I asked this over at the credit card board but haven't gotten any help, so I'll try here. I am currently working on cleaning up my credit, and sending out GW's and PFD's. The one thing I am not sure which way to go on is an Orchard Bank Secured card that I had for a few months, and then due to health issues and a loss of job stopped paying on. It charged off, and the DOLA was July 2006. It is listed on my credit reports as a charge-off for HSBC and a collection for Portfolio Recovery. I sent a PFD letter to portfolio a few days ago, and have been pondering how to deal with the HSBC entry. I figured I would just send them a GW letter after I pay Portfolio, which I will do whether or not they go for the PFD. Now I am wondering if I should try to try to reinstate the card by offering to pay HSBC back, and then sending a new security deposit to reinstate the card. I don't really need the card as I have a BofA secured card that I am really happy with, but I figured what the heck, if I could get HSBC to reinstate the card, maybe they would wipe the charge-off, and start reporting it as current. I did call them before I sent the PFD to Portfolio to try to make payment arrangements, and they said I needed to talk to Portfolio. I didn't ask though if I could reinstate the card. I know I should just call them and ask about that, but I am just wondering, does anyone know if cards that charge-off ever do that sort of thing? Do they ever reinstate a charged off card if you pay back the past due, and do they then remove the charge-off and start reporting it as a current card? Again, I'm not so much interested in having the Orchard Bank secured card, but if it is possble to reinstate it, and if it will get the charge-off off of my reports, I would be happy to do it. So, has anyone ever done anything like this?
