Can the Report Date Change on a Disputed Item on Your Credit Report?

While some people review the accounts on their credit report for the correct balance, an accurate reporting date can be the most important detail on an account. Federal law dictates how long the credit bureaus can list a negative item. If you see a wrong date of last activity, you can and should dispute it with the credit bureaus.

Identification

You can dispute anything on your credit report, including the reporting date, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The credit bureau with which you make the dispute must investigate your claim within 30 days or else you automatically win your case in most situations. In practice, disputes take less than a month because the bureaus automate most cases with a system that re-requests a report form from your lender via an electronic computer link.

Importance

On positive information, the date of last activity has no bearing on your credit score. However, for negative items, the reporting date can become critical because it can determine when the item will be removed from your records. For example, if you miss a payment on your credit card and eventually the creditor writes down the debt as a bad account, the first missed payment becomes the initial date of delinquency. The bureaus generally can only maintain such information for seven years from the initial delinquency, according to Debtors Unite. If the creditor sells an account, the date of last activity may change, but the bureaus still can only report the account for seven years after the initial delinquency.

Considerations

Keep records on any loan account so you can provide evidence of your claim for an incorrect posting date. An incorrect reporting date can be a sign that a debt collector or creditor lost your records. Thus, you should dispute the entire account. Creditors must be able to verify an account as well as prove its accuracy for a credit bureau to report it.

Tip

Asking the creditor to correct an erroneous posting date may be quicker and less time-consuming than going through credit bureaus. Once you correct the reporting date, keep an eye on your credit report and track when your negative accounts are due to fall off. This way you can know when your credit score should increase, or at least use it as motivation to incur no more negative items in the future.