Help with paid off debt... 7 years?

I had debt that dated back to 2000 (date opened) and have recently paid it all off, this year. Will the negative debt records clear 7 years after the open date or 7 years after I have paid off the debt (this year). Equifax said that its 7 years from the date of last activity. Is last activity the day it was paid off? Equifax only shows date opened and date reported.
I learned after that I should have ask the creditors for help with this when I paid off the debt. I am on the right track now with a car loan and 2 credit cards that I pay on time with every month. I no longer have any debt but, I would like to clear up the old paid off debt to help with my credit score. Any info would be helpful on tricks to clearing up the negative history.
Will writing the creditors do any good? I'm guessing since I messed up that I'm just stuck with it for the next 7 years. ugh.

Alright, you need to determine the DOFD (date of first delinquency)
By law, it muyst be removed from your credit report seven years after the month it went delinquent and was never brought current + up to 180 days.

Letâ€™s visit Section 623(a)(5) of the FCRA:

(A) In general. A person who furnishes information to a consumer reporting

agency regarding a delinquent account being placed for collection, charged

to profit or loss, or subjected to any similar action shall, not later than 90

days after furnishing the information, notify the agency of the date of

delinquency on the account, which shall be the month and year of the

commencement of the delinquency on the account that immediately

preceded the action.

(B) Rule of construction. For purposes of this paragraph only, and provided

that the consumer does not dispute the information, a person that furnishes

information on a delinquent account that is placed for collection, charged

for profit or loss, or subjected to any similar action, complies with this

paragraph, ifâ€”

(i) the person reports the same date of delinquency as that provided by the

creditor to which the account was owed at the time at which the

commencement of the delinquency occurred, if the creditor previously

reported that date of delinquency to a consumer reporting agency;

(ii) the creditor did not previously report the date of delinquency to a

consumer reporting agency, and the person establishes and follows

reasonable procedures to obtain the date of delinquency from the

creditor or another reliable source and reports that date to a consumer

reporting agency as the date of delinquency; or

(iii) the creditor did not previously report the date of delinquency to a

consumer reporting agency and the date of delinquency cannot be

reasonably obtained as provided in clause (ii), the person establishes

and follows reasonable procedures to ensure the date reported as the

date of delinquency precedes the date on which the account is placed

for collection, charged to profit or loss, or subjected to any similar

action, and reports such date to the credit reporting agency.

If you can prove from your records the dofd, count seven years ahead, and if that time has passed, send the CA a fax/letter/email stating such and post the above law.

Let them know that they now owe you $1000 plus but you will not sue them if they delete this from your record.

Also advise them that you will be reporting them to the BBB, FTC, and attorney general's office.

They should do whatever you want at that point.

You can also sent them this:

NCO Group to Pay Largest FCRA Civil Penalty to Date

One of the nationâ€™s largest debt-collection firms will pay $1.5 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by reporting inaccurate information about consumer accounts to credit bureaus. The civil penalty against Pennsylvania-based NCO Group, Inc. is the largest civil penalty ever obtained in a FCRA case.

According to the FTCâ€™s complaint, defendants NCO Group, Inc.; NCO Financial Systems, Inc.; and NCO Portfolio Management, Inc. violated Section 623(a)(5) of the FCRA, which specifies that any entity that reports information to credit bureaus about a delinquent consumer account that has been placed for collection or written off must report the actual month and year the account first became delinquent. In turn, this date is used by the credit bureaus to measure the maximum seven-year reporting period the FCRA mandates. The provision helps ensure that outdated debts â€“ debts that are beyond this seven-year reporting period â€“ do not appear on a consumerâ€™s credit report. Violations of this provision of the FCRA are subject to civil penalties of $2,500 per violation.

The FTC charges that NCO reported accounts using later-than-actual delinquency dates. Reporting later-than-actual dates may cause negative information to remain in a consumerâ€™s credit file beyond the seven-year reporting period permitted by the FCRA for most information. When this occurs, consumersâ€™ credit scores may be lowered, possibly resulting in their rejection for credit or their having to pay a higher interest rate.

The proposed consent decree orders the defendants to pay civil penalties of $1.5 million and permanently bars them from reporting later-than-actual delinquency dates to credit bureaus in the future. Additionally, NCO is required to implement a program to monitor all complaints received to ensure that reporting errors are corrected quickly. The consent agreement also contains standard recordkeeping and other requirements to assist the FTC in monitoring the defendantsâ€™ compliance.

Here is your other option, dispute it online and see if they continue to validate it. Since it is paid off, they might let it fall off.

Look , the bureaus are bombarded with information and really running behind. Last on their priority list is clearing your credit on time. You need to take a proactive approach if you are serious about this. I suggest do-it-yourself credit repair. . Usually companies charge hundreds of dollars to simply pull your credit and send correctly worded dispute lettersâ€”this is the keyâ€¦..people will tell you that you can do this yourself for free but the truth of the matter is that the credit bureaus will throw your letters away or simply reject them. There is an easy to use online kit that will deliver the results you want available for just $19.95 at the source website. A similar kit is being sold via infomercials and radio talk shows for seventy dollars more but they try to solicit you repeatedly for other services after the fact.

Stephen H has the right answer!

stephen h is correct. Long winded, but correct.

yes, they are right and I know it sucks big time :(

the key is to clean up your credit report asap. if you've paid your debt, get a copy of your report, & correct the error with the credit agency (they will have 30 days to investigate & will provide you an updated credit report. provide all details (who, $, date, etc). then write to the creditor & have them update your file.

thats what i did to clean up my credit report after i paid/settled $80K in credit card debt.

Yes, it will show on your credit report for another 7 years, but it will show that is pd in full, and after 2 years they will not include in a score. If you have a good job and you paying your debts in time and more than minimum payment, you can get a good mortgage as A+ client. Good job and Good Luck!

The last activity date is the most recent date that there was activity on the account (the day you paid it off, that is).

If you didn't handle that account well, yes, you'll have to deal with the ramifications of this for 7 years from when you paid it off. However, if you are paying your bills on time now, keep up with that, and as time goes by, the effects of your bad experience will start to fade.

Unfortunately youâ€™re going to have to wait it out, from the time that the last activity was reported on your bureaus(s). Though it may not be the happiest news, it is what is fair. If someone opened up an account 20 years ago and it gets charged off today, how would it be fair if they got off the hook while someone who had an account for only a year had to suffer through the years of having it on their record.

You are off to a good start with three new positive trades on your credit. If you want to be aggressive with re-establishing your credit there is only one way to do it, get active and pay on time. I would recommend that after a year you open at least one more credit account if not more. This is if and only if you can keep yourself out of trouble with credit cards. If you can, then having extra cards will give more positive credit for creditors to look at when determining your credit risk.

Also, after a year ask your current card companies for credit line increases, do this once every year.

Bear in mind, whenever you open up an new account it takes 6 months for your credit score to recover from the points taken away for a new account and at least a year before you establish enough track record on an account for you to make a visible dent in your re-established credit future.

There are a lot more tricks, but this should get you started.

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