Verizon Charge Off

[Anonymous]

I'm looking to buy my first house sometime this year and pulled my credit reports to see what's on them.

There was a Verizon charge off from 2/14 when I left them for another cell provider. This was after my two year contract was up.

The charge off showed as an open account with a balance of $400. I don't recall owing them anything, and I thought, "how is a charge off reporting as open with a balance?" so I disputed with the CR's. BAD IDEA.....

Verizon updated the reporting as accurate and added four 120+ day lates to the TL, 10/15,11/15,12/15,1/16!!

I also received a letter from a collection agency offering a 50% discount to settle.

I called Verizon and they forwarded me to the collection agency, saying that they (Verizon) still own the account but to pay the collection agency. I settled with the collection agency for 50% and have received a letter from them stating the account is settled and no further payments are due. The Verizon account has not updated to the CRB's yet so I don't know how this will pan out as far as effecting my scores. I asked Verizon if they would remove the lates and they said that since the charge off wasn't paid they can report it as late ever month until it's paid, and no, they will not remove them.

Do these lates effect my score as if I missed recent payments?

That's the way Verizon makes the account look, as if I had a current revolving contact with them.

[RobertEG]

Taking a charge-off relates to their internal business accounting, and does not affect the continued obligation for the full debt, or its continued status as delinquent.

If the account is delinquent and contnues to be unpaid, then the reporting of continued delinquency is proper.

Whether an account is being reported at a level of monthly delinquency or as a charge-off, if it continues to remain unpaid, the reporting can continue to be updated to show that it remains delinquent, and yes, that can continue to affect scoring.  However, upon payment of the debt, you terminated regular updates, so the CO will begin to lose scoring impact over time, and no additional delinquencies can be reported.

They are instructed by the CRAs not to delete payment history reporting based on payment of the debt.

To obtain deletion will require that they voluntarily grant a good-will deletion.

Verizon normally will not grant such deletions.

[Anonymous]

Seems to me Verizon used the most damaging reporting method they could. First they charge off the debt, then By retaining ownership of the account they get to zing me every month with lates while employing a debt collector to hunt me down. Of course they don't report the years of on time payments before I left them, only the negitive final bill.
The Verizon representative even tried to get me to switch back after I paid them. Rant over