Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), bad items fall off your credit report after seven years, but did you know that if you contact the creditor in any way during that time you they can use that to illegally reset the clock?

An entry on each item called the Date of Last Activity or Date of Last Contact, sometimes simply “DOLA,” is the start date for the countdown.

Your DOLA could be at 6 years, 11 months and 29 days, but if you contact the creditor, or make a payment on the balance, it goes back to zero, a process the credit industry calls, “reaging.”

UPDATE: If the clock gets “reset” like this is, the FTC says it’s wrong, and you should petition the credit reporting agencies to remove the item.

Make Your Nut says:

You will occasionally see an item reach the seven year limit and remain on your credit report.

It is your responsibility to contact Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion and inform them that an item does not belong on your credit report because it has aged beyond seven years from the DOLA.

— BEN POPKEN

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