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Help determining DOFD (please and thank you)

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RebuildingAgain14
Valued Member

Help determining DOFD (please and thank you)

Hi,

 

Looking for some help...  I know a lot of the information I'm looking for is somewhere in these forums, but I want to make sure I'm understanding correctly...

 

A lifetime ago (and before I knew much of anything about credit), in 2005 I purchased a vehicle jointly with my now ex.  We had been together about 5 years at the time.  We ended up refinancing with HSBC a year or so into the loan--around August 2006.  A little over a year later--November 2007-the relationship ended.  The other party took the vehicle in question, and was to make the payments until securing independent refinancing.  Several months passed without the solo refi happening, and the payments fell behind.  Eventually, I contacted HSBC and figured out just how behind the payments were.  After the other individual continued to tell me lies and promised to catch up the payments--still failing to get the loan refinanaced, I took the advice of the finance company, which was to go take the vehicle I was still an owner of... Shortly after that, I arranged a voluntary repossession with HSBC, as I simply couldn't afford two car payments at that time. 

 

Once the car was sold at auction (early 2009, as I recall), there was a balance owing around $8000. The other individual was supposed to make a payment plan, but of course did not.  I believe this debt has been sold and re-sold several times since then.  From what I can tell, Santander had it a few years ago.  In 2012 it reported as a balance of $9298 with them.  Now it seems to be with yet another company, Accelerated Financial, and shows a balance of $9299.  This doesn't indicate who the original creditor was, and the partial account number appears to be different.

 

From an old report, I estimated the DOFD on the original HSBC account to be around January 2007 (first 30-day late reported).  The Santander account lists as 'opened' 08/2006 (same as HSBC).  The new Accelerated Financial shows as 'opened' 06/01/2013.  So...  when is the actual DOFD?  Is it the January 2007, reported by HSBC?  Or is there a new starting point after the voluntary repo and sale of the vehicle (in 2009, I think)?  Do I  have a valid dispute for the Accelerated Financial account showing on my report (due to DOFD), or did that clock start over again in 2009? 

 

Thanks in advance for any input, which is greatly appreciated.  :-)

Starting Scores: EQ 542/TU 500/EX 513
Current Scores: EQ 611/TU 611/EX 628
Goal Score: All 700+

Cap One Secured ($750/$701 'unsecured'), Cap One QS1($1000), Victoria's Secret ($250), Brylane Home ($500), Amazon Store Card ($600)
Message 1 of 2
1 REPLY 1
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: Help determining DOFD (please and thank you)

The FCRA defines what is commonly referred to as the DOFD as the date of commencement of delinquency that immediately preceded a reported charge-off or collection.

Both FTC staff positions and innumerable court decisions further define that commencement of delinquency means thwn the consumer first became delinquent, and remained delinquent up to the taking of the charge-off or referral for collection.

 

Since the account apparently was never returned to a non-delinquent status after the first delinquency, that would remain the DOFD.  That appears to have been sometime in 2007, but depends on when the first billing due date was missed, and therafter the debt remained delinquent.

 

Any party later reporting a collection on the debt is specfically required under FCRA 623(a)(5) to obtain the DOFD on the OC account, and to report that DOFD to the CRA within 90 days after reporting of their collection.  Thus, determiation of the DOFD is the responsibility of the debt collector, and must be done under the procedure set forth in section 623(a)(5).

 

The reported DOFD thus must be of record in your credit file.  If it is not provided in the commercial credit report you have obtained, order a copy from annualcreditreport.com or directly from the CRA.  If the reported dOFD is still not provided, you can request it directly from the CRA under the provisions of section 609(a)(1), upon payment of their processing fee, which is currently $11.00.

 

After having obtained the reported DOFD, the first step obviously is to compare that with the date of actual first missed payment.

That may not necessarity be the date a first delinqency was reported, so account records would be the source of the actual DOFD,m not your credit report.

Message 2 of 2
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