STILL confused about "Last Report/Current Status"

[breathing_easier]

From my settlement frenzy in December 2002 I'm down to three OC TLs that are reporting either "settled for less than full balance," "paid chargeoff," or "settled in full." After receiving the CRAs "verified" response to my dispute of these TLs, I am now in discussions with the OCs with whom I settled. One thing that I keep going round and round on with one OC is the date that the status is being reported. As I said, I settled this account in 2002, they took their writeoff and I then paid the IRS on the balance. However, each month Trans Union is updated to show the current status as of whatever month we're in, as does Equifax. Experian has it right by showing the "Last Report" to be December 2002, the month the settlement was made. Even worse on Equifax is that one TL is not only updating to show that the current status ("Last Report") is the current month but still a "Bad debt!" The "bad debt" thing is definitely wrong and I may have to send an ITS on that one. But my issue for this thread is: One of the OCs has said that it is their policy to update every month, even on settled debts. My question is, isn't the CRA supposed to reflect the "Last Report" as of the date you made final payment? One OC has the "Last Report" date as May 2003, the month they wrote off the "forgiven" portion of the debt. I received all but one 1099C in early 2003 for the settlements I made in December 2002. On the account where they waited until May 2003 to declare their writeoff, I received the 1099C in early 2004. Still, though, since I made my settlement payment to them in December 2002, shouldn't the TL be reflecting a Last Report date of December 2002? Would what they're doing be considered re-aging?

[breathing_easier]

Okay, maybe I was a little tired and incoherent when I typed the above at 2 a.m. this morning, so I'll try again.

My basic question is: Should an OC still be updating a tradeline on an account that was settled and closed two years ago? I think it makes it look like the negative information is current. It's a bit confusing because when I pull my reports from myfico.com they look one way, and when I pull directly from the CRAs they look another way. However, myfico.com did list one of the reasons that my scores weren't higher as being do to recent negative information. My last negative information was December 2002 so I suspect that the way at least two of these TLs are reporting are the culprits.

[luckyduck]

I don't think there is anything restricting a furnisher to update a closed and paid off account every month. I also don't think furnishers always realize the drastic impact they have when they do that. But I don't think it's prohibited.

The problem I see more than furnishers updating every month is FICO using the date updated, instead of the DOLA. I think the FICO calculation needs to be changed to reflect more fairly. For example, DH has an account from 1998 that gets calculated as less than three months old because the CA updates every three months. Who knew a 6 year old debt for under $100 could be so detrimental to one's credit?

Unfortunately, there's not a lot one can do to get someone to stop updating except to explain how much harm they are doing, with no benefit to themselves, and beg them to stop. It is only re-aging if the date of last activity is incorrect.

[breathing_easier]

Thanks, lucky. Yeah, I don't understand why they bother updating either. It costs them to report and they get no benefit from it. I'm going to keep hammering at these OCs until they get sick of me and fold. I have one who I've been trading voicemails with and the rep seems willing to discuss the issue with me and try to understand what my concern is. It's a start.

[mahouston]

There is one thing you can do...

http://www.petitiononline.com/CRA2004

[luckyduck]

DH and I are on the list. Problem with the petition is that it only points out one CRA, and not the issue as a whole. I thought about recommending that as well, but that petition wouldn't specifically resolve the problem with CAs who update every month on paid accounts.