EQ - 2010 charge off reported in 2012

[apandabear]

Okay, I'm starting to get really disheartened. I'm supposed to be seeing improvement in my score and payment history, but I'm getting a lot of the opposite.

In 2010 I hit a financial wall. In 2009 I lost my great job, bailed out my 401k, started waiting tables and bartending. I held on for almost a year. Then everything fell apart. I defaulted on my student loans, all 3 credit cards were charged off, my car was repo'd, I struggled with utility payments. It was a disaster.

Except for my student loans, everything was paid off in Oct 2010. Nothing negative since then. I'm rehabbing my student loans (just a couple months left), and I have 2 good credit cards open.

When I started the rebuilding journey, there were a lot of accounts that weren't accurate or up to date. They were still reporting a balance, or something else was wrong. So I disputed.

Wow, never thought that would be a mistake. Instead of getting things corrected, I got hit with recent derogs. I got a CO notation in 2012 for two of these accounts. USAA corrected their mistake in a follow up dispute. American Honda Finance did not.

So now, almost 2 years out of this mess, I have a CO reporting in April 2012 on EQ. A derog from 4 months ago, that isn't even accurate. I'm feeling very defeated. I would be coming up on 2 years in-the-clear at the end of this year, but beause of EQs effed up reporting structure, my FICO suffers?

Does anyone have ANY advice for me? I'm ready to give up, cancel my scorewatch, stop checking my credit everyday, stop participating here in the forums. If there is no break for those of us that are trying to recover and do the right thing, I don't see the point in being so vigilant about this.

Of course I'll still manage my credit responsibly... but I wanted to buy a house in the next 2 years. Because of this broken system, I'm not getting the credit I deserve for turning this mess around. I'm getting punished.

[DaveSignal]

I have had this same issue before on EQ.  It is the way EQ notates things when a creditor reports.   If you dispute a charge off and lender verifies it as CO on certain date (APR 2012), EQ marks it as 'verified on APR 12".   Sometimes FICO doesn't read this correctly, since FICO is not a perfect scoring algorithm for this kind of circumstance.  I believe that if you can get a 'PAID CHARGE OFF' comment added to the account, FICO will not penalize you for that CO appearing in APR 12, but rather will look back to the first date the CO was listed, as it should.

[rckstrscott]

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@apandabear wrote:

Okay, I'm starting to get really disheartened. I'm supposed to be seeing improvement in my score and payment history, but I'm getting a lot of the opposite.

In 2010 I hit a financial wall. In 2009 I lost my great job, bailed out my 401k, started waiting tables and bartending. I held on for almost a year. Then everything fell apart. I defaulted on my student loans, all 3 credit cards were charged off, my car was repo'd, I struggled with utility payments. It was a disaster.

Except for my student loans, everything was paid off in Oct 2010. Nothing negative since then. I'm rehabbing my student loans (just a couple months left), and I have 2 good credit cards open.

When I started the rebuilding journey, there were a lot of accounts that weren't accurate or up to date. They were still reporting a balance, or something else was wrong. So I disputed.

Wow, never thought that would be a mistake. Instead of getting things corrected, I got hit with recent derogs. I got a CO notation in 2012 for two of these accounts. USAA corrected their mistake in a follow up dispute. American Honda Finance did not.

So now, almost 2 years out of this mess, I have a CO reporting in April 2012 on EQ. A derog from 4 months ago, that isn't even accurate. I'm feeling very defeated. I would be coming up on 2 years in-the-clear at the end of this year, but beause of EQs effed up reporting structure, my FICO suffers?

Does anyone have ANY advice for me? I'm ready to give up, cancel my scorewatch, stop checking my credit everyday, stop participating here in the forums. If there is no break for those of us that are trying to recover and do the right thing, I don't see the point in being so vigilant about this.

Of course I'll still manage my credit responsibly... but I wanted to buy a house in the next 2 years. Because of this broken system, I'm not getting the credit I deserve for turning this mess around. I'm getting punished.

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Even with this minor setback, I don't see any reason to derail getting a house in two years? First off, was the CO showing prior to the new update? And even if it is, you could pre-approve for a house in 8 months; your scores are already near the threshold anyway..

don't give up or get discouraged! We have all been through these setbacks!

-scott

[apandabear]

This is from myfico 7 year payment history;

30 days late- 1 time (Apr 2010)

60 days late - 0 times

90 days late - 2 times (Apr 2012, May 2010)

Payment history graphic shows CO in April 2012. Notations say charged off account, balance is $0. I have a hard time believing this isn't killing my score. This might seem like a minor setback, but I'm being punished for something that isn't accurate. 

I'm currently driving a 15 year old car with 230k miles on it. I bought this car in cash over a year ago. My goal is to buy a new one at the end of this year. I make a nice salary, and can easily put down $8-10k on a 20k car. This is what I intend to do. The money I'll save in gas will offset any benefit to buying a car a couple years old. I don't feel like buying another crap car with cash. I'm going to get killed in interest, I get that. With a prior repo and 2 year old derogs, hey, I probably deserve it. But those derogs are 2 years old. Not 4 months.

So, obtaining a mortgage isn't my only goal.

I could pre-approve for a mortgage in 8 months? Umm.. I've been derog free for a lot longer than 4 months. This is completely unacceptable. 

While I appreciate the "keep your chin up" and "you can make it through this" .. I refuse to accept this situation. If USAA corrected the recent derog, American Honda can too.

I do appreciate the positive sentiment though. I'm just extremely frustrated with a broken system.

[rckstrscott]

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@apandabear wrote:

This is from myfico 7 year payment history;

30 days late- 1 time (Apr 2010)

60 days late - 0 times

90 days late - 2 times (Apr 2012, May 2010)

Payment history graphic shows CO in April 2012. Notations say charged off account, balance is $0. I have a hard time believing this isn't killing my score. This might seem like a minor setback, but I'm being punished for something that isn't accurate. 

I'm currently driving a 15 year old car with 230k miles on it. I bought this car in cash over a year ago. My goal is to buy a new one at the end of this year. I make a nice salary, and can easily put down $8-10k on a 20k car. This is what I intend to do. The money I'll save in gas will offset any benefit to buying a car a couple years old. I don't feel like buying another crap car with cash. I'm going to get killed in interest, I get that. With a prior repo and 2 year old derogs, hey, I probably deserve it. But those derogs are 2 years old. Not 4 months.

So, obtaining a mortgage isn't my only goal.

I could pre-approve for a mortgage in 8 months? Umm.. I've been derog free for a lot longer than 4 months. This is completely unacceptable. 

While I appreciate the "keep your chin up" and "you can make it through this" .. I refuse to accept this situation. If USAA corrected the recent derog, American Honda can too.

I do appreciate the positive sentiment though. I'm just extremely frustrated with a broken system.

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I am driving a 14 year old car with 280,000 miles. It is what it is. Your situation, my situtation, are different, but they are not unsimilar.

You are misrepresnting what I was saying.. I was saying IF this is what you have to deal with, you are only 8 months out... since you said you were going to look for a house in 2 YEARS I was mentioning that THIS won't hurt you. I wasn't attempting to decipher whether or not this was fair, accurate, or anything.. 

I never implied you should be okay with it, nor did I really offer any suggestions on what to do to improve the situation. I was merely trying to inject some simple 'don't quit' message and that all of us have had setbacks. I have had so many I can barely even count, if you look at my signature.

But I didn't give up, fought them, and now I am on the north side of 700 with a house. That is all I was trying to imply.

EQ notoriously has iffy listings. What steps have you taken to fix it? Did you dispute that account at any point? What happens A LOT is when you dispute an account,  they will update their LAST information for you. They are REPORTING as of April 2012, that this account was charged off. This happens all the time with disputes. But this doesn't mean this REPORT is actually the charge off date which is being factored into the FICO score. This is just a peice of data they updated, likely from a dispute. Another reason why its advocated not to dispute things with the CRAs. Plus, I don't trust the way myFico reports show my payment historys ect ect.. I go off of the actualy bureau reports for that.

I would send a direct dispute (not through the CRA) to Honda explaining their inaccurate reporting on EQ. See how that goes.  I would follow-up with a BBB complaint if they don't fix it.

In regards to the FICO scoring system, the credit reporting system, ect ect.. sure, it's not fair for some.. Those with negative factors always seem be working on them for whatever reasons.. But deleting derogs, removing things from your credit history can also be deemed as not fair to the future creditors who are basing decisions based on those reports. I just got a house, and the bank judged me as credit worthy having no idea I had 19 collection accounts showing as recently as 18 months ago, reposessions, judgment, tax liens ect ect.. The whole system isn't fair, from all angles. I can sit here and tell you I will do better with money from now on, and I hope I've learned my lessons.. but only time will tell.. 

But, if you want credit, you have to work within this system, remove yourself from the personal feelings, and treat everything like business interactions. Calm, collected, dilligent, repsonsive.  

You don't give up, you do what you have to do to get what your end result is. Thinking inside and outside the box, trying ideas you think are crazy, whatever you feel is within your grasp and ethics.

-scott

[golo]

Scott input is highly accurate,we all are or have been in that hole,I'm actually are as I type this.The same thing happened to me with EQ,I disputed an ol charge off and when it was all over they updated it and my score tank 25 points!! And I was at 605 looking forward to reach the 620 mark,sighs.Now like Scott said,I regroup and I'm back at it again,you got to be relentless,you do what you gotta do to get where you wanna go... : )

[RobertEG]

This may seem negative, but I am not sure how their reporting is inaccurate.

It appears that the account first went delinquent in 4/2010, and was not thereafter brought back into good-standing.  So that appears to be the DOFD on the account.

When they actually charged-off the debt and/or reported that fact to the CRA does not affect the CR exclusion date of the CO, which is fixed at 7 yrs plus 180 days from that DOFD, which would be after 10/2017.

The FCRA places no requirement that adverse information must be reported at the time it occurs.  Assuming they charged-off the debt sometime in late 2010 or early 2011, which is most likely the case, their delay in reporting that fact does not effect its CR exclusion date.  In fact, during that delay period, you actually "benefitted" to the extent that it did not yet appear in your CR. 

The extent to which FICO scoring may or may not be impacted by their delay in reporting does not make the reporting itself inaccurate or improper.

The beef appears to be with FICO, not the creditor.

Based on the information provided, I dont see a basis for dispute of the accuracy of their reporting.

It may be frustrating, but  if the CO is accurate, it is what it is.......

[apandabear]

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@RobertEG wrote:

This may seem negative, but I am not sure how their reporting is inaccurate.

It appears that the account first went delinquent in 4/2010, and was not thereafter brought back into good-standing.  So that appears to be the DOFD on the account.

When they actually charged-off the debt and/or reported that fact to the CRA does not affect the CR exclusion date of the CO, which is fixed at 7 yrs plus 180 days from that DOFD, which would be after 10/2017.

The FCRA places no requirement that adverse information must be reported at the time it occurs.  Assuming they charged-off the debt sometime in late 2010 or early 2011, which is most likely the case, their delay in reporting that fact does not effect its CR exclusion date.  In fact, during that delay period, you actually "benefitted" to the extent that it did not yet appear in your CR. 

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On the first bolded point, you're correct in that the DOFD is set. The account should, barring any horrible luck on my part, fall off 7.5 years from that date. That's not the issue though. The issue is EQ's reporting notations post-dispute. This appears as a current late payment, which is not representative of my credit situation.

On the second bolded point, the CO was reporting prior. It's not reporting correctly now. The account was closed, and the debt charged off sometime in mid-2010. Settled in October 2010. Paid, albeit for less than the total debt, but that's how it worked out in the end. It was reported as a CO at the time. I saw no benefit from the reporting or non-reporting. How they can move that CO from 2010 and push it to 2012 is kind of beyond me.

With FICO interpreting it as a 90-day late, I'd like to see all payment information after Oct 2010 removed. Just like USAA did. There's no need to report recent (2011, 2012) payment history on an account closed in 2010. Is that really so ridiculous?

I'm sorry, but I don't really agree with your reasoning here, but I must stress that I am not trying to argue, nor am I angry or frustrated with anyone here. I'll reiterate.. I'm frustrated with a broken system.

I apologise if I've pushed buttons or irritated anyone here, but I know other people have experienced this, and I just want to know what folks did to fix it.

[rckstrscott]

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@apandabear wrote:

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@RobertEG wrote:

This may seem negative, but I am not sure how their reporting is inaccurate.

It appears that the account first went delinquent in 4/2010, and was not thereafter brought back into good-standing.  So that appears to be the DOFD on the account.

When they actually charged-off the debt and/or reported that fact to the CRA does not affect the CR exclusion date of the CO, which is fixed at 7 yrs plus 180 days from that DOFD, which would be after 10/2017.

The FCRA places no requirement that adverse information must be reported at the time it occurs.  Assuming they charged-off the debt sometime in late 2010 or early 2011, which is most likely the case, their delay in reporting that fact does not effect its CR exclusion date.  In fact, during that delay period, you actually "benefitted" to the extent that it did not yet appear in your CR. 

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On the first bolded point, you're correct in that the DOFD is set. The account should, barring any horrible luck on my part, fall off 7.5 years from that date. That's not the issue though. The issue is EQ's reporting notations post-dispute. This appears as a current late payment, which is not representative of my credit situation.

On the second bolded point, the CO was reporting prior. It's not reporting correctly now. The account was closed, and the debt charged off sometime in mid-2010. Settled in October 2010. Paid, albeit for less than the total debt, but that's how it worked out in the end. It was reported as a CO at the time. I saw no benefit from the reporting or non-reporting. How they can move that CO from 2010 and push it to 2012 is kind of beyond me.

With FICO interpreting it as a 90-day late, I'd like to see all payment information after Oct 2010 removed. Just like USAA did. There's no need to report recent (2011, 2012) payment history on an account closed in 2010. Is that really so ridiculous?

I'm sorry, but I don't really agree with your reasoning here, but I must stress that I am not trying to argue, nor am I angry or frustrated with anyone here. I'll reiterate.. I'm frustrated with a broken system.

I apologise if I've pushed buttons or irritated anyone here, but I know other people have experienced this, and I just want to know what folks did to fix it.

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Although by RobertEGs definition, he believes the reporting is accurate; I was faced with a similar issue and I percieved mine as not accurate as you are. I see Roberts factual basis, and I get what he is saying. Like you; I didn't agree with his explanation. And he quite probably is right, because he usually is but that wasn't my interpretation either.  

I disputed with EQ. It came back as verified. I sent a direct dispute to the furnisher of the information, which in my situation was HSBC, and I sent it CMRRR.  They didn't respond to me at all. I fowarded the green card to EQ after 45 days, with a letter explaining my situation, and asking how they could possibly verifiy the information as accurate if HSBC didn't. EQ removed the entire listing. Obviously, it's great to have a CO removed, but that really wasn't the intention, the intention was to correct what I percieved as an error in reporting.

I don't think it is a baseless dispute, or disputing valid information if you geniunely percieve it to be invalid. You might be wrong, but I don't think its worth NOT pursuing because people on the forum who have a great handle and idea of how things work don't agree with you; and I also don't think its frivlous. You might lose, but its not like you are disputing something just for the attempted removal when you know its correctly reporting. You believe in your thought process, and we are afforded rights to dispute what we feel is inaccurate.

Just don't be suprised if it doesn't go your way.

-scott