Figuring Out DOFD

[Tommyh]

I have been reading through some posts and trying to learn as much as I can before I get started. I just have a few questions if anyone can answer to help me get started.

I have found out my state's SOL. Is the SOL based on where the debt originated, my current residence, or state of the CA/OC?

I know in order to figure out if the account is out of the SOL I need to know the DOFD. I am having problems finding the DOFD on some of my accounts. Is there any way to find out the DOFD? If I send a validation letter, can this open a can of worms for me if the debt is still within the SOL? Is it it safe to send a validation letter, in order to get the true DOFD?

I really want to find out my DOFD on some of my debts and start working on getting my credit cleaned up. I know I owe them and I am working on paying them to increase my score. I want to work on the ones that are in the SOL and try to do PFD on those accounts, the ones that are out of SOL I was going to try the 1,2, punch first and if not do the PFD as well.

Thanks for any help with these questions.

Tommy

[Lian]

The way to figure out your ACTUAL, legal DOFD is from your account records.
While anyone reporting on an account that was placed for collection or charged-off is required to report the DOFD on the OC account to the CRA, that does not ensure that the date reported is your actual DOFD.

First, understand what DOFD is.
Any account has a current DOFD once a delinquency is reported by the OC, but the OC is NOT required to report a DOFD code to your credit report until they have either reported a charge-off or referred the debt for collection. FCRA 623(a)(5).

So unless you have a reported CO or collection, you may simply have no reported DOFD in your credit file.
Work through your account delinquencies. When an account has a prior chain of delinquencies, and is brought back to good standing, and then has a new, first delinquency, the DOFD is reset to that new first delinquency. Go through the account for each chain of delinquencies until the CO or collection referral is reached. The DOFD will be the first delinquency in the last chain prior to the CO or collection referral.

If you did not retain OC account records, you can approximate the DOFD to within a month or so by doing the same walk-through of the account, but this time using the 30-lates as the first delinquency in each chain. Sometimes the profile will not report a 30-late, and begin with a 60 or later late. Just use the 60-late and back up a month. That is an approximation of the date of first delinquency. Why only an approximation? Because the actual date of first delinquency was the day after the account was late, but a reported 30-late is a month after that.

If all else fails, you can trust the creditor or debt collector to have reported correctly, and rely on the CRA's statement of expected fall-off date, and back-date to approximate your DOFD. But you don't know, when relying on expected dates, what exclusion date the CRA is using. Is it based on 7 years from DOFD, 7 1/2 years from DOFD, or have they built in a "cushion"?

The statutory max is 7 years plus 180 days, but they can use an earlier period for exclusion.

If you are still confused, and want to know the DOFD that was reported to the CRA and is contained in your credit file, you can get that from the CRA by filing an request for information under the provisions of FCRA 609(a). Such requests have a current fee of $11.00.

You can then compare the date in your file with the DOFD determined from your records.