topic Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments in General Credit Topics

Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 15:13:10 GMT

Hi All,

New to the community but in need of your thoughts.

I'm rebuilding and have three subprime cards to assist in this effort: Merrick Bank Visa (opened 7/16); First Premier Mastercard (opened 9/16) and Total Visa (opened 9/16). I have never missed a payment with any card.

I recently changed banks so I reset the payment account for all of the cards including the Merrick Visa. In April 2017, three attempted payments to Merrick Bank were returned because of an administrative error with the routing and account numbers at the new bank. I called Merrick Bank to advise them of the issue and I believed it was resolved. Two days after my call, I recevied a letter from Merrick Bank indicating that they were charging off my account because they were not confident that I could pay the balance. Needless to say, the charge off tanked all of my scores by 35 points. What can I do to fight this? I opened the card 7/16 with a limit of $700, Merrick doubled my limit 3/17 to $1400 and charged the account off 4/17.

Any advice to what to put in a letter to Merrick or the CRA is appreciated.

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 15:25:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi All,
New to the community but in need of your thoughts.

I'm rebuilding and have three subprime cards to assist in this effort: Merrick Bank Visa (opened 7/16); First Premier Mastercard (opened 9/16) and Total Visa (opened 9/16). I have never missed a payment with any card.

I recently changed banks so I reset the payment account for all of the cards including the Merrick Visa. In April 2017, three attempted payments to Merrick Bank were returned because of an administrative error with the routing and account numbers at the new bank. I called Merrick Bank to advise them of the issue and I believed it was resolved. Two days after my call, I recevied a letter from Merrick Bank indicating that they were charging off my account because they were not confident that I could pay the balance. Needless to say, the charge off tanked all of my scores by 35 points. What can I do to fight this? I opened the card 7/16 with a limit of $700, Merrick doubled my limit 3/17 to $1400 and charged the account off 4/17.

Any advice to what to put in a letter to Merrick or the CRA is appreciated.

was the error (highlighted) Merrick Banks fault or yours? My answer would depend on yours

I forgot to say WELCOME (sorry)

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 15:23:50 GMT

Mine, there were leading zeros in my new credit union member number that I inlcuded in my bill pay that I should not have.

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 15:34:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Mine, there were leading zeros in my new credit union member number that I inlcuded in my bill pay that I should not have.

Okay Doky...

Call Merrick and once again explain the mistake (be very humble) and offer to send bank letter to prove the money was there if it hadn't been for a typo on your part there would have been no problem of payment going thru.

If the agent says..NO

then write to them, explain again how it was a error on your part not intentional to avoid payment "as my past payment history has shown" and include a letter from bank stating what date opened and balance was available on the dates that Merrick tried (make sure you put your SSN, Acct #, addy and your full name on letter) .

I can't promise they will re-open, but your chance are good when you take responsibility and show remorse for a one time error

Good Luck!

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 15:44:52 GMT

Thanks for the advice. I just tried to call again and it looks like they have transferred the account to a debt collector already. They didn't waste anytime...

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 15:57:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the advice. I just tried to call again and it looks like they have transferred the account to a debt collector already. They didn't waste anytime...

Oh man...well what you can do from here is contact CAs and offer to "pay for delete" this is if you pay balance then they will delete from your credit report. But first you have to wait and let them contact you. The reason being, CAs pick these up for pennies on the dollar and they may offer you a "settlement" amount (witch is less then what the bill is if you don't pay it) but please note, Merrick could have added a couple of hundred for returned check fee, over the limit fees when they closed you down

but, if they sent it to debt collector and haven't sold it off, that can be an ok thing because if you pay it off then Merrick might let you back in after a year or so

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 15:58:18 GMT

Charge offs generally occur after 4 missed payments in a row over 4 months. How many months were you behind?

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:04:42 GMT

None, thats the thing. I was up to date, completely curent and they charged off my card.

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:06:37 GMT

File a complaint with the CPFB immediately -- the law requires that banks charge-off accounts that are 180 days delinquent but there is zero reason for a bank to charge-off an account with one late payment.

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

rmduhon — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:06:38 GMT

If the debt collector isn't reporting yet get an agreement to not report if you pay. If they aren't reporting a PFD won't work because there won't be anything to delete. Do this as soon as possible to keep it from going on your reports.

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

fltireguy — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:09:15 GMT

Something does not make sense here
So, you were NEVER 30 days late?

They can't charge the account off if you aren't past due. They can close it, that's about it.

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:42:49 GMT

@fltireguy wrote:
Something does not make sense here
So, you were NEVER 30 days late?

They can't charge the account off if you aren't past due. They can close it, that's about it.

That's exactly my thinking! I thought they could cancel the card but not charge it off. The letter states they "are not confident" I could repay the balance. That's it. Not one late payment. I just filed a complaint with CFPB but I wanted to send something to the CRAs but I don't even know where to start...

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:42:33 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the advice. I just tried to call again and it looks like they have transferred the account to a debt collector already. They didn't waste anytime...

Oh man...well what you can do from here is contact CAs and offer to "pay for delete" this is if you pay balance then they will delete from your credit report. But first you have to wait and let them contact you. The reason being, CAs pick these up for pennies on the dollar and they may offer you a "settlement" amount (witch is less then what the bill is if you don't pay it) but please note, Merrick could have added a couple of hundred for returned check fee, over the limit fees when they closed you down

but, if they sent it to debt collector and haven't sold it off, that can be an ok thing because if you pay it off then Merrick might let you back in after a year or so

Thank you for the advice. I would only hate to negotiate with the CA because I don't believe the account should have been charged off in the first place.

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:42:12 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
File a complaint with the CPFB immediately -- the law requires that banks charge-off accounts that are 180 days delinquent but there is zero reason for a bank to charge-off an account with one late payment.

I just did, thank you!

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:21:33 GMT

I did a little digging and the only result I came up with is that the lender CAN charge-off an account with just one returned payment IF the borrower was on a payment arrangement in the recent past and the lender informed them that any returned payments would lead to them considering the payment arrangement terms void.

Were you ever really late with Merrick and entered into a payment plan to catch up, and then got current? Then had a reversed payment?

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:43:32 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I did a little digging and the only result I came up with is that the lender CAN charge-off an account with just one returned payment IF the borrower was on a payment arrangement in the recent past and the lender informed them that any returned payments would lead to them considering the payment arrangement terms void.

Were you ever really late with Merrick and entered into a payment plan to catch up, and then got current? Then had a reversed payment?

No payment arragements. I paid the enitre bill every month until 2/17, 3/17 I just paid the minimum due and 4/17 they charged it off after the three returned payments attempts.

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:28:02 GMT

Ohhh so they're saying that your February, March and April payments were all returned? If so, that would make June 120 days late and can lead to chargeoff but I'm not sure.

CPFB should give you some clarity whenever they respond.

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 16:41:49 GMT

No, there were three attmepts for my April payment that were returned. Every month was paid on time. April 2017 wasn't even 30 days late.

@Anonymous wrote:
Ohhh so they're saying that your February, March and April payments were all returned? If so, that would make June 120 days late and can lead to chargeoff but I'm not sure.

CPFB should give you some clarity whenever they respond.

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 17:01:38 GMT

Something seems off here, like we're missing something. If I'm understanding correctly you always PIF up until March when you paid the minimum and let a balance carry forward. Then, in April you switched banks and had 3 returned payments before the April due date. They then CO before a payment was even late?

This seems really unlikely, even for a predatory lender (they want to keep their customers around to fee farm them). However, if this is the case, I would contact the collector as soon as you can, politely explain the situation, and arrange a deal to immediately pay the balance and have it erased from your report.

Assuming OP has told us everything, this serves as yet another warning against using "banks" like Credit One, Merrick, and First Premier. There are almost always better options available to you. After this issue is resolved, I'd recommend canceling your predatory accounts and going for a Discover and/or Cap1 secured card. They are pretty easy to get and they won't screw you over.

Best of luck!

Re: Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 18:09:49 GMT

This is why I gave the advice I did, OP stated he had 3 returned payments (for same month) and with Merrick, they state after one NSF they reserve the right (unless they changed the rules since DD got one in 16) to close account if it's not paid in full by due date. (originally wrote charge off..ment close)

OP also has the problem now that it's past the 30 days from original letter (he said 4/17) so that could be another reason it went to CO status if he hadn't paid it and can't get reinstated

I haven't ever had a CO but I have tried to help DD when she messed up her credit by not paying and a couple of NSFs and unfortunately these predatory lenders have people by the short hairs and one mistake can give them the ammunition they need to bend you over