Monday, February 19, 2007

Why Items Stay On Your Credit Report for 7 Years

Did you ever wonder why a negative item has to stay on your credit report for 7 years. This question has been circulated for many years and no one was able to give an answer other than that is what is stated in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). I always wondered what the answer was myself but was never satisfied just knowing that someone just decided to use the magic number 7.

Well upon research I think I found out why creditors, banks and other companies you do business with keep an item an your credit report for 7 years . This is taken from the bible:

[ The Year for Canceling Debts ] At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. Deuteronomy 15:1 (This law was put into effect to help the poor)

This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the LORD's time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.

Deuteronomy 15:2

In the year of our forefathers, company principles were based on biblical principles. The lobbies of all government buildings and commercial building have either a biblical symbol of biblical quotes throughout the buildings.

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Source: Cruz Law, Based on an article by O. Max Gardner, III, Esquire

The Bible makes it clear that people are generally expected to pay their debts. Leviticus 25:39. No one will—or should—advance any argument against this general proposition.

Both Ezekiel 22:12 and Nehemiah 5:0-11 condemn lending money with interest, especially to the poor. And Ezekiel 18:13 list the taking of interest among sins worthy of death.

The current bankruptcy law passed by Congress and signed into law by the President in 2005 lacks any compassion for the poor, makes no redress to the modern day money changers who shamelessly peddle plastic at rates that would draw the Holy wrath of God himself, provides no relief but only additional misery to the families saddled with thousands of dollars in medical bills, and most importantly severely undermines the economic and social stability of the average American family. These Americans are like the farmers of the Old Testament who proclaimed to King Nehemiah, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others”. Nehemiah 5:3-5. Nehemiah responded to his people and ordered to “let the extracting of usury stop! Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses and also the usury you are charging them…”. Nehemiah 5:11.

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Religion played an important role in the establishment of the United States. Many of the first colonists came to America in search of religious freedom. The Declaration of Independence states that certain unalienable human rights originate from God. The First Amendment to the Constitution establishes the separation of church and state and protects the freedom of religious expression. In the centuries since our nation's founding, religious institutions have been at the forefront of many political movements. Religious groups created and sustained movements to promote the abolition of slavery, women's rights, prison reform, child welfare, worker protections, alcohol prohibition, civil rights, nuclear disarmament, and international peace.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the political landscape of American religion shifted. Several mainline Protestant denominations moved to the left and issued statements that resembled liberal political party platforms. But most evangelicals moved in the opposite direction. Their conservative political activism, led by the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition, was sparked by the social changes in American life and the Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

Source:Wilsoncenter.org

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Prior to modern bankruptcy law, if a merchant in Italy could not pay his debts, his creditors would seek him out and break his work bench, so that he could not continue in business. They would take whatever assets he had and leave him destitute. From “break the bench” arose the word “bankrupt”.
Source: Iowa Bankruptcy Guide

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