The date that ARC is reporting on your credit file is the date that the file was assigned to them for collection. It has absolutely nothing to do with the "Date of Default" or the "Date of Last Activity".

The policies of both Equifax and TransUnion clearly state that all "Trade" and "Collection" accounts will be purged 6 years from the "Date of Last Activity". However, TransUnion will continue to report "Trade" accounts that do not contain "Derogatory" information for 20 years. While many consumers have objected to this practice, the various Consumer Reporting Acts are silent on how long a Consumer Reporting Agency can report accounts with "Non-Derogatory" information and only deal specificially with the reporting of accounts that contain "Derogatory" information.

In the vast majority of cases, the "Date of Last Activity" is, in fact, the last time any activity occurred on the account, such as a payment, a purchase or a cash advance. In the case of "bluemusickid", each time a payment is made to ARC for a defaulted student loan, it will update the "Date of Last Activity" both on the "Trade" account as well as the "Collection" account. What this does is it informs the reader of a Credit Report when was the last date of activity on any given account.

While the policies of both Equifax and TransUnion state that all accounts including collection accounts will purge 6 years from the "Date of Last Activity", what really happens is all accounts, including collection accounts will purge 6 years from the "Original Date of Default with the Original Creditor".

Both Credit Reports issued by Equifax and TransUnion do NOT show the "Date of Original Default with the Original Creditor". Therefore, in order to obtain this information, you must order a FREE Consumer Disclosure Report from either or both Equifax and/or TransUnion. As the name implies, this report is made available only to the consumer and is not availale to third parties.

You can order your FREE Consumer Disclosure Report as follows:

Equifax....................1-800-465-7166

TransUnion.............1-800-663-9980

You will be asked some personal questions to which only you will know the answers. This is done to confirm your identity.

Once you know the "Original Date of Default with the Original Creditor", you will know when your account will be purged from your credit file.