Declined For American Express Sync because of charge off

[Denny33142]

I applied for the Amex Sync card and was instantly declined for the following reason:

Utilization Too High

Seriously Delinquent accounts

Late Payments on Accounts

I checked all of my credit reports and the only negative item is a Bank Of America Charge Off :

Date Closed: Dec, 2010

Credit Card

Credit Limit: $500

High Balance: $796

Revolving Account

Individual Account

Banks

I have 2 credit cards both with a combined utilization of 16% and no late payments, and the only negative item on my account on all 3 reports is that 1 charge off, i have no collection accounts, my question is how can 1 negative item hurt my score and ability to get credit so much? and what's worst all my open accounts are payed as agreed with a utilization of 16%, yet i am getting declined for credit cards because that charge off is counting towards my utilization which is hurting me real bad, is there anyway i can resolve this? am i seriously not going to be able to get a decent credit card because of 1 negative item on my report?

[Anonymous]

What is the Sync card?  I never heard of it.  Do you mean Zync>

[drsmith]

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@Denny33142 wrote:

am i seriously not going to be able to get a decent credit card because of 1 negative item on my report?

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Yes

A charge off is absolutely terrible for your credit report. Your chargeoff is less than a year old too. I don't think you're going to have much luck with anyone but subprime lenders and secured cards. No offense, but Amex is very conservative, and as long as your chargeoff is reporting, they're probably not going to be an option for you for several years.

[Anonymous]

I know exactly how you feel.

When I was in college, I moved and never paid my last water bill.  I remember seeing it right before the moving truck came, but I thought, "eh, $20, who cares?"

Fast forward eight years, the answer is: all creditors care.

I know that the amount of the charge off to BofA might seem pretty insignificant, but the credit "game" isn't really about dollar value, it's about behavior.  You can make a $1,000 payment on time for ten years, but the second an ignored $22 utility bill hits your credit report, you're in deep s**t.  Your FICO drops, you can't get credit and all of a sudden you find yourself feeling like a second class citizen because you didn't know that something so small could have such a big impact.  That's the game and if you want credit, you've got to play by it.

What I would do is call BofA and ask them if they still have the debt or if they've sold it to a collections agency.  If they haven't sold it, offer to pay it in exchange for deletion from your credit report (or better yet, to have the account status read "paid/closed"). I have no idea whether they'll comply, but you should absolutely try.

If they have sold it, you'll have to deal with the collection agency who bought it and then you're in a totally different game.

But that's a pretty recent debt, so if you're serious about getting another card/car loan/mortgage/etc. sometime in the next 7 years, you should call BofA immediately and see what they're willing to do to clean up your report.

[Denny33142]

The account is actually payed, i payed it off just 2 months after it was charged off but BofA did not want to negotiate a PFD, i had lost my job and was on unemployment and i was planning on paying off the card since i only owed $450 out of a 500 credit limit, but then i got hit with the annual fee which put the card over the limit and then on top of that they began charging late fees and over the limit fees which added an extra $200 to the balance, i was receving $200 a week of unemployment checks and simply could not afford to pay it, i payed it off as soon as i got a job but it was already charged off by then.

It sucks that my misfortune is going to cost me for the next 6 years.

[Anonymous]

American Express is notoroius for pulling EX, is that who they pulled for you (I assume you know which CRA they pulled since you say its only on one report).

You could try Barclays if your TU Fico is decent (I would guess 660 and above) and TU report is clean.

Discover is known to pull from EQ (depends on where you live) but I've read Discover pulls EQ alot, you could have a chance with them if your EQ Fico (just a guess 680+) and clean report.

But so many more factors come into play when apping for prime cards other than just your score (which is just a number), AAoA, New Accounts, INQ's, Util, CL's etc......

In my belief when apping for starter cards, those companies are not as sensitive, they actually expect to see those things I mentioned above. (to a degree)

But I'm sorry for your decline, and I wish you all the Best.

If I may ask, do you know you TU and EQ Ficos?

[Denny33142]

They pulled Experian, I applied for the Zync because i was told it was by far the easiest Amex Charge Card to get.

The BofA charge off is reporting on all 3 reports

My Fico is: EX: 630, EQ: 645, TU: 658

[clocktick]

What site(s) did you get those scores from and how old is your CO?

[Denny33142]

The EQ and TU scroes are from myFICO, the EX score is from Amex which they gave me when i was declined, not sure if its a real fico score or a score generated by amex, the charge off is only a year old.

[Anonymous]

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@Denny33142 wrote:

I applied for the Amex Sync card and was instantly declined for the following reason:

Utilization Too High

Seriously Delinquent accounts

Late Payments on Accounts

I checked all of my credit reports and the only negative item is a Bank Of America Charge Off :

Date Closed: Dec, 2010

Credit Card

Credit Limit: $500

High Balance: $796

Revolving Account

Individual Account

Banks

I have 2 credit cards both with a combined utilization of 16% and no late payments, and the only negative item on my account on all 3 reports is that 1 charge off, i have no collection accounts, my question is how can 1 negative item hurt my score and ability to get credit so much? and what's worst all my open accounts are payed as agreed with a utilization of 16%, yet i am getting declined for credit cards because that charge off is counting towards my utilization which is hurting me real bad, is there anyway i can resolve this? am i seriously not going to be able to get a decent credit card because of 1 negative item on my report?

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A recent chargeoff, paid or not, is virtually always a deal-breaker.  And since that derogatory is with Bank of America, there is almost no hope of having it removed via goodwill.

You'll just have to let it age.