To Donna from MBA RE: 7 year Please call me- my nickel - call 888-243-2224. Mark Aronson in Pittsburgh Thanks. By the way, when it happened to you twice in 1996, who was the creditor that did this?
Something may or may not be fishy with your reports, Stuperfly, and it surely will be worth your time to figure it out: whether it's a mistake by the CRA's, creditors, etc. Maybe it was lost in the shuffle, but here's something else to consider: The date of last activity on an OPEN account will susually change as you make charges and payments. A closed or collection account should NOT have the "last activity" dates changed if you haven't made any payments on it. Here's an example to help illuminate. You have a store charge card that you had a 60-day late payment in June of 1996. Each month when the store reports your payments, balances, etc., you will find the "date of last activity" has changed, because there HAS been activity. If you dispute that late payment in March of 2000, and the store confirms it, then Experian will change the "date of last update" to March of 2000. When the store makes its regular monthly report to the CRA's, you will find that that the "date of last activity" now reads March 2000. Maybe that is what you are seeing. Now the kicker is that your late payment in June of 1996 should STILL fall-off in June of 2003 (7 -years from June of 1996). If Experian does not reflect this type of situation, then either they or your creditor has made a mistake, and you have the laws and procedures on your side to correct it. It will be a pain in the as*, and it will take time, but it is worth it. Now let's take the opposite. If that same store card had GONE TO COLLECTION, CHARGE-OFF, etc, in June of 1996,and you *never again brought it current*......and you dispute it in March 2000, then the "date of last update" should be accurately changed to March 2000. The "date of last activity", however, should REMAIN as June of 1996. And that account should be DELETED ENTIRELY (i.e., "vanish") in June of 2003 (again, 7 years). You make mention of how many people keep 7 year old reports around, just in case. Exactly. Let me tell you, I NOW make sure I keep every report, and EVERY bill stub so that if, in 2003, I have to dispute some crap, I WILL have documentation. Hope this helps. IT really is worth the time and effort to stay on top of these things. Every time I "fix" one of these things, the "corrected" report they send me has a couple of NEW boo-boo's on it. It seems that it is a never-ending task to keep these clowns straight. Good luck, and don't let them get to you.
We gotta help each other, CreditRanger.....the CRA's and creditors (and congress, due to the lobbyists) definitley have the deck stacked against us consumers. I've seen you post a couple of times on Bayhouse, and it is there that I have gotten most of my "learnin' " over the last couple of years. Along with bayhouse, creditinfocenter, Ask Max, and real estate sites (the credit sections) offer a WEALTH of info for anyone who puts the time in.
RE: To Donna from MBA RE: 7 y The creditors that did this were both Department store credit cards. I was about to get a mortgage. Mysteriously when I has two mortgage companies pull my credit report these two companies started reporting regulary to the credit bureaus as if the accounts were still open. Mind you, this was 6 years after the 90 day delinquency period. These two companies had not tried to collect after the 90 day delinquency. When I called to see if for some reason the accounts were still opened (I had never closed them and they were listed as a CHARGE OFF on my credit report), the creditors told me both accounts were closed. Because I was trying to get a mortgage (as I stated earlier), I paid the debts and requested that they be reflected as a PAID CHARGE OFF. They did this, and it updated the last activity AGAIN (the date on that being 9/96. Both are still listed on my credit report (one on equifax, the other on experian). By the way, I still got the mortgage. Now if the rules have changed, that's fine. But legally, from the date of last activity (being a charge or payment), that account can be reported for 7 years. But since I have a mortgage (and paid on time) other credit offers have come. First slowly, then you get them every month. When I initially got into trouble, I was fresh out of high school. I have since learned the value of credit, and am not learning the how to play the game. Too many inquiries is a generic excuse. I apply for 10 cards today, and still get three (mind you, not the first three). There are so many excuses they try to give you, but the bottom line is your ability (or rather your proven ability) to pay your bills. You can have a 50% debt to income ratio and still qualify for credit/loans. It's all a game.
