The date of first delinquency is the only clock that matters

A charged-off account or a collection may be reported for seven years, and the seven years run from one date: the date of first delinquency, plus 180 days. Section 1681c(c)(1) says so in one sentence. Everything a collector might tell you about a different clock is not in the statute.

The rule people misread is that paying, settling, or a collector's purchase of the debt "restarts" the reporting period. None of those touch it. Which means: an item's departure date was fixed the month you first fell behind and never caught up, and nothing that happens afterward moves it later.

1. What the date is

The first month of the delinquency that ran, unbroken, into the charge-off or the collection. If you were late in March, caught up in May, and then fell behind for good in September, the date is September. Which means: the question to ask is not "when did this go to collection" but "when did I last bring it current before it never came current again."

2. Who has to report it

Section 1681s-2(a)(5) requires the furnisher that placed the account for collection or charged it off to report the date of first delinquency to the bureau within 90 days. A collector that buys the debt inherits that date. Which means: a collection tradeline with a date of first delinquency later than the original creditor's is re-aged, and re-aging is a wrong field you can dispute with the original creditor's own tradeline as the exhibit.

3. Which bureaus show it

Equifax prints "Date of 1st Delinquency" on every derogatory tradeline. Experian and TransUnion consumer reports often don't print it; they print an "on record until" date or nothing. Which means: pull Equifax for the date, then hold the other two to it.

4. The arithmetic

Date of first delinquency, plus 180 days, plus seven years. A delinquency that began in March 2019 becomes obsolete in September 2026, whether the item was charged off in 2019 or sold to a third collector in 2024. Which means: an item still reporting past that date is a dispute with the field "reporting period," and the bureau's own printed date is the exhibit.

5. What does not restart it

Paying. Settling for less. A collector's purchase. A collector's "date opened." A new account number on the same debt. A payment plan. Which means: if a collector tells you a payment will "refresh" the account, they are describing the statute of limitations for a lawsuit, which is a different clock in a different law, and often not describing that accurately either.

I keep the two clocks on two index cards on the church table. Reporting period: seven years plus 180 days from first delinquency, federal, § 1681c. Statute of limitations to sue: state law, three to six years in most places, sometimes restarted by a payment. People confuse them because collectors want them confused.

What to do instead of guessing

For every negative item, find the date of first delinquency on Equifax. Add seven years and 180 days. If that date has passed, the four things a bureau must do includes deleting it, and the letter writes itself. If the collector's date is later than the original creditor's, that is the re-aging dispute, with both tradelines enclosed.

QualifyReady reads the date on every derogatory item across all eight files, computes the departure date, and flags anything past it or re-aged; you send the letters. Step one, today: write the date of first delinquency next to every negative item on your Equifax report. Know your file before your lender does.