Debt collectors often place accounts they are trying to collect on your credit report.  Debt collectors often report inaccurate information on credit reports. Placing inaccurate information on your credit report is a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). 

This hurts your credit score and may prevent you from obtaining a loan or getting credit.

I can help you get this information corrected and will file a lawsuit against the debt collector, if necessary, on your behalf if they don’t fix their credit reporting.

• Do you have a charge on your credit report that you did not make and Experian, Equifax, or Trans Union (Credit Reporting Agencies) is refusing to delete it?

• Were you denied credit or a loan because of charges on your credit report that do not belong to you?

• Have you declared bankruptcy and still see debt on your credit report that was supposed to be eliminated?

• Is there adverse information, collection or charge off more than seven years old on your credit report?

• Are there any paid tax liens more than seven years old still on your credit report?

• Is there a bankruptcy more than ten years from the date of relief or adjudication?

For a sample dispute letter CLICK HERE

How Long Can a Debt Stay on My Credit Report?

Collection accounts may be reported for seven and half years from the date you missed the first payment with the original creditor.  That’s true regardless of whether the account is paid, unpaid or settled in the meantime.
 

You are entitled by law to receive a free copy of your credit report CLICK HERE

What is Negative Re-Aging?

Re-aging a debt on a credit report is changing the delinquency status of an account to fool the credit bureaus into thinking the debt is more recent than it really is.

Re-aging occurs when a debt collector "resets" the delinquency date of the debt on your credit report from to the date you first missed payment with the original creditor to the date the debt collector acquired the debt.  Re-aging is illegal and is a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. 

If a collection agency re-ages the original date of delinquency, it is likely breaking the law.

Call 617-607-3504 today for a free consultation

 The Two Debt Clocks

When it comes to outstanding, derogatory debt, there are two different clocks with which you should be familiar:

• Credit reporting clock:  The first is the seven-year credit reporting clock discussed above. This clock limits almost all derogatory credit entries to a seven-year credit reporting life span.  Nothing can legally restart the seven-year credit reporting clock — absolutely nothing.  When a collection agency purchases a debt, they cannot re-age the account to restart the clock.  You cannot restart the clock by making a payment either.  In fact, any changing of the date of first delinquency, the date of default, or the purge from date on an account would be illegal.

• Time-barred debt clock: The second clock deals with how long a creditor has a right to sue you for an unpaid debt.  Once enough years have passed a debt becomes “time barred.”  In Masachusetts, a debt becomes time-barred "statute of limitation" after 6 years.   Although nothing can legally change the length of time a collection account can remain on your credit reports, you can unknowingly reset the “time barred” debt clock back to the present.  For example, making a payment on an account could allow a debt collector the opportunity to sue you again, if they want to do so.  To add insult to injury, if you are sued and lose the case, then a judgment will be issued against you and that judgment could legally be allowed to appear on your credit reports for the next seven years.

Your First Step to Correct Your Credit Report:

Your first step to correct inaccurate information reported on your credit report is to send a letter to the credit reporting agency disputing the debt.  CLICK HERE for a sample letter.

Call 617-290-1573 today for a free consultation