topic Re: Disputing closed CC account? in Credit Cards

Disputing closed CC account?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:11:38 GMT

So I was wondering, what happens if you dispute a closed CC account? Would they still verify it, or would it drop off? I don't mean a negative account on your reports - I mean an account closed in good standing.

I'm not really exactly sure where I'm going with this train of thought, but I just suddenly thought of it.

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:13:17 GMT

Could you elaborate? I'm not sure what you're trying to say..

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:29:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Could you elaborate? I'm not sure what you're trying to say..

Okay, say you have a credit card account that you closed with a $0 balance - no negatives, no lates, just closed upon customer request. It's just sitting on your credit report as an account closed in good standing. If you disputed that account with the CRA, what would happen? Would the creditor actually verify the account? Or would it just get removed off your report, since it's no longer an open account?

I've read people saying that if you have a closed account that drops off your report early, you'll have a really hard/impossible time getting it added back on. I was wondering if the same would be true in reverse, where they'd drop off easily?

I think I had some master plan as to why that would be beneficial, but I can't think of what it was right now.

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:32:07 GMT

They won't remove it for 7 years, it would probably hurt your fico if you removed it because of the aaoa

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:37:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
They won't remove it for 7 years, it would probably hurt your fico if you removed it because of the aaoa

I thought it was 10 years for positive accounts?

Oh, that AAOA thing reminded me of what I was thinking!

Say you apply for a card and get approved, but the terms (or CL) are awful, and you decide you really don't want it. You'll take the ding for the inquiry, for a new account being opened, and your AAOA going down because of the brand new tradeline.

But if you closed the account in good standing and then disputed it, and it was removed from your report, you'd only end up with the inquiry damage - you wouldn't have it hurting your AAOA.

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:42:28 GMT

The account keeps aging, at least, from what I was told the other day, even if closed.

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

MarineVietVet — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:50:04 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
They won't remove it for 7 years, it would probably hurt your fico if you removed it because of the aaoa

I thought it was 10 years for positive accounts? Generally that's how it works.

Oh, that AAOA thing reminded me of what I was thinking!

Say you apply for a card and get approved, but the terms (or CL) are awful, and you decide you really don't want it. You'll take the ding for the inquiry, for a new account being opened, and your AAOA going down because of the brand new tradeline.

But if you closed the account in good standing and then disputed it, and it was removed from your report, you'd only end up with the inquiry damage - you wouldn't have it hurting your AAOA. On what basis would you dispute it? It's not reporting incorrectly..

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:53:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
The account keeps aging, at least, from what I was told the other day, even if closed.

Over time, yes, it will. I'm talking about short term benefit.

If you had two cards, one with a 6 year history and one with a 2 year history - your AAOA would be 4 years. If you added a new card, it would drop your AAOA down to 2.6 (so probably 2) years. Over time, that new account would age, even if closed. But if you closed it and got it removed right away, it would bump your AAOA back to 4 years. So short-term, you'd get your AAOA back up.

With as short of a credit history as I have, it makes no difference to me at this point, I'm just curious if it would theoretically work. I'm not sure if it's really legitimate or not, but considering you can get GW letters written to remove BAD accounts, I can't imagine you wouldn't be allowed to remove a GOOD account from your history.

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:56:15 GMT

@MarineVietVet wrote:
On what basis would you dispute it? It's not reporting incorrectly..

I don't really have a good answer to that.

I just figured that people get late payments removed and derogatory accounts removed, and those are often accurate and correct. They just manage to dispute it or get a GW letter written to get it removed. And those are negative accounts - you'd think removing a positive account from your history would be less frowned upon than removing a negative account.

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

MarineVietVet — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:59:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I don't really have a good answer to that.

I just figured that people get late payments removed and derogatory accounts removed, and those are often accurate and correct. They just manage to dispute it or get a GW letter written to get it removed. And those are negative accounts - you'd think removing a positive account from your history would be less frowned upon than removing a negative account.

Just a very gentle reminder that disputing accurate information is considered unethical credit repair.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:59:26 GMT

To be honest, it'd help in the short term, but in the long term, having more accounts with longer history will help with getting that card that you really want later on..

I have a really short history myself, 2.4Years and now two new accounts (Chase Freedom and AmEx BCE, not yet reporting). But even if I should close one, I'd rather it report just to show that other banks have approved me despite my short history. Plus they keep aging.

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:04:46 GMT

@MarineVietVet wrote:

Just a very gentle reminder that disputing accurate information is considered unethical credit repair.

I don't disagree in the least!

But isn't that what every single goodwill letter is? By having a goodwill letter approved, you're having accurate information removed from your reports in order to repair your credit.

If someone defaulted on an account or had a forclosure or repossession, that's accurate information. If someone had late payments, that's also accurate information. Getting those removed from your report seems even more morally questionable, since you're getting rid of accurate negative information for the sole purpose of misleading future lenders and improving your current credit standing. Yet I'm always seeing threads here about people writing GW letters to get baddies removed.

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

mmduluth — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:05:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@MarineVietVet wrote:

Just a very gentle reminder that disputing accurate information is considered unethical credit repair.

I don't disagree in the least!

But isn't that what every single goodwill letter is? By having a goodwill letter approved, you're having accurate information removed from your reports in order to repair your credit.

If someone defaulted on an account or had a forclosure or repossession, that's accurate information. If someone had late payments, that's also accurate information. Getting those removed from your report seems even more morally questionable, since you're getting rid of accurate negative information for the sole purpose of misleading future lenders and improving your current credit standing. Yet I'm always seeing threads here about people writing GW letters to get baddies removed.

Very good point.

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:07:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
To be honest, it'd help in the short term, but in the long term, having more accounts with longer history will help with getting that card that you really want later on..

I have a really short history myself, 2.4Years and now two new accounts (Chase Freedom and AmEx BCE, not yet reporting). But even if I should close one, I'd rather it report just to show that other banks have approved me despite my short history. Plus they keep aging.

Oh yeah, I'm in the same boat, expect my AAOA is even shorter. I'll have 8 accounts as soon as my new Discover comes in, and my oldest account was only opened a year ago. Even if I got rid of half of my accounts, the impact on my AAOA would be negligible. And in the long term, it'll be wonderful to have a bunch of old(er) accounts showing up on my report.

So it's really not something I'm planning to do, I'm more curious as to whether or not it would work.

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

android01 — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:08:12 GMT

I disputed two accounts closed in good standing this year. Both accounts were around ten years old and both were due to fall off my report in March and September of 2012 respectively. I disputed them as obsolete. Both were deleted, and I saw a thirteen point increase in my FICO scores. Why? Because both were younger than my AAoA resulting in an increase in my AAoA when they were deleted.

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:08:33 GMT

To be honest, I think the CRAs would see your letters as frivolous. (In thier eyes at least, maybe not to you..)

friv·o·lous/ˈfrivələs/

Adjective:

Not having any serious purpose or value: "rules to stop frivolous lawsuits".

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:09:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
To be honest, it'd help in the short term, but in the long term, having more accounts with longer history will help with getting that card that you really want later on..

I have a really short history myself, 2.4Years and now two new accounts (Chase Freedom and AmEx BCE, not yet reporting). But even if I should close one, I'd rather it report just to show that other banks have approved me despite my short history. Plus they keep aging.

Oh yeah, I'm in the same boat, expect my AAOA is even shorter. I'll have 8 accounts as soon as my new Discover comes in, and my oldest account was only opened a year ago. Even if I got rid of half of my accounts, the impact on my AAOA would be negligible. And in the long term, it'll be wonderful to have a bunch of old(er) accounts showing up on my report.

So it's really not something I'm planning to do, I'm more curious as to whether or not it would work.

I should rephrase what ya quoted. I have one account at 2.4yrs. So technically theres no "Average." It just is..

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:10:16 GMT

@android01 wrote:
I disputed two accounts closed in good standing this year. Both accounts were around ten years old and both were due to fall off my report in March and September of 2012 respectively. I disputed them as obsolete. Both were deleted, and I saw a thirteen point increase in my FICO scores. Why? Because both were younger than my AAoA resulting in an increase in my AAoA when they were deleted.

Ah, see, that's a good reason to dispute them. I wasn't sure what basis you could dispute them on, but considering they're old/closed accounts, they are obsolete.

And that's basically what I figured, if it causes an increase in AAOA, it could give you a FICO boost.

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

android01 — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:18:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@android01 wrote:
I disputed two accounts closed in good standing this year. Both accounts were around ten years old and both were due to fall off my report in March and September of 2012 respectively. I disputed them as obsolete. Both were deleted, and I saw a thirteen point increase in my FICO scores. Why? Because both were younger than my AAoA resulting in an increase in my AAoA when they were deleted.
Ah, see, that's a good reason to dispute them. I wasn't sure what basis you could dispute them on, but considering they're old/closed accounts, they are obsolete.

And that's basically what I figured, if it causes an increase in AAOA, it could give you a FICO boost.

I was fairly confident that the one due to fall off in March would be deleted, but was somewhat surprised that the one due to fall off in September was deleted. The "obsolete" dispute generally doesn't work if the account closing date is more than six months out. I did it basically just to clean up my files and wasn't trying for the result it acheived, but i was pleasantly surprised nonetheless.

Re: Disputing closed CC account?

MarineVietVet — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:38:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I don't disagree in the least!

But isn't that what every single goodwill letter is? By having a goodwill letter approved, you're having accurate information removed from your reports in order to repair your credit.

If someone defaulted on an account or had a forclosure or repossession, that's accurate information. If someone had late payments, that's also accurate information. Getting those removed from your report seems even more morally questionable, since you're getting rid of accurate negative information for the sole purpose of misleading future lenders and improving your current credit standing. Yet I'm always seeing threads here about people writing GW letters to get baddies removed.

But a GW for any reason is not disputing the accuracy of the reporting. It's simply asking that the accurate reporting is removed early. By the very act of GW'ing the writer is confirming and agreeing to the accuracy of the reporting.