My now ex-husband opened a credit card for himself shortly before we separated. It has been reporting on my credit the entire time as a joint CC (not AU). I missed it for some time for several reasons. But now I am definitely paying better attention to my credit and finances, and with my rebuild I would like it removed. 1 - it is affecting my util (even with all other revolving TLs at 0) but more importantly 2 - I would like to stand on my own, and he should be able to do whatever he wants on his own TLs as well.
So I contacted the ex (we are amicable) back in late '17 and he contacted the bank, and in mid Jan '18 he received a letter notifying him that I was "deleted as second cardholder" and emailed me saying as much. Fast forward to now, when I called the bank in question and was told that it was all very strange because I was only a "cardholder" (I read as AU?) to begin with, I was definitely removed in January, it should never have reported on my credit from the start (May 2013, ftr) and definitely should not be reporting now. They recommended I dispute with the credit bureaus. Ex has now sent me a copy of the letter and email he received from the bank to help with the dispute.
Questions
1 - Looking at dispute processes, it is recommended that I send dispute letters to both the CBs and the reporting agency, in this case the bank. Correct? Even though they're the ones telling me to dispute in the first place.
2 - Would this affect my AAOA if/when the account is ever actually removed from my report? that is, will it be deleted altogether or just show as a terminated responsibility but still "count"? or will I not know until it happens? Ages still frankly confuse me, (I thought BK TLs didn't count in FICO8 but doing the math on my profile, they have to). IOW, deleting might significantly drop my scores.
3 - Should I dispute this at all or just leave it alone, in your opinion? Again, it is my preference to stand on my own, even if scores drop. But I'll consider other opinions.
Thanks.
