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Anonymous
Not applicable

pay off or make payments

Hi. I have been paying off a few high limit credit cards from long ago. They were all closed by the creditor with balances remaining on them several years back. All are paid in full but one. All have had serious delinquencies several years ago but none went to collections and all payments for the last several years have been on time. I could pay off the last one this month. Or should I milk this thing for a few more months of payments to pay it off? My thinking initially was that even though the accounts were closed that they still reported a balance and a timely payment history that is showing on my reports. Or is any old balance on a closed account considered a bad thing? Just trying to map my strategy as to what to do next that will pay off in the way of scores now and in the long run.
Message 1 of 7
6 REPLIES 6
jamie123
Valued Contributor

Re: pay off or make payments

I think that you should call them and negotiate a PFD. Tell them you want to put this behind you and are willing to pay the remaining balance if they remove the account from the CRAs. All they can say is no.


Starting Score: EQ 653 6/21/12
Current Score: EQ 817 3/10/20 - EX 820 3/13/20 - TU 825 3/03/20
Message 2 of 7
NRB525
Super Contributor

Re: pay off or make payments


@Anonymous wrote:
Hi. I have been paying off a few high limit credit cards from long ago. They were all closed by the creditor with balances remaining on them several years back. All are paid in full but one. All have had serious delinquencies several years ago but none went to collections and all payments for the last several years have been on time. I could pay off the last one this month. Or should I milk this thing for a few more months of payments to pay it off? My thinking initially was that even though the accounts were closed that they still reported a balance and a timely payment history that is showing on my reports. Or is any old balance on a closed account considered a bad thing? Just trying to map my strategy as to what to do next that will pay off in the way of scores now and in the long run.

Welcome to the "closed account payoff" club. I've been working on several closed accounts, down to two closed accounts with balances serviced by Citi. I've not had payment issues, the accounts were casualties of the credit crisis backlash. I keep one because it has a 1.99% APR Forever offer, and the other because it still shows I have a $21k CL. Now that things are stabilized, I'm going to look into getting them reopened later this year. Both I am making double the minimum payment on, just to do some window dressing for a year.

 

Have you checked whether there are any indications the lender will re-open the account? All that on-time payment history does count for something with these accounts. The account is still technically "active" at the lender, you just can't add any more charges to it. They may say Ok, we can re-activate the account again. It might take a HP to get there, but with these zombie accounts, at least we have some idea what the CL looks like.

 

And that old Opening date sure looks nice. On both my cards serviced by Citi, they were opened in the year 2000. One other reason I want to try to get them active again.

High Bal Jan 2009 $116k on $146k limits 80% Util.
Oct 2014 $46k on $127k 36% util EQ 722 TU 727 EX 727
April 2018 $18k on $344k 5% util EQ 806 TU 810 EX 812
Jan 2019 $7.6k on $360k EQ 832 TU 839 EX 831
March 2021 $33k on $312k EQ 796 TU 798 EX 801
May 2021 Paid all Installments and Mortgages, one new Mortgage EQ 761 TY 774 EX 777
April 2022 EQ=811 TU=807 EX=805 - TU VS 3.0 765
Message 3 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: pay off or make payments

A game changer may have just happened. Never expected this in a million years. I sent one of my major cc companies a goodwill letter asking them to remove some of the older baddies. This account has been closed/inactive for 4 years...except for the regular monthly payments that paid it off a few weeks ago. Thought I was wasting my time, but nevertheless mailed off the letter. I do not know for sure if the baddies got deleted...time will tell...but I did find out that my old account has been reactivated and new card on the way! Never in a million years did I see this coming.
Message 4 of 7
NRB525
Super Contributor

Re: pay off or make payments


@Anonymous wrote:
A game changer may have just happened. Never expected this in a million years. I sent one of my major cc companies a goodwill letter asking them to remove some of the older baddies. This account has been closed/inactive for 4 years...except for the regular monthly payments that paid it off a few weeks ago. Thought I was wasting my time, but nevertheless mailed off the letter. I do not know for sure if the baddies got deleted...time will tell...but I did find out that my old account has been reactivated and new card on the way! Never in a million years did I see this coming.

Actually, not inactive during this time: just limited to monthly payments.

 

Congratulations on getting the card fully active again!

High Bal Jan 2009 $116k on $146k limits 80% Util.
Oct 2014 $46k on $127k 36% util EQ 722 TU 727 EX 727
April 2018 $18k on $344k 5% util EQ 806 TU 810 EX 812
Jan 2019 $7.6k on $360k EQ 832 TU 839 EX 831
March 2021 $33k on $312k EQ 796 TU 798 EX 801
May 2021 Paid all Installments and Mortgages, one new Mortgage EQ 761 TY 774 EX 777
April 2022 EQ=811 TU=807 EX=805 - TU VS 3.0 765
Message 5 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: pay off or make payments

NRB525, when you have a minute check your pm's.
Message 6 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: pay off or make payments

Update- just found out that the account activity that I presumed as an adjustment/reactivation may not have been the fairytale ending I thought it was. Have to wait to see exactly what did happen.
Message 7 of 7
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