How would you go about getting Equifax and TransUnion to change this if that is their policy? I'm in the same situation and the only proof I have is my current credit report which lists the date of last activity with the creditor as June 2007, but the collection agency lists date of last payment as May 2008?

Thank you for making this clear. Very informative.

As you probably know, the policies of both Equifax and TransUnion are that all TRADE and COLLECTION accounts are purged from their files 6 years from the "Date of Last Activity". Both credit reporting agencies define the "Date of Last Activity" as the last time there was activity on that account such as a payment or a charge. By far, in the vast majority of TRADE accounts, the "Date of Last Activity" is, in fact, the last time a payment has been made on that account. However, this is where the confusion arises. The date an account first went delinquent is a SEPARATE ACCOUNT within each TRADE account and does not appear on a Credit Report. All files are then purged from this date.

In the COLLECTION section of a Credit Report, the "Date Reported" is the date the account was assigned to the collection agency. Once again, the date the account first went delinquent with the original creditor is a separate account for each collection account and does not change with the updating of an account such as a debtor making further payments on the account.

For example, if a Visa card originally went delinquent in June 2003 and no further payments were made on this account until June 2007 when the debtor resumed making payments on this account, the original default date would NOT change. It matters not whether the debtor resumed making payments to the original creditor or to the collection agency. When a delinquent account is reported to either Equifax or TransUnion by a collection agency, the collection agency is also required to report the date the account first went delinquent with the original creditor. In my example, the purge date on this Visa card would be June 2009.

However, it should be pointed out that it can be quite a battle to get credit bureaus to follow their own policies. The "Date of Last Activity" is supposed to be 6 years from the date the account FIRST went delinquent with the original creditor, irrespective of any subsequent payments or whatever else happens to the account after that. However, collection agencies and debt buyers have Equifax and TransUnion in their back pockets due to the enormous user fees they generate.

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Educating one Consumer at a time

I have a Visa charged off by CIBC in 2006. However, I have been making payments as good faith to try and pay off the balance. Does this mean that if I refused to deal with it since 2006 it would come off in 2012 (next year) but if my last payment was in November 2011, I would have to wait until 2017 to have it removed?

In other words, are we penalized for making payments and trying to pay back the creditor but are rewarded if we are to ignore it?