Hi, everyone, I just got the result for my fifth dispute results and still nothing was changed. I think I really need to seek some advice. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Here is my situation.
A checking account of mine was closed on May, 2013 due to an overdraft of only $22. I was out of the country at that time and also happened to change my address. So I did not receive the bank statement and was unware of the late payment nor even the closure of my account. I came back to US on Aug, 2013 and paid it off immediately after I found out about the account.
Since I never had bad credit history, so I rarely paid attention to my credit score. I found out about how the above incident affected my credit score at the end of 2013 when I got rejected in several applications of credit cards. So I got my first credit report and found out that the aforementioned account was shown as a charge-off. On Feb, 2014, I filed my first dispute, in which I stated the reasons as in the last paragraph. At the end of the month, the investigation result came back and the account was changed. The pay status was changed to paid as agreed, although the account rating was still a charge-off. But this change alone is enough to increase my credit score by 80 points. So I was very happy.
However, on March, tragic happened. The account was changed back to the way it was and consequently my credit score dropped exactly 80 pts. I immediately called my bank and they said it was due to a system error. So I filed a second dispute. But nothing was changed this time. I called again and they said I don't owe them anything and encouraged me to file dispute. So I filed the third and the forth dispute and nothing was changed. Of course I called my bank again. The person I talked to spoke to the 'filing department' and told me that he had something fixed and the 'filing department' will file new report to the bureau at the end of the month. So I waited until the beginning of a new month and filed another dispute. But still nothing was changed. And I called again and this time they told me that everything was reported correctly and there was nothing they can do.
I am very upset of course and at the same time very confused. And here are my questions
1) Why the first dispute got such different result? Why all the other one fail? If anything, the first dispute was done online and there was an option to submit supplementary document. Would this be a reason?
2) Why could a negative record get removed and then get reposted? Would this be enough reason to have the record removed for the bureau? Obviously there was something wrong about the bank!!
3) Based on the reason I described above for the charge-off account, it is possible, I mean, is there sufficient grounds to have it removed, as in my first dispute? Or what I did was entirely my fault and I deserve to live with it for 7 years?
4) I saw may posts about goodwill letter. It is useful to write such a letter in my situation? Over the phone, the person from the bank stated very clearly that there is nothing they can do. Or is it possible that he was only a general staff who might know nothing about credit reporting and I should write the letter anyways?
5) I also saw online that there are credit repair firms out there. Are these firms effective? Has anyone tried these firms before? Is it worth a shot with these firm in my situation?
Over all these disputes, every time I got my result back, I would call Transunion or my bank. But every time, Transunion asked me to speak with the bank and the bank asked me to speak with the bureau. And now the bank is telling me there is nothing they can do. I am just really confused and don't know what to do. I hate to just give up. Because this charge-off was such a small amount and I hate to have it affect me for so long. Also, this account was a joint account so it affect both my husband and me. We are thinking about buing a house and really can't afford to have it affect out interest rate so much, considering the fact that out credit scores before this incident were quite good. Please, any suggestion would be soooo appreciated.
Best to all.
