Not understanding the 7 year rule on CR

[Anonymous]

 This is an age old question, what I'm trying to do is figure out THE EXACT DATE not a relative time frame.


I know charge offs come off your record after 7 years 180 days. But is that 7 years from DATE OPENED? or some other mystery date?


GECRB/CARECR
Date opened: 04/26/2007
Date reported: 09/04/2008


Macy's
04/09/2007
Date reported: 02/22/2012 (could this be because I disputed it? Please don't tell me I re-aged it!)



WHAT &%%*(!@ DOES THAT MEAN!? Does the date reported just signify that I disputed and they looked into it? I'll scream if I just lost 5 years off that account and have to start over!


Which date starts the clock?

[pizzadude]

The clock starts at the date of first deliquency ( DOFD ) of the original account.   This is the point in time where the account first became deliquent before CO, without it ever becoming current.    If you look on your Equifax CR it shows DOFD, the other reports just show an estimated date of removal.

The CO account should drop all negatives no later than 7.5 years from DOFD.

[pizzadude]

And to answer your other question, the date reported is just the date that the creditor submitted the information to the CRA.    It does not reset or re~start the clock for credit reporting porpoises.     Once the DOFD is established, it can't be reset or overridden or changed.

[Anonymous]

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pizzadude wrote:

Once the DOFD is established, it can't be reset or overridden or changed.

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At least -- not legally.  If you find that a collection agency has changed a FCRA Compliance Date (DOFD) then, they need to be reported.  I had this happen to me recently and, I reported the collection agency to the BBB and my State's AG. The CRAs (thank God) removed the paid collection in a timely manner in accordance with the proper DOFD. 

But Pizza is right -- KNOW your DOFD! 

[RobertEG]

+1

I would just add that, by reporting a "date opened" for their collection, the debt collector is, in effect, reporting an absolute date of latest possible DOFD that they can ever report.

Similarly, by reporting a charge-off, the creditor is establishing an absolute latest date that any DOFD could be reported.

FCRA 623(a)(5)(B)(iii) states that  no party may report a DOFD that is later than the date the creditor referred their account for collection or charged-off the debt.

So a consumer could, under such circumstances, demonstrate inaccurate reporting of a DOFD based simply on information in their credit report without need to haggle over the actual date.