Old Charge Offs

[Rw1016]

Hello All,

I'm hoping someone can offer some advice and guidance to me.  I currently have about 32k in debt that was charged off, roughly speaking, in late 2018/ early 2019. All of my debts are now two years past the SOL in NY, and I'm about 2-3 years from all the negative activity falling off my credit report from what I understand. I have not been contacted by any of the lenders for years but would like to finally settle these debts once and for all.

Does anyone know what credit reporting effect a settlement would have now on my scores? FWIW, most of the charge offs are still being reported monthly. My largest debt 12k, however, has an NR (not reported) notation for some reason, which doesn't make sense to me.

Appreciate any and all advice/comments. Thank you!! 

[MissLiz]

Because you are in NY, paid collections and paid (or settled charge-offs reflecting a zero balance) can be removed from your credit report at five years from the DOFD. 

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General Business Law 380-j (f)(iv) 

This is known as the NY 5 Year Purge Law.

[FireMedic1]

Once settled or paid. They wil be removed from your reports being over 5 yrs old. Major score change will follow. Nice to see you want to get this in the past. Or sit on them and wait 7yrs after the DoFD to come. Good Luck!

[IsambardPrince]

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@Rw1016 wrote:

Hello All,

I'm hoping someone can offer some advice and guidance to me.  I currently have about 32k in debt that was charged off, roughly speaking, in late 2018/ early 2019. All of my debts are now two years past the SOL in NY, and I'm about 2-3 years from all the negative activity falling off my credit report from what I understand. I have not been contacted by any of the lenders for years but would like to finally settle these debts once and for all.

Does anyone know what credit reporting effect a settlement would have now on my scores? FWIW, most of the charge offs are still being reported monthly. My largest debt 12k, however, has an NR (not reported) notation for some reason, which doesn't make sense to me.

Appreciate any and all advice/comments. Thank you!! 

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If they're past the statute of limitations, and they can't sue you, and you'll have them fall off anyway soon, paying them now has no benefit for you. I'd just let it go if it was me.

You can certainly pay them off if you just feel so guilty because you owe someone money, but their legal options for dealing this are gone (lawsuit) or almost gone (credit reporting).

If you choose the "do nothing" just don't ever talk to anyone about it again or accidentally admit it's yours and let the issue rest.

[Rw1016]

Thank you everyone for your comments and responses! I must say, I'm completely blown away that this law exists and I had absolutely no idea about it! I've been doing some research about it and saw some very old threads on a different board, which basically suggested that Experian doesn't adhere to this law and that the paid/settled charge offs get removed f5 years from the day it was charged off, not 5 years from the DOFD. Is there any truth to that? Thank you!

[pizzadude]

Moved to rebuilding your credit

[JoeRockhead]

It should be based on the DOFD. But, there have been issues in the past with EX in particular as they have been known to interpret the language of the NY law to use the date the account was placed in collections, or charged off, much like all the CRAs used to interpret the old FCRA law in regards to removal of adverse information. 

The FCRA used to have similar language to the NY law, which was a problem, until Congress intervened and changed the law in the '90s to stipulate DOFD due to the fact that people were getting their removal dates bumped back. For example, every time a new collection on an old account got sold to a new collection agency and got re-reported, it would also move the removal date back. 

If you ask that the account(s) be removed and they refuse to do so, I'd file a complaint with the NY Attorney General, and the CFPB.

Of course this only applies to paid/settled accounts

[Rw1016]

Thank you for that response.  Do you know if this is a current issue still with Experian? And, yes, I'm only referring to the paid/settled collections/charge offs.  Shaving off a few years and hopefully raising my score would be a nice surprise!

[JoeRockhead]

I don't recall any recent posts saying one way or another. From past posts, people had success getting EX to comply by being persistent, and getting the right CSR on the phone. There's also always the option to file a complaint with the NY Attorney General's office. 

Maybe someone with recent experience will chime in with how it went for them.  

[IsambardPrince]

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@Rw1016 wrote:

Thank you everyone for your comments and responses! I must say, I'm completely blown away that this law exists and I had absolutely no idea about it! I've been doing some research about it and saw some very old threads on a different board, which basically suggested that Experian doesn't adhere to this law and that the paid/settled charge offs get removed f5 years from the day it was charged off, not 5 years from the DOFD. Is there any truth to that? Thank you!

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Today I learned that there was a reason to live in New York.

See, we all learn. You never stop learning if you have the capacity.