What is the time limit on reporting debt to a credit reporting agency?

[VaMember]

I received a dunning letter from a collection agency which included the following paragraph:

 

"The law limits how long a debt can be reported to a consumer reporting agency.  Because of the age of your debt, [Creditor Name] cannot report it to a consumer reporting agency..."

 

Does this mean that the debt is outside of the SOL?  I tried to find information online about how long a creditor can report a debt to a consumer reporting agency, but I could not find anything that seemed to be relevant to this case.

 

Note:  A lawsuit has not been filed at this time, but I'm just trying to prepare in case.

[Mantis Knight]

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/questions/negative-items-on-credit-report.aspx

How long will negative information remain on my credit report?

It depends on the type of negative information. Here's the basic breakdown of how long different types of negative information will remain on your credit report:

• Late payments: 7 years
• Bankruptcies: 7 years for completed Chapter 13 bankruptcies and 10 years for Chapter 7 bankruptcies.
• Foreclosures: 7 years
• Collections: Generally, about 7 years, depending on the age of the debt being collected.
• Public Record: Generally 7 years, although unpaid tax liens can remain indefinitely.

Keep in mind:
For all of these negative items, the older they are the less impact they are going to have on your FICO® score. For example, a collection that is 5 years old will hurt much less than a collection that is 5 months old.

 

Unless you are in one of the states with Really long SOL then I would suspect you are ok unless you re-age the debt by making a payment on it.

 

If your state listed is correct I think the SOL is 3 for open and 5 for written.

[VaMember]

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/questions/negative-items-on-credit-report.aspx

 

Unless you are in one of the states with Really long SOL then I would suspect you are ok unless you re-age the debt by making a payment on it.

 

If your state listed is correct I think the SOL is 3 for open and 5 for written.

 

Thank you!  Virginia's SOL is 3 years.  I'm quite sure that the date of last activity was much sooner than 7 years ago, but it could be past 3 years.

 

Is the collection agency basically saying that it is outside of the SOL?

[Mantis Knight]

Unless they just tack that on all the old debts they have, then it looks to me like they are stating that they can no longer report it.

 

If so it would be older than 7 years since last payment.

[BV80]

A debt is reported for 7.5 years past the OC's date of first delinquency (DOFD).   The DOFD and date of last payment are not necessarily the same thing.

 

Anyway, just see what DOFD the OC is reporting.

[VaMember]

The thing is, I'm quite sure that it hasn't been anywhere near 7 years since the OC's DOFD, but it may be about 3 years or so.

 

I'm just trying to find out if I have something to be happy about regarding the letter, or if it is just a false hope and something that the OC has their collectors put on every letter after a specified period of time that doesn't mean much to me from a practical standpoint.

[BV80]

@VaMember

 

The DOFD and the date of last payment are not always the same date.  The DOFD means the date the account went into default (you missed a payment or paid less than the minimum required payment) and was never brought current again.

 

Just because one makes payments doesn't mean they've brought the account back to a current status.

 

In your case, you might never have brought the account current again by making a large enough payment to bring it current.  Small payments might have kept them from suing you, but those payments weren't necessarily enough to bring it back to a current status.  Since the account was never current again, the DOFD would not change just because one makes small payments.

 

Or, the CA could be mistaken.  I wouldn't tell them otherwise.

[VaMember]

@VaMember

 

The DOFD and the date of last payment are not always the same date.  The DOFD means the date the account went into default (you missed a payment or paid less than the minimum required payment) and was never brought current again.

 

Just because one makes payments doesn't mean they've brought the account back to a current status.

 

In your case, you might never have brought the account current again by making a large enough payment to bring it current.  Small payments might have kept them from suing you, but those payments weren't necessarily enough to bring it back to a current status.  Since the account was never current again, the DOFD would not change just because one makes small payments.

 

Or, the CA could be mistaken.  I wouldn't tell them otherwise.

 

I hope they aren't mistaken, since they would probably correct it if they decide to sue.  They are one of the infamous "attorney debt collectors" that are well known on this board.

 

The OC sent a letter saying basically the same thing.

[BV80]

@VaMember

 

What I meant by saying the CA could be mistaken is that the debt possibly could have still been within the reporting period.  But just because a debt is within the SOL for reporting doesn't mean it's within your state's SOL for the purpose of a collection lawsuit.

 

However, since the OC has said the account is outside the SOL for reporting, that means that the DOFD was more than 7 years ago.   The SOL for the time in which you can be sued depends upon the date of last payment.