cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Old baddie...modified? Still a baddie or not?

tag
greenpang
Contributor

Old baddie...modified? Still a baddie or not?

This is an GE CareCredit account I opened in 2006. It was settled with the lender (not sold) in 2008, but I had been excessively late a bunch of times and then settled in full with GE for less than the full balance. It had been reporting as a currently delinquent, and I've been bothering them about that for the past month. I just expected it to be changed to "Settled, Closed."

 

Today, it appears they have not only fixed the inaccuracy, but transformed the entire report to a Current account and eliminated all of the late payments? However, the remark remains, "Settled - less than full balance."

 

...is this still a baddie? Is there anything viewed as derogatory about this now?

 

GECRB/CARECR

           

                                  Old - 12/27/2012                            New - 12/28/2012

Account No.:               ****                                               ****    

Condition:                    Paid                                             Paid   

Balance:                      $0                                                $0       

Type:                          Charge account                             Credit Card   

Pay Status:                 Late 120 Days                               Current         

Past Due:                    $0                                                $0       

High Balance:              $1,761                                          $1,761           

Terms:                        ---                                                  ---       

Limit:                          $4,000                                           $4,000           

Payment:                    $0                                                 $0       

Opened:                      01/12/2006                                    01/12/2006

Reported:                    12/03/2008                                     12/21/2012

Responsibility:             Individual                                       Individual     

Remarks:                    Settled - less than full balance         Settled - less than full balance

 

Late Payments (last 7 years):                    

 

30 Days Late:             7                                                          0         

60 Days Late:             4                                                          0         

90 Days Late:             3                                                          0

Credit Scores: FICOs: TU 721 | Plus FAKOs: EX 726, EQ 739, TU 735 | CK FAKOs: Transrisk 689, Vantage 790
My Wallet: Amex Green (NPSL) | Amex SPG (21.6K) | Citi ThankYou Preferred (10.5K) | Amex BCE (8K) | US Air Premier MC (9.5K) | Chase Sapphire Preferred (8.5K) | Chase Freedom (5K) | Barclays Arrival (5K) | Pier 1 (2.5K) | Express (0.8K) | Kohl's (0.5K)
DH's Wallet (AU): Amex PRG (NPSL) | Chase Sapphire Preferred (26.2K) | Amex Delta (22.5K) | Barclays Arrival (12.8K) | CareCredit (8K) | Amex BCE (7.5K) | Chase Freedom (7K) | Sears Citi (6K) | Victoria's Secret (1K)
Message 1 of 12
11 REPLIES 11
greenpang
Contributor

Re: Old baddie...modified? Still a baddie or not?

BTW, this was the most recent communication I sent...

 

 

 

To Whom It May Concern:

 
I am writing regarding an urgent matter requiring your immediate attention and action.
 
For identification purposes, my name is XXXX, my date of birth is XXXX, and my current address is XXXX.
 
Today, December 20, 2012, I received an alert from my credit monitoring service that you have placed a hard inquiry on my Equifax credit file dated December 18, 2012.
 
As you are aware, it is against federal law for an entity to view a consumer's credit report without a permissible purpose. As I did not apply for credit, nor did I request a credit line increase from your company on or near the date of December 18, 2012, you are in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act 15 USC § 1681b.
 
I am a subscriber to American Express's CreditSecure credit monitoring service, and they have alerted me of this hard inquiry. The details now appearing on my Equifax credit report are as follows: 
 
Reported By:  Equifax 
Reported On: 12/20/2012 
Inquiry Date: 12/18/2012 
Inquirer's Name:       GEMB 
Inquirer's Address:   PO Box 981440 El Paso, TX 79998-1440
 

I did not authorize this hard inquiry, and this hard inquiry was performed under false pretenses as described in the clear language of the law [Fair Credit Reporting Act 15 USC § 1681b.]: "A consumer reporting agency may furnish a consumer report under the following circumstances and no other: (1) In response to the order of a court having jurisdiction to issue such an order, or a subpoena issued in connection with proceedings before a Federal grand jury. (2) In accordance with the written instructions of the consumer to whom it relates. (3) To a person which it has reason to believe-- (A) intends to use the information in connection with a credit transaction involving the consumer on whom the information is to be furnished and involving the extension of credit to, or review or collection of an account of, the consumer; or (B) intends to use the information for employment purposes; or (C) intends to use the information in connection with the underwriting of insurance involving the consumer; or (D) intends to use the information in connection with a determination of the consumer's eligibility for a license or other benefit granted by a governmental instrumentality required by law to consider an applicant's financial responsibility or status; or (E) otherwise has a legitimate business need for the information in connection with a business transaction involving the consumer."

 

You are civilly liable to me for your willful violation of the law -- performing a "hard inquiry" on my Equifax file without my permission. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act 15 USC § 1681n(a)(1)(B): "Any consumer reporting agency or user of information which willfully fails to comply with any requirement imposed under this title with respect to any consumer is liable to that consumer in an amount equal to the sum of--(1) any actual damages sustained by the consumer as a result of the failure; (2) such amount of punitive damages as the court may allow; and (3) in the case of any successful action to enforce any liability under this section, the costs of the action together with reasonable attorney's fees as determined by the court." 

 
I hope that we can settle this matter amicably. I will allow one (1) business day from the date of this correspondence for you to remove the inquiry from my Equifax file. If this inquiry is not removed from my Equifax credit file by tomorrow, December 21, 2012, I will file legal charges immediately, and we will meet in court where you will remove the inquiry, pay me a civil liability fine, punitive damages for my score drop, as well as court and attorney fees.
 
Additionally, I will file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau regarding the following:
1) The unauthorized hard inquiry described above
2) Your negligence and consistent lack of response regarding your inaccurate reporting of a delinquent account.
 
As I did not apply for any credit lines with GEMB recently, I can only imagine that you conducted this unauthorized hard pull of my credit report in relation to the concern I contacted you about on December 16 (See the email below).
 
Your customer service representatives have repeatedly confirmed to me that my old CareCredit account beginning with XXXX**** was SETTLED IN FULL AND CLOSED, but it is reported to both my Equifax and TransUnion credit files as CURRENTLY DELINQUENT, 120 DAYS LATE. The fact that you are reporting this paid account as currently delinquent hurts my credit significantly and unfairly.
 
Customer service representatives in the Recovery Department have indicated to me that this would be corrected immediately, but GEMB has failed to correct this error. I have left several voicemails both last week and this week for XXXX, Recovery Manager, and he has not returned my correspondence.
 
As I am certain you will see from your recent unauthorized hard pull of my Equifax credit report, I have an exceptional credit record for over 4 years, and I am a current customer with CareCredit -- an account I opened with you in March 2012. As you can also see, I am a responsible customer who paid my CareCredit bill early every month, and it is entirely paid in full. (For your reference, this current account with you is Account Number XXXX.)
 
I have been a loyal customer with GE and have demonstrated an exceptional payment history with you. I am extremely disappointed that your company has been completely unresponsive to my concerns and entirely unhelpful in correcting your error on my credit report. I am further disturbed by the fact that you have violated federal law by viewing my Equifax credit report without my permission.
 
I expect the following by 4pm EST, tomorrow, December 21, 2012:
1. Removal of your unauthorized hard inquiry from my Equifax credit file
2. Removal of your inaccurately reporting delinquency: CareCredit account XXXX****
 
Failure to comply will result in immediate legal on my behalf, and I will also file a formal complaint against you with the Better Business Bureau. 
 
It is unfortunate that your behavior has forced me to resort to such extreme measures. As a loyal customer and current responsible borrower, I expect much better from the relationships with my credit agencies. I trust you will rectify these mistakes immediately so that further action is not required.
 
Please feel free to contact me by phone at XXXX or email XXXX if you have any further questions.
 
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
 
Sincerely,
XXXX
Credit Scores: FICOs: TU 721 | Plus FAKOs: EX 726, EQ 739, TU 735 | CK FAKOs: Transrisk 689, Vantage 790
My Wallet: Amex Green (NPSL) | Amex SPG (21.6K) | Citi ThankYou Preferred (10.5K) | Amex BCE (8K) | US Air Premier MC (9.5K) | Chase Sapphire Preferred (8.5K) | Chase Freedom (5K) | Barclays Arrival (5K) | Pier 1 (2.5K) | Express (0.8K) | Kohl's (0.5K)
DH's Wallet (AU): Amex PRG (NPSL) | Chase Sapphire Preferred (26.2K) | Amex Delta (22.5K) | Barclays Arrival (12.8K) | CareCredit (8K) | Amex BCE (7.5K) | Chase Freedom (7K) | Sears Citi (6K) | Victoria's Secret (1K)
Message 2 of 12
pizzadude
Credit Mentor

Re: Old baddie...modified? Still a baddie or not?

Yes, this is still a derogatory account because of the notation "Settled - less than full balance". Any settlement will ding your FICO® score.
March2010 FICO® ~ 695 TU, 653 EQ, 697 EX
Message 3 of 12
greenpang
Contributor

Re: Old baddie...modified? Still a baddie or not?


@pizzadude wrote:
Yes, this is still a derogatory account because of the notation "Settled - less than full balance". Any settlement will ding your FICO® score.

Right, my two other baddies are the same situation, but they say "Legally paid in full for less than the full balance" for "Payment Status" rather than "Paid or paying as agreed." And now my number of derogatory marks is listed as 2, rather than 3. It's only in the "Remarks/Comments" field that the settlement is noted.

 

So it appears there is nothing in the scoring algorithm that can detect this as a derogatory account from the "Remarks" field alone.

 

How does that play out with a lender? Everything reports as A-OK with this, but the remarks indicate otherwise...?

Credit Scores: FICOs: TU 721 | Plus FAKOs: EX 726, EQ 739, TU 735 | CK FAKOs: Transrisk 689, Vantage 790
My Wallet: Amex Green (NPSL) | Amex SPG (21.6K) | Citi ThankYou Preferred (10.5K) | Amex BCE (8K) | US Air Premier MC (9.5K) | Chase Sapphire Preferred (8.5K) | Chase Freedom (5K) | Barclays Arrival (5K) | Pier 1 (2.5K) | Express (0.8K) | Kohl's (0.5K)
DH's Wallet (AU): Amex PRG (NPSL) | Chase Sapphire Preferred (26.2K) | Amex Delta (22.5K) | Barclays Arrival (12.8K) | CareCredit (8K) | Amex BCE (7.5K) | Chase Freedom (7K) | Sears Citi (6K) | Victoria's Secret (1K)
Message 4 of 12
pizzadude
Credit Mentor

Re: Old baddie...modified? Still a baddie or not?

Are those comments from a FICO® score & report ? I would be surprised if this account was scored positively. I have always heard that settlement notations are a derogatory remark.
March2010 FICO® ~ 695 TU, 653 EQ, 697 EX
Message 5 of 12
jandj80
Regular Contributor

Re: Old baddie...modified? Still a baddie or not?

If it is not flagged as a negative account, I would say no. I think that the "current" notation is what is being used for scoring purposes, as well as the fact that the payment history is wiped clean. I would check your score and see if it changed. A manual review might draw questions, but as far as computerized scoring, it looks positive to me. 


Starting Score: EQ 416 TU 498 EX 468 Lender Fico's July 2012
Current Score: EQ 674 TU 679 Ex 686 EX
Goal Score: For now: 640s


Take the FICO Fitness Challenge
Message 6 of 12
greenpang
Contributor

Re: Old baddie...modified? Still a baddie or not?


@pizzadude wrote:
Are those comments from a FICO® score & report ? I would be surprised if this account was scored positively. I have always heard that settlement notations are a derogatory remark.

I have not checked on FICO yet. (This change just came through.) That was from TransUnion (Vantage Score).

 

But logically, how could FICO's brain figure this out? There are an unlimited number of phrases that could be in the "Remarks/Comments" field. Settlement notations are certainly a derogatory remark, but what counts as a "notation"? My other two old settlements note this in Payment Status. The difference here is that the Payment Status reads as current, and it is only in the Comments that this is mentioned. FICO uses a complicated algorithm, but does it really read the free-response comments?

 

I refreshed my report on Amex's CreditSecure (PLUS scores), and there is also no negative indicator on any of the fields there; it is only mentioned in the comments.

 

I cannot imagine that the content of the Remarks/Comments field is part of FICO's calculation. I am unsure whether lenders can see the comments, and if they can, how likely they are to actually read them. (And if they do, how they would view an account that appears to be 100% positive but has a comment that sounds negative.)

Credit Scores: FICOs: TU 721 | Plus FAKOs: EX 726, EQ 739, TU 735 | CK FAKOs: Transrisk 689, Vantage 790
My Wallet: Amex Green (NPSL) | Amex SPG (21.6K) | Citi ThankYou Preferred (10.5K) | Amex BCE (8K) | US Air Premier MC (9.5K) | Chase Sapphire Preferred (8.5K) | Chase Freedom (5K) | Barclays Arrival (5K) | Pier 1 (2.5K) | Express (0.8K) | Kohl's (0.5K)
DH's Wallet (AU): Amex PRG (NPSL) | Chase Sapphire Preferred (26.2K) | Amex Delta (22.5K) | Barclays Arrival (12.8K) | CareCredit (8K) | Amex BCE (7.5K) | Chase Freedom (7K) | Sears Citi (6K) | Victoria's Secret (1K)
Message 7 of 12
pizzadude
Credit Mentor

Re: Old baddie...modified? Still a baddie or not?

My guess is that the comments field accommodates both pre~defined notations and free form comments; pre~defined comments like this can be scored by FICO®, and I believe that it will be viewed as a derogatory account.
March2010 FICO® ~ 695 TU, 653 EQ, 697 EX
Message 8 of 12
greenpang
Contributor

Re: Old baddie...modified? Still a baddie or not?

Well now I'm tempted to find out.

 

$15.96... hmm...

Credit Scores: FICOs: TU 721 | Plus FAKOs: EX 726, EQ 739, TU 735 | CK FAKOs: Transrisk 689, Vantage 790
My Wallet: Amex Green (NPSL) | Amex SPG (21.6K) | Citi ThankYou Preferred (10.5K) | Amex BCE (8K) | US Air Premier MC (9.5K) | Chase Sapphire Preferred (8.5K) | Chase Freedom (5K) | Barclays Arrival (5K) | Pier 1 (2.5K) | Express (0.8K) | Kohl's (0.5K)
DH's Wallet (AU): Amex PRG (NPSL) | Chase Sapphire Preferred (26.2K) | Amex Delta (22.5K) | Barclays Arrival (12.8K) | CareCredit (8K) | Amex BCE (7.5K) | Chase Freedom (7K) | Sears Citi (6K) | Victoria's Secret (1K)
Message 9 of 12
greenpang
Contributor

Re: Old baddie...modified? Still a baddie or not?

Ok I did it.

 

So... it is still flagged, BUT...

 

The jury is still out on whether it's flagged as a result of the Comment or this:

 

Unlike what transunion.com says (as I listed in the OP), FICO's TU report says --

 

30 days late - 0 times

60 days late - 0 times

90+ days late - 1 time (Dec 2006)

Credit Scores: FICOs: TU 721 | Plus FAKOs: EX 726, EQ 739, TU 735 | CK FAKOs: Transrisk 689, Vantage 790
My Wallet: Amex Green (NPSL) | Amex SPG (21.6K) | Citi ThankYou Preferred (10.5K) | Amex BCE (8K) | US Air Premier MC (9.5K) | Chase Sapphire Preferred (8.5K) | Chase Freedom (5K) | Barclays Arrival (5K) | Pier 1 (2.5K) | Express (0.8K) | Kohl's (0.5K)
DH's Wallet (AU): Amex PRG (NPSL) | Chase Sapphire Preferred (26.2K) | Amex Delta (22.5K) | Barclays Arrival (12.8K) | CareCredit (8K) | Amex BCE (7.5K) | Chase Freedom (7K) | Sears Citi (6K) | Victoria's Secret (1K)
Message 10 of 12
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.