Q: I wanted to know if a collection agency purchases a debt, can they re age the debt for a collection past 7 years from the original delinquency?

A: Collection agencies do it all the time. They re age a charged-off debt in order to freshen up credit reports with much newer derogatory records, thus causing severe harm to credit scores. The idea is to basically spook people and persuade them to pay. To re age debt in such a way is illegal. While you can not sue a debt collection agency for this violation right away, you can certainly complain to FTC and your State Attorney General.

You will need some proper documentation that supports your case. Only after an illegal re aging is verified, you will be able to sue. If you don’t have any paper trail, contact credit reporting agencies and request the Fair Credit Reporting Act Compliance Date reported on the re aged debt account. Normally, the Date of Last Activity is the Compliance Date on the credit report. A negative record drops off of your credit report at around 7 years after the FCRA Compliance Date.

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