topic Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH! in General Credit Topics

DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

Tuscani — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 02:03:52 GMT

I hoping this thread will clear up some confusion on DOLA, DOFD, SOL and how they relate to your credit. Be sure to check out the time reporting thread as well:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=generalcredit&thread.id=2689

The uniform code of civil procedures gives all the definitions you need to enforce your rights:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Commercial_Code

In a State that accrues (starts) its Legal SOL from the "cause of action date" then the first missed or delinquent date THAT WAS NEVER CAUGHT UP, prior to the charge off date is the starting date, or DOFD, which was the first date that the creditor could have filed suit, i.e. cause of action.

This date is the SAME date as the start of the 7 year reporting period in the FCRA and creditors are mandated to report that DOFD to the CRA's (You should call the CRA to get an accurate DOFD on a TL).

In some states, the "accrual date of the cause of action" is the last item of payment or purchase on a mutual, open and current account. These states are called "last item states" and in some like CA and VA and TX the accrual date can be argued to be a much earlier date than the DOFD if the creditor has stopped charging privileges and/or reduced the credit line to below what was owed.

But Tusc, you refer to the 7 year reporting period, yet the SOL for my state is X, what gives?

You are confusing "Legal SOL" with "Reporting SOL".. The legal SOL usually starts on the DOFD, not the DOLA.

The Reporting SOL ALWAYS starts on the DOFD by LAW in the FCRA and must be reported by the OC to the CRA.

If I make a payment to the CA, does that change the FCRA Compliance Date and cause the debt to be reported for another 7 years?

No. Even making payments to the OC doesn't "reset" the reporting period after CO of the account, or even prior to CO unless you bring the account current. Whether you make payments to the CA or not, it's illegal for the CA to change that date and cause the negative information to remain on your credit report for longer than permitted by the FCRA.

Does the 7 year reporting period start over when a CA/JDB buys the debt?

No. The date the reporting period is based upon depends on the commencement of the delinquency leading to the CO of the debt with the OC. It's illegal for the CA to change that date in order to report that debt beyond the period allowed by the FCRA.

This debt charged off 5 years ago, but the CA is reporting the account opened date as last month. Is this illegal?

No. The CA is allowed to list the date they acquired the account as the "Date Opened". But the date opened doesn't determine the date it must be removed from your credit report due to obsolescence. It still goes by the DOFD leading to CO with the OC.

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

Tuscani — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 21:30:18 GMT

BUMP!

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:27:27 GMT

Hello,

This is my first time ever trying to fix my credit report -thanks to the Suze Orman that someone referred me to, it doesn't seem tedious to try to fix my credit anymore....AALLLLELLLUUUYYAAA!!!!

I just got my reports the other day and I have a few things I need to fix.

Your message here has clarified somethings for me, but I have some questions.....

1- I have a student loan from back in 98, that was sold to another institution for collection...are both of them supposed to be there? Isn't that considered a duplicate of the same account?

2- Child support....can this be taken off if the kids are now living with me and I don't have to pay it anymore? -it is less than a year old.

3- Bankrupcy....it says 10 years, I got that...but I am also showing accounts as charged off on the Account's lists that were included in the bankrupcy...is this considered duplicate? If not, they are more than 7 years old...can they be taken off even though they were included in the bankrupcy?

4- DOFD....none of my 3 credit reports shows this date on any of my Accounts....It only has, Date Opened, Date of last payment and Date Closed....how do I go about this, because I know for sure I have accounts on there that need to come off....pronto!

Thank you very much and I appologyse if these questions have been posted before, but I didn't find any answers that would suit the situation except this here (your post). Again, thank you for your help!

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 19:57:15 GMT

Tuscani,

I apologize for the redundancy, but w/ my broken back I am at my limit for searching. I did fine this:

Does the 7 year reporting period start over when a CA/JDB buys the debt?

This debt charged off 5 years ago, but the CA is reporting the account opened date as last month. Is this illegal?

My question (s) is/are this, if I understand this correctly, even though a collection agency just purchased a debit 12/07, the date of my last payment, dated closed, or date charged off is still the date starting the 7 year clock? So if the debit is 5 years old and the collection agency just bought it a month ago, it still needs to be removed in two years? And if I contact them to remove it, can that start the clock again? I still don't know exactly what date is what. Closed, last payment, charged off, etc?And could you pls point me to the forum that shows what "DOFD-all acronyms? Much respect for your time and thank you very much,

Elisabeth(in California)

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

granny031350 — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:08:27 GMT

so when there is no delinquency they go by dola? I have run into that with a couple of my TL that were included in my BK and discharged in 01. They should be coming off this year but the DOLA is reporting as 02 so therefore, the cra are listing come off as 2009. I can't seem to get them to understand that there couldn't be any action after filing on that debt but to no avail. so I am just going to let them all fall off. Disputing is exhausting.

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 00:22:35 GMT

I live in NC where the SOL is three years. I am approaching the three year mark from the dates of purchase. Five months away (8/05 and 9/05). My DOFD on these debts should be 11/05 and 12/05. According to what i have read here, the SOL kicks in later this year, which means they cannot sue me. However the items on my report will remain in place for another four years? Is that correct?

I know that once the SOL takes effect a CA cannot lawfully contact me to collect the on the debts. Is there any way, other than paying the debt, that an SOL TL on a CR can be removed before 7 years?

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 01:02:41 GMT

granny031350 wrote:
so when there is no delinquency they go by dola? I have run into that with a couple of my TL that were included in my BK and discharged in 01. They should be coming off this year but the DOLA is reporting as 02 so therefore, the cra are listing come off as 2009. I can't seem to get them to understand that there couldn't be any action after filing on that debt but to no avail. so I am just going to let them all fall off. Disputing is exhausting.

I thought EX & TU were the only ones that went with DOFD and EQ went with DOLA?

Awesome Post btw.

Message Edited by theshadow12345 on 03-28-2008 06:02 PM

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

fused — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 02:01:19 GMT

theshadow12345 wrote:

I thought EX & TU were the only ones that went with DOFD and EQ went with DOLA?

Awesome Post btw.

Message Edited by theshadow12345 on 03-28-2008 06:02 PM

True! But EQ's DOLA is really a DOFD. I know it can be confusing.

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 03:50:26 GMT

jzralnc wrote:
I live in NC where the SOL is three years. I am approaching the three year mark from the dates of purchase. Five months away (8/05 and 9/05). My DOFD on these debts should be 11/05 and 12/05. According to what i have read here, the SOL kicks in later this year, which means they cannot sue me. However the items on my report will remain in place for another four years? Is that correct?

I know that once the SOL takes effect a CA cannot lawfully contact me to collect the on the debts. Is there any way, other than paying the debt, that an SOL TL on a CR can be removed before 7 years?

If I am not mistaken, in NY if a debt is PAID, it can be removed from your CR's in 5 years instead of 7.

If it is not paid, a CA can try to collect on it forever if they wish. If it is beyond SOL, that can be used as a defense if brought to court.

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:16:22 GMT

I heard on Clark Howard that once a debt goes beyond SOL it's illegal for a CA to demand payment. They can't call you, and they can't mail notices to your home. you could either tell them on the phone that the debt has passed the SOL and to stop calling, or write a nice, little letter.

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:26:38 GMT

Moved post by mishalyn into new thread on General Credit Issues titled "Questions on DOFD, DOLA, and SOL"

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:14:23 GMT

Hello, I am new to this forum, i have been working on improving my scores and have had luck i have disputed negative information on my reports. My problem is this i had a co and then it was sold to another company who sold it to yet another company who finaly contacted me and we settled the debit, I received a letter stating it was paid and the letter showed the oc and the current owner being represented by the current ca. the cra's stll report this account as a co and the current owner as a collection. i disputed it one as a duplicate and two as being paid as it realy is paid. The cra's results showed that the oc and current still report the same info as before i faxed all the paperwork proving the account paid got the same response, i sent the paperwork proving the account paid to the oc and current owner still reporting as collection and co. I know there has to be some goverment agency i can contact to file a suit because the oc and current owner are not compling with the FCRA and i have made them aware or this and it seems they do not care, but i do as it is killing my scores. (TU) 568 (EQ)493 (EX)616. Any help would be much apreciated. Thank You

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

llecs — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:20:04 GMT

Even if paid, both the OC and CA can continue to report for 7 yrs past DOFD. If paid, the CA should report it as a paid collection. The OC should be reporting that it was a CO or paid CO.

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:20:19 GMT

That is my problem both the oc and the ca still report as an open collection even after i have mailed both proof that it has been paid. Any sugestions on what to do now.

Thank You

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

llecs — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:26:05 GMT

Open or closed, the damage is the same. It doesn't matter. The harm comes from the fact that the CA is even reporting. Per the CO, again it doesn't matter. The damage is from the mention of "CO" and lates, if any.

If you had the CRAs change it to "closed" for either of them, then your scores will drop.

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

MattH — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:13:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I heard on Clark Howard that once a debt goes beyond SOL it's illegal for a CA to demand payment. They can't call you, and they can't mail notices to your home. you could either tell them on the phone that the debt has passed the SOL and to stop calling, or write a nice, little letter.

That varies from State to State. In some States, it is illegal to attempt collection on a debt if they know it's beyond SOL. In other States they can attempt collection, and even file a lawsuit. In States where they can sue after SOL, they can win a default judgement even though it's beyond SOL if the debtor fails to show up and invoke the SOL as a defense.

In just about every State, if the debtor tells the CA "look, I know it's beyond SOL," an intelligent CA will give up because if it does get to court and debtor shows up to invoke the SOL as a defense they won't get a judgement.

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

MattH — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:22:36 GMT

@MattH wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I heard on Clark Howard that once a debt goes beyond SOL it's illegal for a CA to demand payment. They can't call you, and they can't mail notices to your home. you could either tell them on the phone that the debt has passed the SOL and to stop calling, or write a nice, little letter.

That varies from State to State. In some States, it is illegal to attempt collection on a debt if they know it's beyond SOL. In other States they can attempt collection, and even file a lawsuit. In States where they can sue after SOL, they can win a default judgement even though it's beyond SOL if the debtor fails to show up and invoke the SOL as a defense.

In just about every State, if the debtor tells the CA "look, I know it's beyond SOL," an intelligent CA will give up because if it does get to court and debtor shows up to invoke the SOL as a defense they won't get a judgement.

As it happens, Liz Pulliam Weston just posted an article on this:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/YourCreditRating/IsThereAStatuteOfLimitationsOnDebt.aspx

Some key points from her article:

The devil's in the details.
You can inadvertently restart the clock.
A creditor may still sue you after the SOL has run out.
The creditor may try to pick a better venue.
Debts can still exist even if the creditor can't sue.

Message Edited by MattH on 03-05-2009 09:22 PM

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:37:53 GMT

This credit scoring stuff is crazy. if reporting paid is going to drop my scores then i am just going to let it ride wide open. Another funny thing today when i checked myfico my eqifax score had jumped up 98 points from 493 to 591 but myfico didnt give a reason it just said my score had went up, i am new to myfico and have only been using it for a few months so is this normal for a score to jump and have no explnation as to why?

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

llecs — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:47:59 GMT

Fearslayer wrote:
This credit scoring stuff is crazy. if reporting paid is going to drop my scores then i am just going to let it ride wide open. Another funny thing today when i checked myfico my eqifax score had jumped up 98 points from 493 to 591 but myfico didnt give a reason it just said my score had went up, i am new to myfico and have only been using it for a few months so is this normal for a score to jump and have no explnation as to why?

Congrats. No that isn't normal. Check line by line to see what changed. Were you alerted to a score change or did you find out by pulling your reports?

Re: DOLA, DOFD, SOL.. AHHHH!

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 14:54:11 GMT

A debt, once beyond the SOL, is still a legal debt and the CA or OC can continue to contact you (within limits of law) and attempt to collect the debt.

The SOL only protects you from suit and garnishment. If they can get you to voluntarily pay, out of a sense of obligation or otherwise, it is legal for them to do so.

For CA, though, if you demand they cease and desist all contact, then the SOL essentially does make it a dead end for the CA, because they cannot sue you, garnish wages and now cannot contact you.

However, OC is not bound by the same rules as a CA. They can continue to contact you and request payment. However, for all intents and purposes, the OC usually won't do this after a certain time. And then they usually sell it to a CA.

But, I want to clear up this point: SOL does NOT mean the debt is extinguished, it only means that it is not enforceable through the courts....you cannot be sued. Only settlement/payment or bankruptcy extinguishes a debt.