Closed Account, Utilization, and a Question

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am in the middle of the long process of rebuilding my credit. I noticed that an account I had with American Express is being counted towards my credit utilization and having a negative effect on my credit score. The last payment on this account was early 2010, and the lender has charged it off. CreditKarma / Credit Sesame do not show this account as open, however MyFico does. Please see below:

Status Date: June, 2015

Condition: Open

Last Activity: April, 2010

Balance: $2,682

Status: Charge-off (Equifax), Charged off as bad debt (TransUnion), Unpaid balance report as a loss by credit grantor (Experian)

Worst Delinquency: None reported (Equifax and TransUnion), Collection (Experian)

High Balance: $2,877 (Equifax), $2,682 (TransUnion and Experian)

Credit Limit: $2,500 (Equifax and TransUnion) $0 (Experian)

Remarks: Charged off account, Close by credit grantor (Equifax), Account closed by credit grantor (TransUnion and Experian)

(Unfortunately I am unable to cut and paste so I only typed what I felt was relevant)

Is there any way to resolve this?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Have you contacted the OC about it?

[RobertEG]

Neither the closing of the account nor the fact that they have charged-off the debt negates the debt, and it can still be counted in your % util.

It is accurate reporting and properly included in your scorng, so there is no basis for any dispute.

The effect on your util is only a part of its negative impact.  The CO is a major derog that is having substantial impact on your payment history segment of your scoring, which is the most higly-weighted.

A charge-off has a credit report exclusion date of no later than 7 years plus 180 days from the date of your first delinquency on the account that immediately preceded the charge-off.  The DOFD is a required reporting to the CRA once they have reported a charge-off, and is thus in your credit file.

You need to obtain the reported DOFD to determine the date exclusion of the charge-off.

A possible beneficial course of action to improve your scoring in both util and payment history would be to offer a PFD to the creditor, thus seeking early deletion of the CO.

A pay for deletion would also, if they accept, remove the balance from your % util scoring.