Equifax Payment History

[ASHS79]

Posted earlier about mortgage transfer and was given some helpful advice. I recieved my Equifax report, last one to arrive and I have a question about reporting.

          Jan  Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

2014   30   30   30   30    30   30    30  60   90   90    90  

2013 120 120 120                                         30   30    30   30

2012                                                 120 120 120 120 120 120

This account was open in 2005, curiously there was no reporting to Equifax until the first 120 late in July 2012. This account is no  longer on my Experian or TransUnion credit reports  so I cannot compare delinquecy dates or monthly reporting. The blank spaces are as shown on my Equifax report, just blanks, no checks for payment or any comment.

The comments show First date of Delienquency as 9/2013. I was able to review my old statements, focusing on 2013. As with my mortgage, I tried catching up, but never was able to get current.  I made a large payment in March 2013, but it wasnt enough to go current. My April 2013 - Dec 2013 statements all show a past due amount which is monthly payment (slightly more) plus late fees, never current, staying 30 days late. Not sure why there was no data reported in April - Aug?? 

Is there a FCRA code  section I should review and submit in a dispute? I plan on writing a letter and sending copies of my statements. Should I also mention this account not being on my other credit reports (Experian / TransUnion) ?

All these differences are making my head spin in circles!!!

[Anonymous]

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@ASHS79 wrote:

Posted earlier about mortgage transfer and was given some helpful advice. I recieved my Equifax report, last one to arrive and I have a question about reporting.

          Jan  Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

2014   30   30   30   30    30   30    30  60   90   90    90  

2013 120 120 120                                         30   30    30   30

2012                                                 120 120 120 120 120 120

This account was open in 2005, curiously there was no reporting to Equifax until the first 120 late in July 2012. This account is no  longer on my Experian or TransUnion credit reports  so I cannot compare delinquecy dates or monthly reporting. The blank spaces are as shown on my Equifax report, just blanks, no checks for payment or any comment.

The comments show First date of Delienquency as 9/2013. I was able to review my old statements, focusing on 2013. As with my mortgage, I tried catching up, but never was able to get current.  I made a large payment in March 2013, but it wasnt enough to go current. My April 2013 - Dec 2013 statements all show a past due amount which is monthly payment (slightly more) plus late fees, never current, staying 30 days late. Not sure why there was no data reported in April - Aug?? 

Is there a FCRA code  section I should review and submit in a dispute? I plan on writing a letter and sending copies of my statements. Should I also mention this account not being on my other credit reports (Experian / TransUnion) ?

All these differences are making my head spin in circles!!!

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From what I have read (and i could be wrong) the account should fall off 7 years and 180 days at latest from the date of first delinquency. Based on the dates I see you were 120 days late in July which puts your DOFD in February? I am guessing you could request EE since that would be last month. If you want them to correct the DOFD you would dispute that payment history is incorrect or something along those lines and upload your statements showing when you went delinquent first. Hope that helps. I am sure someone with more knowledge in this area will chime in too. 

[ASHS79]

Thanks for the response. Just getting used to this entire credit reporting stuff. I didn’t realize there are months that go unreported and such. In this case it seems to be working against me.

[RobertEG]

DOFD is defined under FCRA 605(c) and is required to be reported only if a charge-off or collection has been reported.  See FCRA 623(a)(5).

If a creditor has reported only monthly delinquencies, they are not required under the FCRA to separately report a DOFD to the CRAs.

However, they are not precluded from doing so.

You cannot rely upon a payment history profile to establish the date of first delinquency, for several reasons.

First, as was the case in your profile, creditors often choose to delay the reporting of delinquencies until they reach a major level, and second, your payment history profile can often report a level of delinquency that is actually lower than its actual level.

For example, jumping down to only 30-late does not necessarily indicate that the account was returned to pays as agreed, good standing between those two dates.

For those and other reasons, the DOFD that is used by the CRA is stored in a separate code called the FCRA Compliance Date, Field Code 25.

It is reported separately by the creditor.

While section 623(a)(5) only requires a DOFD to be reported if a charge-off or collection has been reported, a credtior can still report a DOFD if they have only reported monthly delinquencies.   

If you have documentation of a date of initial account delinquency, and the account has remained continually delinquent from that date onward, you can dispute the accuracy of a reported DOFD, but dont rely upon a payment history profile to support your dispute.

CRA reporting policy is to exclude all monthly delinquencies that are in the same chain of delinquency after 7 years from the date of initial (first) delinquency.  That is based on their interpretation of FCRA 605(a)(5), with the adverse item being the same initial delinquency.

Each delinquency is not excluded separately at 7 years from its individual date of occurence.

Thus, correction of a reported DOFD is clearly material, in that if the account was continually delinquent from date X, then all monthly delinquencies should become excluded after date X plus 7 years.