Re-aging
Resetting the date of first delinquency on a credit report — illegal under FCRA §605(a).
Re-aging is the practice of resetting or moving forward the date of first delinquency (DOFD) on a credit report. This extends how long the negative item stays on a consumer's report past the federally-mandated 7-year limit, in violation of FCRA §605(a) and §623(a)(5).
How it happens: a collection agency buys old debt and reports a fresh DOFD; a creditor's system mistakenly resets the date on account restructuring; cross-bureau inconsistencies emerge during data transfers. The 7-year clock counts from the original delinquency, not from any subsequent event.
Spotting re-aging: pull all three credit reports, compare DOFDs across bureaus, cross-reference your own records (old statements, prior credit pulls). If Equifax shows a 2019 DOFD and TransUnion shows 2022 for the same account, one is wrong — usually the more recent one.
Also called
Related terms
Date of First Delinquency — the date a consumer first became delinquent on an account that eventually went to charge-off or collection.
FCRA §605(a) limits how long negative items can stay on a credit report — 7 years from date of first delinquency.
FCRA §623 sets the duties of furnishers (creditors) to report accurate information and respond to consumer disputes.
An accounting status creditors apply to delinquent accounts (typically 180+ days late). The debt is still owed.
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