Yes, Joe, both "written off" and "charged off" mean the same thing. Sometimes, it's different terminology for different times or different terminology among different countries. For example, in the first part of the twentieth century, a car was called a "horseless carriage", then it was called a "motor car" and today we call it an "automobile". A transport truck is called a "semi" in the U.S.. it's called a "tractor trailer" in Canada and it's called an "articulated lorrie" in the U.K.

Is written off and charged off the same thing? I recently called one of my creditors to find out the date of last payment on my closed account and they stated it was July/2006 and the charge off date was April/2007.The statute of limitation in Nova Scotia is six years.

Well...............................Monty, that's not entirely correct. True, when a creditor "writes off" a debt, they remove it as an Asset (Account or Debt Receivable ) from their Balance Sheet and transfer it to their Income Statement as an Expense ( Bad Debt ). However, your understanding of this "written off" debt is incorrect.

Quote "Yes, it can be collected if its within the statutes of limitation period." This statement makes no sense at all. Why would a creditor "write off" a debt that is within the limitation period when it can be pursued through the legal system, a judgment obtained and enforcement procedures enacted. If this was the case, 99% of collection agencies and debt buyers would be out of business and cease to exist. I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Just because a debt is "written off" by a creditor doesn't mean that it disappears. The debt is still valid and a creditor, collection agency or debt buyer can pursue the collection of this debt until the debtor is finally resting in his "underground condominium" ( grave ). The debt may have gone beyond the SOL but that does not mean that it's uncollectable.

Thanks for the reply Monty. Good to know.

When a creditor writes off part or all of a debt, they call it written off.
It means that they expense it on their profit and loss and a lost item... they also remove it from their balance sheet as an asset.

It also means that they give you an R9 on your credit report because you did not abide by the credit agreement fully.

Yes , it can be collected if it's within the statutes of limitation period.

If the company collects the money after it's written off, they probably put it on the income statement as Misc Revenue...

Hello all, I am hoping someone can let me know what "written off" means when written next to a tradeline on an equifax report. I am assuming it is that the creditor has has sold or written off the tradeline for tax purposes. My question I then ak is, if it has been written off, can it still be collected on?

If anyone knows or could shed some light on this, that would be great, thanks again.

Dryfter