Amex CO. To remove or to not remove?

[dude11]

Hello,

I had a Blue from American Express that I opened back in July 2007. I failed to make payments due to job loss and it was sent to collections. That account was not sold to a CA at the time and I paid the entire balance back in 2008 or 2009. The current status on my CRs is CHARGE-OFF and on the comments it's noted Paid charge off. A $0 balance is being reported which is correct.

I contacted AMEX Credit Bureau (thanks to jsiverio for the info and his post) and asked the CSR if it would be possible to change the status from CHARGE-OFF to Pays as agreed or remove any negative remarks. She said they could not do that since it was charged off and it was not paid as agreed. I did not ask to have the entire account or tradeline removed however.

So I would now like to know if I should try asking or sending a GW letter to have the entire account removed from my CRs instead? I currently have a AMEX Zync that was backdated to Feb 2007 so wouln't think that the AAOA would be affected or score for any other reason in a negative way.

If someone could recommend what the best option is that would be great. Thanks!

[John060675]

OK, your situation is very similar to mine.  The only difference is that they refused to backdate mine as of this time (still working on that).  They are in the process of removing my old charged off account from 2008, so I will be glad to let you know how it affected my score.  It might be a couple more weeks before it falls off though.

By the way, how did you get them to backdate the card?  I have the Optima card and they refused to do it.  I have not called back to attempt it again, but I would appreciate any help you may offer.

[dude11]

John,

Was the debt sold to a CA or did American Express hire a CA to collect the debt? Also did you pay in full the balance or settled? Maybe those have a factor whether they would backdate or not?

When I applied for the AMEX Zync I was declined for the regular Zync card and was given the 2 options of either $200 hard limit or the $500 w/Autopay. I opted for the $500 w/Autopay option and was approved. As far as backdating that was done automatically I didn't request it.

[John060675]

The debt was sold to a CA, so that might be an issue.  I did pay the amount in full though.  I am sure the CO was the reason for not backdating, but I am still hoping it is somehow possible.