Collection agencies attempt to extend the seven-year limitation by starting when the purchase the account. This is illegal.

How Does Re-Aging an Account Happen?

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) prohibits delinquent accounts that are charged off or place for collection from being reported to the credit bureaus after 7 years plus 180 days from the date of first delinquency. Collection agencies will knowingly change this cut off date so to pressure a consumer into paying the debt. This is because once that cut off date has come and gone, a collection agency can not legally pursue that person to pay the debt. Also, changing this date keeps this negative information on your credit report longer than permitted by the FCRA Compliance Date.

Recourse if an Account Has Been Re-Aged

Although consumers can not sue the collection agency directly for this violation, they can file a complaint with the FTC and the FTC can sue the collection agency. You need to make sure you are able to document the violation. You will be able to find the removal dates for a negative trade line on your credit reports and you will be able to see the last date of activity for that account. You will then be able to figure out the real removal date by adding 7 years to it. If this date does not match what the collection agency is telling you, you then know something fishy is going on. You can then present all of this information to the FTC and file a complaint against the collection agency for illegal re-aging of that particular account.