What does "re-age" mean?

[nolaET]

What is the name of your state? IL

I've heard that "re-aging" an account can be a good thing in that it's something that a creditor can do to make the account up to date and therefore keep it from becoming charged off. I've also just read that some collection agencies do this so that they can keep negative info on a credit report longer which is obviously bad. I have just cleared up a major error on my credit report but I was always confused since my report showed that I had made recent payments on an account when I definitely did not. Was I "re-aged"? This account is finally off my report but I never understood where this payment information came from. THANKS!

[Happy Trails]

Originally Posted by nolaET

What is the name of your state? IL

I've heard that "re-aging" an account can be a good thing in that it's something that a creditor can do to make the account up to date and therefore keep it from becoming charged off. I've also just read that some collection agencies do this so that they can keep negative info on a credit report longer which is obviously bad. I have just cleared up a major error on my credit report but I was always confused since my report showed that I had made recent payments on an account when I definitely did not. Was I "re-aged"? This account is finally off my report but I never understood where this payment information came from. THANKS!

A creditor agrees to re-age your past-due account and presto, your overdue credit card account gets zapped back to current.

In effect, that's exactly what re-aging does -- allows you to start the clock over. Say you're three months late on your credit card payments. If the creditor agrees to re-age your account, those three months are wiped out. Missed payments are forgiven and late fees stop. You still owe the same money, but you are no longer delinquent

[url]http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20030331a1.asp[/url]