Blocking of inclusion of a collection in your CR after 7 years plus 180 days from the DOFD on the OC account does not prevent the debt collector from continuing collection activites, theoretically forever.
What CR removal does is to essentially remove one of the most effective debt collection tools that a debt collector possesses. That being the fact that it is hurting your credit score, and thus provides an incentive for the consumer to pay. Most consumers are unaware that payment does not result in CR removal, and often pay based only on CR inclusion.
Usually, when the period for CR removal has arrived, the SOL on the debt has also expired. Thus, the debt collector is left without any effective tools for pursuing collection.
The only real tool they still have is to pester you. You can always address that by simply sending the debt collector a cease further communications letter under FDCPA 805(c), thus preventing them from pursuing collection by way of communications with you.
The one possible harm that non-payment after both SOL and credit reporting expirations have passed is that the collection is not deleted from your credit file. All that is "deleted" is the ability of the CRA to include it in their normal credit reports. There are a couple of exemptions from the block of the collection in future credit reports after the expiration of the 7 year plus 180 day period. Those are set forth in FCRA 605(b), and only apply to relatively rare situations such as application for credit or insurance that exceeds a principal balance of $150,000, or an employment pull of your CR that is related to a job with an expected income of $75,000 or more. So it is possible that the fact of non-payment could become available in credit reports to those parties. In most cases, potential creditors or employers dont exercise that option to obtain your full credit file, so the risk of later CR inclusion is very limited and very slim.
