There is a charge-off on DH's credit report. It shows date opened: 1/'96 .. last activity 6/'97 . It is from Verizon Wireless/Southeast . Now, here's what gets me , we have never had an account with Verizon . We did have an account with a different company then, but not Verizon. Get this , it shows that it was reported DECEMBER 2001 !!!!! It shows last activity 4 1/2 yrs before they reported it. I don't understand why a Verizon account is even there & the dates between last activity & reporting . How do we handle this ? Cathy
I know in Illinois Verizon was Ameritech, I am not sure about in the south. Did you have an account with a different company that maybe was purchased by Verizon? Just a thought.
Ok, a buy out could explain it being Verizon. We had a big problem w/ a cell phone account back the. The end result they demanded payment in full for the rest of the contract. We paid it in full. So where do they get the charge off ? And why would it just be reported 4 1/2yrs later ? Cathy
Exactly how do we go about disputing it ? Anyone have any ideas as to why it took 4 1/2 yrs to show up ? This mess brings up a question... what date does something roll off your credit report ? Is it 7 yrs from the date it's reported to the credit bureau or 7 yrs from date of last activity ? Just curious. Thanks Cathy
According to the FCRA, the 7 year clock starts basically 180 days after your last on time payment/ first late payment that never was paid and paid as current . It is supposed to be 180 from the beginning of the last collection effort(by original creditor or CA) which led to last/current state of affairs between you and account. If you have any collection letters or payment letters of agreement, use them to dispute. ed
Please bear with me, I'm new at this. I'm still confused as to what I should do. Do I contact the credit bureau [ that the credit report came from] or do I contact Verizon ? What letter do I send them ? As I said this all happened in June 1997 & we paid the account in full. So, I don't have anything showing I paid it [at least not that I can find]. I still can't figure out why it took 4 1/2yrs to be reported. Ideas ? If I understand the responses above, this isn't due to roll off until 7 years from the 6/1997 [last activity] .... is that correct ? Not 7 yrs from 12/2001 [ the date reported to credit bureau]. Thanks for being patient with me. Cathy
If it's on TU or EX, you can dispute it online which is really convenient. If it's EQ, then you should go to their website first and see if you have to dispute it directly thru them or one of their affiliates, like CSC. It just asks you to enter your zip code and then will advise you where to direct your dispute. Then, search the board using the string "CREDIT BIBLE" and a post will pop up with the fax numbers for EQ and CSC (depending on which one handles your account). I have faxed mine in and they marked the item as "disputed" within a couple days, so I know they received it. That's what I have done, anyway.
