Im sure this has been asked before, whend do charge offs drop off your credit report. 7 year myth or truth ?

Question

Yes I was one of those people who ruined my credit in my early 20's. I was working ironically for a credit card company. And as a bonus once you hit the one year mark they gave you a credit card. ( the rest i am sure you can guess what happened) I haven told by some people it drops off after approx 7 1/2 years. Others have told me it stay on there but doesn't impact your score. I recently pulled a Transunion report and on it, it has the dates that these items are expected to be removed. Which all of them are in about in a year. I have a small car loan which I hope will boost my credit rating for the future.

Thanks so from what I can tell my bad credit from early 20's should be going aways is automatically or do you have to write the credit bureau's?

Answer 1

With credit cards the reporting date starts from the first time you became 30 days late and never brought the account current leading to the charge off (which is known as the obsolescence date).
It is not from the DOLA (date of last activity), it is not from the charge off.

The reporting period is for 7 years from the obsolescence date - not 7 years plus 180 days.
The 180 days are only allowed by the FTC for possible data furnisher error in the reporting the true obsolescence date.

The data furnisher must report the "same" obsolescence date on all of your reports.
They cannot legally report one date on one credit report and another date on another report.

But that does not mean they cannot continue to try to collect on the account.
If you are still within the collecting SOL for your state, continued collections can include suing you.
If you are past the collecting SOL for your state it would be illegal for them to sue on a time barred debt (keep in mind that if it is with a collection agency, they generally do not care if they do things legally or not)

You might click on my profile and click on the link I have provided to find the collecting SOL in your state.

edited to add ---
There was no "crazy" law passed that allows any creditor/collector to report an account longer than the legal original time limit.

If you are past the collecting SOL for your state, you have a legal right to inform the creditor/collector of that fact - which basically tells them to take a hike.

Answer 2

It's 7 years and it looks really bad on your credit report. I had this threatened and it almost happened to me. At first, I thought, "Good, charge it off." Then my friend told me how bad it is. Anyway...I called back and we reconciled the account and set up a payment plan. Then, I went to Consumer Credit Counseling Services and it was the first step in getting us out of credit debt. It took 10 years and I am not joking. We will never use another credit card as long as we live.

Answer 3

It's 7 years and not 7 1/2 years. But be advised some crazy law was passed a few years back that gives the institution the option of keeping the write-off or whatever outstanding debt for another 7 years. In short, every 7 years they can tell Transunion, Equifax, etc... to keep it on.

Answer 4

you may dispute something on your credit document at any time. basically because you document a dispute, although, would not advise the charge-offs will be bumped off out of your credit document. The credit bureaus will contact the lenders, who will then ought to prepare that the debt is valid. even if that's a valid debt, the charge-off will proceed to be on your credit document. even if that's a mistake, or if the creditor would not reply contained in the allowed era of time, it will be bumped off.

Answer 5

Echo is right about the 7 years as well as what else she had posted. There is no law that keeps it on there after that date.

Answer 6

if you do a bankruptcy, 7 year it is, but if you have an existing loan and you are paying it on time you credit rating will increase in due time.

Answer 7

Yes the seven year myth is true; it's called the statute of limitations. Of course in order for negative information to be removed you must request it in writing or via online.

M.