

90

*

*

30

60

2004

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

2003

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

How can the first date delinquency date be 2008 and as you can see the delinquency according to the above show 60 days in 2005. How can I get the history prior to 2003 when the account was originally deemed as a charge-off account?  Equifax did give Sears a zero balance and removed Midland from the report because they both were showing a balance. Nevertheless, Midland wasted no time reporting again. 

[Anonymous]

My apologies. It is Midland Credit Management.

[AndySoCal]

the date of first delinquecy dispute it with  bureaus. if you have an old credit report that shows in 2002 use that as proof. Secondly call Sears and ask them why is MIdland still reporting this account ? I paid you in full and the account should have been recalled from collection agency. 

[MarineVietVet]

Sears has to have past records of when you first went delinquent and when the account was originally charged off. Have you talked to them about sending you copies of these records? I don't know if they are legally obligated to supply those records but you can ask them.

From a BK years ago to:
9/09 EX pulled by lender 802
3/10 EQ- 800
4/10 TU -772

You can do the same thing with hard work

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[RobertEG]

No action of a CA can reset your DOFD.  DOFD is based on the OC account alone.  If the CA has reset it, that is blatantly illegal.

My suggestion is to first get your reported DOFD straight from the CRA.  That does not mean that what was reported is correct, but is legal evidence of whether or not the OC propoperly complied with the FCRA, and//or whether the CRA is continuing to report beyond the report beyond the 7 1/2 drop off date.

The OC is required, under FCRA 623(a)(5)(A), to report the DOFD to the CRA within 90 days of any posting of a charge off on the account, or referraL of the account for collection, the DOFD on the OC account.  That is how the CRA then knows how to calculate the FCRA 605(c) compliance date for termination of reporting of any CO or CA after 7 1/2 years.

Most normal consumer credit reports wont give you this precise date.  But you can get it, for a fee of $10.50,  by filing a request with the CRA under FCRA 609(a)(1) as follows:

"This is a request, under FCRA 609(a)(1), for all information in my consumer file at the time of this request that relates to the reporting of a first delinquency on the following account:

       (identify the account in full)

"In the event of any ambiguity regarding the information I am requesting, I offer the following detailed clarification.

"The above named original creditor has posted a charge off to this account, and has additionally placed it for collection by a debt collector.  The party attempting collection of this debt is identified in my credit report as"

     (identify the CA).

"Each of these actions by the original creditor required them, under the provisions of FCRA 623(a(5)(A), to have provided to you this date of first delinquency on the original creditor account within 90-days of such action(s).  That is the information I request. 

"My understanding is that this date is stored in my credit file, under the standard Metro 2 format, at field code 25 of the base segment of my credit file, as my "FCRA Compliance Date/Date of First Delinquency."  Regardless, that should provide you with clear understanding of the information I seek.  I also request the date of the last update to this information in my credit file, and the name of the party who updated this information.

"I undertand that this request requires payment under FCRA 612(f) of the fee for provision of this information.  The current fee is $10.50.  Attached is my check in that amount to cover the fee for this request."

[bigman023]

I recently went through a situation similar to the OP's.  I disputed with the CRA and the OC.  I finally got it resolved when I sent a letter to the OC , basically saying they were using the DOLA as the DOFD, and therefore have re-aged the account.  Just for kicks, I also included the FTC opinion letter defining DOFD. I used a highlighter to highlight some of the key language in the letter.  Good luck!

ETA:  One key difference between our situations is, although the DOFD for CRTP has passed 7 years, your account may still to be with-in SOL , because you recently made payments.  In my situation, the DOFD had passed, and SOL had expired.  Be mindful that you could create a situation where the creditor has no other option but to sue you.  Of course, if you don't owe a balance, SOL is not a factor.  But from your post I couldn't tell if you still owed a balance.