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Past Apartment Collection

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Eddie24CO
Valued Member

Past Apartment Collection

Good Day everyone:

 

 

I wanted to pick everyones brain and see what you would think

 

 

First off i make good money and my credit score is about 655. I have rented an apartment for the last 7 years of my life and have never had a problem getting an apartment etc. I wanted to recently move to another apartment closer to the city with my spouse and when we "applied" a collection came back on "EQUIFAX and RENT BUREAU by Experian" for an apartment community that i lived at 6 years ago, which is about to be 7 in March 2019. The amount is for $7,000.00. 

 

Yes, i legally owe the debt. However a few things - 

#1 They have never contacted me for payment/payment arrangement and just tossed it on my credit report

#2- They have the wrong apartment management company listed - which i tried disputing with Equifax since you cant dispute with Rent Bureau and it came back verified

#3- The statue of limiations to have the agency call to collect on a "written" contract or sue me in the state of where this occured is 6 YEARS. So with that being said 6 YEARS is March 2018. 7 Years for the collection to drop off Equfiax is March 2019. I have no idea what the hell Rent Bureau is.

 

QUESTION

 

Should I just stay put in my apartment for 1 more year and wait until March 2019 for this collection to fall of my credit report? If so, do Apartment communities look at old apartment colelctions that are more than 7 years old or do they not take it into concideration?

 

Anyone have any input?  Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current FICO Scores as of June 2022:
Experian: 720
Equifax: 721
TransUnion: 719
Message 1 of 5
4 REPLIES 4
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Past Apartment Collection

So, even though you owe it, is paying it  not a consideration?

 

Message 2 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Past Apartment Collection

My guess is that you have a strong preference for not paying it.  Can you clarify?

 

If so, then I would get copies of all possible reports where this debt might appear.  That would be the big three (EX, EQ, TU) but also Experian RentBureau...

 

http://www.experian.com/assets/rentbureau/general/request_form.pdf

 

... as well as all the CRAs listed on pages 16-19 of this list:

 

http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201604_cfpb_list-of-consumer-reporting-companies.pdf

 

RobertEG may be able to clarify how long it will take for the negative info to fall off these CRAs.  It may be 7 or it may be 7.5 years.

Message 3 of 5
Eddie24CO
Valued Member

Re: Past Apartment Collection

That's just the thing. I have about 60% of that balance in which i can easily call them up and request a settlement offer. However, this collection is something i just learned of recently within the last few months. They have never attempted to collect in the first place. The statue of limitations is so close on this in which they can legally colelction/sue  (6 years) and 7 years that it will stay on the credit report but it seems a bit silly to pay it at this point as they have made zero attempts.

 

Experian RentBureau is the one that i question because i want to know if it will just drop off after the 7 years like tradtional credit reports.

Current FICO Scores as of June 2022:
Experian: 720
Equifax: 721
TransUnion: 719
Message 4 of 5
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: Past Apartment Collection

A debt collector is not required to provide any notice or communicatiion prior to reporting their collection.

"Notice" of a delinquent debt is assumed to under your knowledge based on your contract that created the debt and your payment history on that debt.

You are charged with knowledge of default on your original contract, and a debt collector subsequently obtaining collection authority can report their collection without any prior notification.

 

Once the debt collector reports their collection, they are required to provide the DOFD to the CRA no later than 90 days after reporting their collection.

The DOFD, and the DOFD alone, determines credit report exclusion of the collection, which is set under FCRA 605(c) to be no later than 7 years plus 180 days from the DOFD. 

 

However, credit report exclusion does not negate the debt or prevent the debt collector from continuing legitimate attempts to collect on the debt.

While a future prospective creditor will not be able to become aware that you have an unpaid, delinquent debt by a simple pull of your regular credit report, if they ask for a listing of any unpaid, delinquent debt, then you still may be obligated to provide that info.

 

Paying both removes ability to continue collection attempts, and removes any future obligation to disclose as unpaid, delinquent debt.

Reliance of credit report exclusion to "hide" the debt may or may not exclude it from future knowledge by others.

Message 5 of 5
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