Complicated(?) Collection Fall off Date Question

Creditswooner · ‎03-25-2024

Hello!

Okay, so I have a Collection on my TU and EX credit reports. My TU credit report gives an approximate drop off date of "10/24", while EX, on the other hand, does not provide a drop off date (I guess they don't do that anymore).
I have already spoken with TU and they stated that I can call back in April (next week) and they should be able to have the item removed via EE. I would like EX to do the same but I'm not sure that they will, and here's why: The collection item is on my credit report, but the original debt is not now, nor has it ever been on my credit report. SO, the only date for the collection item on my EX report is the "account open" date, which is February of 2020 - this is the date that the collection account was open and not the date of the original underlying debt's first delinquency, which (at least as far as I understand) is what should be used for the purposes of reporting exclusion.

My concern is that the item will not be removed until February of 2027 since EX does not have the original date. Is there anything that I can do to have them exclude the item by April, or if not, then at least by October? I don't want to have the item stay on my report for an additional few years. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Also, I just want to say that, although this is my first post, I have been lurking in these forums for well over a year as I have been working to repair the damage that I did to my credit! This community has been so helpful along the way, so I just wanted to start this exchange by saying that and giving everyone in this community a big THANK YOU!

JoeRockhead · ‎03-26-2024

What type of collection account is this, a charge off of a credit card or other type credit account, a utility bill, a medical debt etc?...

The "account open" date listed by the collection agency (CA) is likely correct due to those dates correlate to when the CA bought the debt, or gained authority to collect on the debt. However, the debt collector is still required to determine the DOFD that led to the charge off of the account and report it to the CRA no later than 90 days after they have reported their collection. This, in turn allows the CRAs to start the clock for the removal of the debt.

You have a valid dispute with EX, as the CA clearly failed to properly establish, and report the DOFD to them. Although some might tell you to let sleeping dogs lie due to the chance of the charge off suddenly reporting and further hurting your scores. Without the establishment and proper reporting of the DOFD, the collection will continue to report far past the time it should be removed. The big plus side of getting the reporting accurate in regards to the actual DOFD would also obviously allow you to achieve a complete removal of all of it... worst case, not too far down the road from now.

Your other option to get it removed would be a PFD with the CA ( if they offer PFD).

Welcome to the forum

Creditswooner · ‎03-26-2024

Thanks for the response!

The collection account is a debt from a school that I was attending at the time. The bill became overdue and went to collections - not to an internal collections department, but to a larger state ran, governmental Collections agency in Maryland.

Unfortunately, they will not do a pay for delete. I asked before I paid and they denied my request and then after I paid it I reached out to them again and asked if they would be willing to remove it and they turned me down then as well. I emailed the Director and the Collections Department Manager a few times and they both got back to me and were very polite, but rejected my request each time.

As far as the 90 day rule you referenced, I have never heard of that before! How would I go about exploring that avenue? Would I file a dispute with the credit bureau saying that the collection unit didn't provide them with the date of first delinquency? How would I be able to prove that the date of first delinquency is a date other than the date of the collection account finally opening? Would I need to provide them with paperwork? I may be able to login to my old student account (I don't go there anymore) and try to find old missed account payment alerts, but I'm not sure that those would still be there.

Also, if I did find these records, would this hurt me in my quest to get this removed sooner than later? What I mean by that is - if I ask the credit bureau if they have the original date of first delinquency and say "no", and then I point out that they violated the rules/guidelines, would they request immediately remove it because of the violation? Or would they reach out to the collection agency to try request documents for the date? Or would they require me to find the paperwork showing the date of first delinquency (not even sure what that paperwork would look like, since none of the bills state "date of first delinquency", as that would require them to have somehow correctly anticipated that I was not going to resume making payments and it would get sent to collections) and provide it to EX as part of a formal dispute?

If so, the first two options seem like the faster route to get it removed, and I wouldn't be working against myself by locating the paperwork on my own when the collection agency should already have that on file / should have already reported the date to EX to show the date of first delinquency (if that makes sense)?

JoeRockhead · ‎03-27-2024

@Creditswooner wrote:
As far as the 90 day rule you referenced, I have never heard of that before! How would I go about exploring that avenue? Would I file a dispute with the credit bureau saying that the collection unit didn't provide them with the date of first delinquency? How would I be able to prove that the date of first delinquency is a date other than the date of the collection account finally opening? Would I need to provide them with paperwork? I may be able to login to my old student account (I don't go there anymore) and try to find old missed account payment alerts, but I'm not sure that those would still be there.

Also, if I did find these records, would this hurt me in my quest to get this removed sooner than later? What I mean by that is - if I ask the credit bureau if they have the original date of first delinquency and say "no", and then I point out that they violated the rules/guidelines, would they request immediately remove it because of the violation? Or would they reach out to the collection agency to try request documents for the date? Or would they require me to find the paperwork showing the date of first delinquency (not even sure what that paperwork would look like, since none of the bills state "date of first delinquency", as that would require them to have somehow correctly anticipated that I was not going to resume making payments and it would get sent to collections) and provide it to EX as part of a formal dispute?

If so, the first two options seem like the faster route to get it removed, and I wouldn't be working against myself by locating the paperwork on my own when the collection agency should already have that on file / should have already reported the date to EX to show the date of first delinquency (if that makes sense)?

You would file a dispute with EX stating that the the CA "failed to provide an accurate date of first delinquency as required by FCRA § 623 (a)(5)" and what you believe is the accurate date of first delinquency that led to the account being placed for collections.

That section reads "Duty to Provide Notice of Delinquency of Accounts, (A) In general. A person who furnishes information to a consumer reporting agency regarding a delinquent account being placed for collection, charged to profit or loss, or subjected to any similar action shall, not later than 90 days after furnishing the information, notify the agency of the date of delinquency on the account, which shall be the month and year of the commencement of the delinquency on the account that immediately preceded the action"

If you have any proof whatsoever, (including a reasonable estimation of your own) as to the first time you were late, either from the OC or even via old credit reports (from other agencies) that show that date, that would be ideal to include. The CRA (EX) will inform the CA of the dispute and ask them to provide, or confirm the information in regards to the DOFD.

You can reach out to the OC to see if they will provide you with records of the original account and delinquencies. Even if it was for example a contract listing opening dates and terms, length of contract etc... However, be aware that they're not required under any FCRA, or FDCPA rules to provide it. This isn't (yet) a legal action such as a lawsuit, in which they would be required to provide such information as part of discovery in a lawsuit.