Removing outdated information

[Anonymous]

Should information on a credit report be removed if it is out dated?    I am assuming that accounts with positive information remain on your reports for upto 10 years and negative information removed after 7 years.  Is this based on the date the account was closed for both positive and negative information or is it based on another factor. 

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Should information on a credit report be removed if it is out dated?    I am assuming that accounts with positive information remain on your reports for upto 10 years and negative information removed after 7 years.  Is this based on the date the account was closed for both positive and negative information or is it based on another factor. 

Thanks!

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Can you tell us more what you mean here by "outdated"?  From the rest of your post it sounds like you consider closed accounts examples of outdated information. 

[RobertEG]

Any "adverse" item of information is controlled by FCRA 605(a), whch mandates periods after which a CRA must exclude each adverse item of information from future credit reports they issue. The periods vary depending upon the type of adverse information, with certain specific items explicitly listed along with their exclusion period, such as collections, charge offs, tax liens, BK, and civil judgments, and a catch-all subsection that encompasses any other adverse itme.  The purpose of the exclusion periods is to provide consumers the chance to rebuild their credit files/reports/scores.

The exclusion periods vary from 7 years to a date that depends  first upon the debt having been satisfied (tax liens).

The FCRA does not mandate periods for removal of positive information.  The CRAs have set their own internal housekeeping policies to clean out old accounts that have been closed for approx ten years, and thus no longer considered to be of practical use to their customers.

[Anonymous]

I have accounts that are closed since 2004, one of the accounts state closed by creditor but was paid in full.  There is another account that was closed in 2002 closed and listed as paid as agreed.  Should I request to have these types of accounts removed from the CR? 

[Anonymous]

I do understand that negative information can and will remain on a CR for 7 years.  I have accounts that have been closed since 2002, that still show on the CR's, should I request to have these accounts removed. 

Since information does stay on the reports for 7 years, when does that 7 year period start?  Does is start on the date it was closed or moved to a collection agency, does it start on the date of last payment or the date of last activity.  If based on date of last activity how can you find out what that date would be.  Since dates of last activity seem to change every month that the information is sent to a CB.

[takeshi74]

As RobertEG stated, the type of adverse information matters.  My understanding is that for collections and charge offs it's the date of first delinquency that matters.  For late's its the date of occurence.

Don't overlook the subfora and stickies (and prior discussions) as resources as well.  This thread is linked in the Helpful Rebuilding Threads sticky in the Rebuilding subforum and has some info on DOFD.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/What-Steps-Do-I-Take-Do-I-DV-PFD/td-p/337142

[Anonymous]

It sounds like these accounts you are talking about are simply closed accounts.  As far as I can tell (from what you have said) they are not listed in the report with anything "negative" associated with them.  (Lates, charge offs, collections, etc.)

Can you explain why it is that you want to delete them from your report?  Having very old closed accounts on your report HELPS your credit score.  It's not that rare for a closed positive account to stay on your report for longer than ten years.

[Anonymous]

As an example I had a Delta CC that I opened in 11/1998, this account was closed on 6/2004 paid in full and shows Pays as Agreed, but there are comments Closed by credit grantor..  It also goes on to say that it was last reported on 4/11/2007.  Should this item have fallen off the CR with EQ?  No other CR shows this item.

[RobertEG]

If yu wish it deleted, then make a call to the CRA and request they remove per their normal policy.

It is an informal process, so I would not dispute its lack of deletion.

[Anonymous]

As Robert says, you can certainly give the CRA a call and ask them to delete any closed account, especially one closed over 11 years ago.  Asking a CRA to do a thing doesn't guarantee they will do it, but certainly there's no reason you can't ask.

If you don't mind me asking, what is your oldest account?  I am still not 100% clear why you'd want to have a number of very old tradelines deleted from your profile.  Many people here on this forum would love to have some closed accounts with a positive status and which are nearly 20 years old -- they are helpful to a person's score.  They would be sad if they fell off, but it sounds like (in contrast) you are unhappy that they are there.