I'm including these sections of the FCRA for reference.
§ 605. Requirements relating to information contained in consumer reports [15 U.S.C. §1681c]
(a) Information excluded from consumer reports. Except as authorized under subsection
(b) of this section, no consumer reporting agency may make any consumer report
containing any of the following items of information:
(1) Cases under title 11 [United States Code] or under the Bankruptcy Act that, from
the date of entry of the order for relief or the date of adjudication, as the case may
be, antedate the report by more than 10 years.
(2) Civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest that from date of entry, antedate
the report by more than seven years or until the governing statute of limitations
has expired, whichever is the longer period.
(3) Paid tax liens which, from date of payment, antedate the report by more than
seven years.
(4) Accounts placed for collection or charged to profit and loss which antedate the
report by more than seven years
-------------------------------------------------------
(c) Running of Reporting Period
(1) In general. The 7-year period referred to in paragraphs (4) and (6)3
of subsection (a) shall begin, with respect to any delinquent account that is placed for collection
(internally or by referral to a third party, whichever is earlier), charged to profit and
loss, or subjected to any similar action, upon the expiration of the 180-day period
beginning on the date of the commencement of the delinquency which immediately
preceded the collection activity, charge to profit and loss, or similar action
While the interpretation above by O6 definitely has its merits (and, in fact, caused me to reread these sections over and over again, to rethink my position...and I almost reversed myself), it seems to me that Paragraph 4 is subject to a qualifier set by Subsection C (1).
The 180 day period is not limited by the CO date, nor by the date of placement for collection. Had the phrase "whichever is earlier" been placed at the end of Subsection C (1), I would agree with O6's assessment. But the phrase as it stands, where it stands, clearly refers only to the earlier of internal or third party collection actions, further defining only the DOFD, and not limiting the 180 day period whatsoever.
I also note that this law concerns CRA reporting only. It does not mandate that a creditor charge off an account or send it to collections. The creditor can sit on the account forever if he so chooses. But if and when any neg is passed along to the CRA, that neg must come off in 7 yrs + 180 days max from DOFD.
Not too shabby for a layman, eh? 
@Anonymous wrote:I'm including these sections of the FCRA for reference.
§ 605. Requirements relating to information contained in consumer reports [15 U.S.C. §1681c]
(a) Information excluded from consumer reports. Except as authorized under subsection
(b) of this section, no consumer reporting agency may make any consumer report
containing any of the following items of information:
(1) Cases under title 11 [United States Code] or under the Bankruptcy Act that, from
the date of entry of the order for relief or the date of adjudication, as the case may
be, antedate the report by more than 10 years.
(2) Civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest that from date of entry, antedate
the report by more than seven years or until the governing statute of limitations
has expired, whichever is the longer period.
(3) Paid tax liens which, from date of payment, antedate the report by more than
seven years.
(4) Accounts placed for collection or charged to profit and loss which antedate the
report by more than seven years
-------------------------------------------------------
(c) Running of Reporting Period
(1) In general. The 7-year period referred to in paragraphs (4) and (6)3of subsection (a) shall begin, with respect to any delinquent account that is placed for collection
(internally or by referral to a third party, whichever is earlier), charged to profit and
loss, or subjected to any similar action, upon the expiration of the 180-day period
beginning on the date of the commencement of the delinquency which immediately
preceded the collection activity, charge to profit and loss, or similar action
While the interpretation above by O6 definitely has its merits (and, in fact, caused me to reread these sections over and over again, to rethink my position...and I almost reversed myself), it seems to me that Paragraph 4 is subject to a qualifier set by Subsection C (1).
The 180 day period is not limited by the CO date, nor by the date of placement for collection. Had the phrase "whichever is earlier" been placed at the end of Subsection C (1), I would agree with O6's assessment. But the phrase as it stands, where it stands, clearly refers only to the earlier of internal or third party collection actions, further defining only the DOFD, and not limiting the 180 day period whatsoever.
I also note that this law concerns CRA reporting only. It does not mandate that a creditor charge off an account or send it to collections. The creditor can sit on the account forever if he so chooses. But if and when any neg is passed along to the CRA, that neg must come off in 7 yrs + 180 days max from DOFD.
Not too shabby for a layman, eh?
Not too shabby, except ...
... the legistative history (eq. committee hearings) shows that this is an "up to 180 day" term. 180 days is set as the outer limit because banks and financial companies have 180 days within which they have to remove bad debts from their books.
Were it a strict 180 days then Congress would have wrote 605(a)(4) to read "seven and one half years" right from the start or easily written that the data must be removed 7.5 years from DOFD.
AFTER READING THESE POSTS IAM MORE CONFUSED THEN EVER. WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE SO COMPLICATED?? DO I NEED TO HIRE AN ATTORNEY?? I'M JUST GOING TO WRITE A LETTER ..(FTC??)... AND ASK THEM TO FIGURE IT OUT FOR ME.. WHO DO I SEND THE $10.50 CHECK TO??? AND DO I HAVE TO WAIT 7.5 YEARS TO GET A RESPONSE?? I'M A USC GRAD AND I FEEL PRETTY STUPID RIGHT ABOUT NOW.
