Reporting Old CC Debt

[JohnC]

What is the name of your state? NEW YORK

How long can a Collection Agency continue to report a Credit Card Debt.
This debt goes back to 1993 and was sold to Midland Credit Mangement at some point. Some Law Office is handling this now.

In spite of my letters, I have disbuted this debt from the start.

I think that the SOL has run out on this, but the collection agency refuses to provide information regarding the account and when it went into default.

This showed up on a credit report at my local car dealer who is trying to get me financed.
Thank you

 

[JETX]

The SOL (Statute of Limitations) for an open account in NY is six years from the DOLA (Date of Last Activity). If it has been more than that time since the last charge or payment, then the debt cannot be legally enforced (by lawsuit).

The FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) limits the amount of time to report this debt to be 7 years from its charge-off.

Based solely on the information in your post, it would appear that both of those periods would have expired.

 

[anabanana]

Well, that seems like a stacked deck for the debtor. Any time one party sells the debt to a new collector or bank or whatever, that's "activity," whether the debtor has done anything or not. So since the DOLA gets updated every time the debt gets sold, the SOL will never run out, right?

 

[bigun]

So since the DOLA gets updated every time the debt gets sold, the SOL will never run out, right?


This is reaging and collection agencies get sued everyday when it happens. NCO just settled a classaction for $205K.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040416/cgf034_1.html

Plaintiff brought an action against Defendant NCO Financial Systems, Inc. alleging that NCO violated the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ("FDCPA") by using false, deceptive and misleading information by changing the actual charge-off date or date of last activity to a later date, or simply failing to report any date of last activity when reporting information to credit bureaus for purposes of collecting debts. Plaintiff also alleged that NCO reported the debt in its own name, or in one or more fictitious names, and did not report the name of the original creditor, which caused confusion or misunderstanding as to the source of the debt and the connection or association of the debt with NCO. By proceeding in this manner, Plaintiff alleged that NCO ensured that the debt would continue to appear on her credit report, and the credit reports of Class Members, beyond the seven year period permitted by law.

 

[JETX]

Well, that seems like a stacked deck for the debtor. Any time one party sells the debt to a new collector or bank or whatever, that's "activity," whether the debtor has done anything or not. So since the DOLA gets updated every time the debt gets sold, the SOL will never run out, right?

*** Of course your entire 'assumption' that a sale of a debt is 'activity' is completely wrong.

Activity is a charge or payment on the account, not an independent action by someone not the debtor.

 

[anabanana]

Wow. Well, that is really something. But how would a person go about challenging such a line item on a report? I mean, you can't very well say, "Look jerk, I'm waiting for that to drop off my report, you can't just 're-age' it at will." That acknowledges the debt, and I understand that when accounts get sold the "Not Mine" dispute is often the best resort. (Particularly if the debtor in question really doesn't recognize the account!)

I'm just learning about this stuff for one of my kids. I've been struggling for a while as a pro se creditor in someone's BK, now I find myself trying to figure out how to help someone clean up damaged credit. It's all making my head spin. These collection agencies are apparently quite beastly. No wonder BK gives folks a place to hide.

 

[bigun]

Dispute it with the CRA's as obsolete/illegally reaged. If it's credit repair you need, go to www.creditboards.com and start with the newcomers thread.
Per the FCRA, you can ask the CRA's when a debt was first reported.

http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra.htm

From 623:


(5) Duty to provide notice of delinquency of accounts. A person who furnishes information to a consumer reporting agency regarding a delinquent account being placed for collection, charged to profit or loss, or subjected to any similar action shall, not later than 90 days after furnishing the information, notify the agency of the month and year of the commencement of the delinquency that immediately preceded the action.


This is where NCO screwed up {among other things}. They did not have the orginal creditors tradeline on the account.

 

[anabanana]

][/QUOTE]*** Of course your entire 'assumption' that a sale of a debt is 'activity' is completely wrong.


Sez you, JETX. Maybe it's not supposed to be, but I have a report here where the last "activity" was the acquisition of an account when one bank swallowed up another, and the last reporting date was when that bank was eaten up by a THIRD!! And when I called them, she says the last activity by the "account holder" -- whoever that is -- was in August of '02. And if this really is my kid's account, I can guaran-gotdamn-tee that she wasn't creating activity on ANYthing in August of '02. So there. I don't think they give a rat's behind what the rules are. If it appears to benefit them to have activity, it looks to me like they'll re-age it whenever they bloody please. But they sure aren't very responsive to correcting anything, are they? Sheesh.