Credit Report 'fall off' and reporting practice questions?

Question

I have read many answers on here to this question and most of them have confused me even more. I see often that the date the '7' year mark starts is actually 180 days prior to the date of last activity and then some one else says it's 7 years from the date of last activity. So say there is an account that the date of last activity was October, 2001 when would this account drop off the credit report?
Also can you legally have 2 seperate lines on your credit report for 1 account (the orig creditor and then a collection agency that was sold the account from the orig creditor)?

Answer 1

Ok last question first. No. if the account Number matches the other then one needs to be removed. However if the acct. numbers are different then you will have to prove that the the accounts are the same one. this requires filing papers with the CRB proving that one account is the Credit collections and the other is the original debt. And then the CRB will send a letter to both companies and it is up to one to retract the line. normaly it is the collection Agency that does this.

now question 1. the answer is seven from listing date assuming no payments have been made or debt is paid in full. If you are making payments then debt falls off 7 years from final/last activity. In some cases a debt can go back as far as 15 years if you make sporatic payments... CH7,-13 all stay for 7yrs and can be overcome within 2-3 if you reestablish a good payment history prior to the 2 year mark.

Good luck

Answer 2

Patrick M gave an excellent answer with 1 error. Ch7/13 (bankruptcy) may stay on your report for 10 years. Other items are limited to 7.