Question: I have an account that was a charge off. The DOLA was Aug 2007. This account was to be deleted from my report in 2014. (I say was, because I disputed the factual data on the account and it was deleted completely)
However, the account was purchased by another company. This company now shows a more recent date. “This account is scheduled to continue until May 2016”.
I disputed this account back in September 2011 as “No knowledge of this account” (not a lie, because I truly never had an account with this company)
The account came back as verified “no change”. I came across this site and I am glad I did. According to my research, this is a major violation. My question is, how do I go about disputing this? Your help is greatly appreciated.
Answer: The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) says most negative credit accounts can remain in your credit files 7.5 years. The 7.5 years is calculated from the date of the first delinquency (DOFD). The date of the first delinquency (DOFD) is the date you first became 30 days late and no further payments were made on the account from that date forward and 180 days later, a charge-off ensued.
This is the FCRA Compliance Date which is the official beginning of first date of delinquency (DOFD). This date cannot be changed and you are correct, it is a serious violation.
This is what the FRCA states, in case you need to quote it:
“The 7-year period 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.”
You can read more about the FRCA Compliance Date here.
There are several steps you can take, short of a lawsuit, if you believe an account has been re-aged, even though a lawsuit is not a bad idea once you have proof an account has been re-aged. You may as well benefit from their illegal act.
Re-aging can cause serious damage to your credit files because negative credit remains in your credit files much longer. Read “Steps to take if an account has been Re-aged.”
This should give you some idea of where to start and what you need to successfully dispute the re-aged account. You basically need to contact each credit bureau to request the FCRA Compliance Date. Once you have the information you can go from there to dispute the dates.
It should not be a huge problem to have the error corrected. If any credit bureau refuses to correct the re-aged item, immediately file a complaint with your State's Attorney General, the FTC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. That should do the trick. Good luck to you.
