Should I dispute?

[mcharman]

I have a charge-off from a credit card a family member got in my name several years ago with RBC Bank. It should be coming off my credit report in August of this year since the DOLD was August 2005. I have heard that you can sometimes dispute an account like this a couple months before the date scheduled for it to drop off and you might be able to get it off earlier. Does anyone know if this work? If so, when should I try disputing it?

[rckstrscott]

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@mcharman wrote:
I have a charge-off from a credit card a family member got in my name several years ago with RBC Bank. It should be coming off my credit report in August of this year since the DOLD was August 2005. I have heard that you can sometimes dispute an account like this a couple months before the date scheduled for it to drop off and you might be able to get it off earlier. Does anyone know if this work? If so, when should I try disputing it?

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Well, this is indentity theft and not really an issue for the CRA. However, being a family member, some people don't want to jam them up by filing a police report. So I get that. However, without legal recourse filed, the CRAs will assume this debt is yours, and you cannot refute that by claiming indentity theft without a police report.

The main issue is, you are disputing what exactly? You are disputing the account isn't yours? What bass do you have to make your dispute? Is it just to remove it early?

The whole 'CRA removing in lieu of validation for old accounts' seems to have some merit, I have heard/see people online have success with that. But unless this charge off is the only thing holding you back from have perfect credit, I doubt you will get a big score increase even if it falls off early, as its not doing a ton of damage if it is intermixed with other negative credit.

-scott

[mcharman]

This account is actually the only negative mark I have on my credit. The same family member got 3 other cards in my name around the same time. You're right...I didn't want to press charges so I didn't have many options. The other 3 banks worked with me, given the situation, and agreed to remove the negative marks if I paid the accounts, which I did. RBC never would agree to that so I didn't pay that account. My only goal in disputing would be to have it removed a little earlier. I would like to refinance my car at a lower rate. I'm just not sure if that's an option.

[drkaje]

Refusing to file a police report is essentially accepting responsibility for the debt. Really no point disputing a legitimate debt.

I'd try with the creditor again. Maybe they'll remove the account or late a few months early as a courtesy.