One of my first cards when I was starting to build credit was a Banana Republic retail card. Low limit and worthless rewards. I only kept it open due to the age of the account.
Unbeknownst to me, Barclays bought it a few months ago, UNENROLLED ME FROM AUTOMATIC PAYMENTS which I'd had in place for 10+ years, and reported me 30 days late to all 3 bureaus.
I was furious. They said they were unable to reverse it, so I just closed the account. (My history is old enough now. I don't need that crappy little retail card.)
Is there anything I can do to get that 30 day mark off my reports and go back to 120+ months of 100% on time payments? I know it's not the end of the world to drop to 99% but it just makes me so angry because I did nothing wrong. I had to idea my card had even been sold to them. 😔
Does anyone have any advice?
Thank you!
Starting Score: 580
@loviedovie wrote:One of my first cards when I was starting to build credit was a Banana Republic retail card. Low limit and worthless rewards. I only kept it open due to the age of the account.
Unbeknownst to me, Barclays bought it a few months ago, UNENROLLED ME FROM AUTOMATIC PAYMENTS which I'd had in place for 10+ years, and reported me 30 days late to all 3 bureaus.
I was furious. They said they were unable to reverse it, so I just closed the account. (My history is old enough now. I don't need that crappy little retail card.)
Is there anything I can do to get that 30 day mark off my reports and go back to 120+ months of 100% on time payments? I know it's not the end of the world to drop to 99% but it just makes me so angry because I did nothing wrong. I had to idea my card had even been sold to them. 😔
Unfortunately, techincally they are not the ones at fault, as annoying as it may be to hear that. Your auto payment was authorized to be done by whoever serviced the Banana Republic card previously, not Barclays; that's why the auto pay was cancelled. I'm not saying that it doesn't suck, just that you should take this as a lesson learned... Check every account at least once a month to make sure nothing jenky has happened. I personally check each of mine twice a month. You SHOULD have received an email or letter regarding the change of ownership. Poo on them if they didn't send one!
Now, there's still a chance you could get the 30 day lates reversed... But you won't get anywhere by phone. You need to send what's called a "Good Will" letter to Barclays politely explaining the situation and asking them nicely to remove the late. You are literally asking some corporate cog somewhere to do you a favor out of the goodness of their heart, so you write the letter accordingly.
You can search the 'net and the forums for examples of letters... They should explain what happened and what you are requesting, but should be relatively short.
Good luck... Keep us informed if you try this and if you get a response!
@Dalmus wrote:
@loviedovie wrote:One of my first cards when I was starting to build credit was a Banana Republic retail card. Low limit and worthless rewards. I only kept it open due to the age of the account.
Unbeknownst to me, Barclays bought it a few months ago, UNENROLLED ME FROM AUTOMATIC PAYMENTS which I'd had in place for 10+ years, and reported me 30 days late to all 3 bureaus.
I was furious. They said they were unable to reverse it, so I just closed the account. (My history is old enough now. I don't need that crappy little retail card.)
Is there anything I can do to get that 30 day mark off my reports and go back to 120+ months of 100% on time payments? I know it's not the end of the world to drop to 99% but it just makes me so angry because I did nothing wrong. I had to idea my card had even been sold to them. 😔
Unfortunately, techincally they are not the ones at fault, as annoying as it may be to hear that. Your auto payment was authorized to be done by whoever serviced the Banana Republic card previously, not Barclays; that's why the auto pay was cancelled. I'm not saying that it doesn't suck, just that you should take this as a lesson learned... Check every account at least once a month to make sure nothing jenky has happened. I personally check each of mine twice a month. You SHOULD have received an email or letter regarding the change of ownership. Poo on them if they didn't send one!
Now, there's still a chance you could get the 30 day lates reversed... But you won't get anywhere by phone. You need to send what's called a "Good Will" letter to Barclays politely explaining the situation and asking them nicely to remove the late. You are literally asking some corporate cog somewhere to do you a favor out of the goodness of their heart, so you write the letter accordingly.
You can search the 'net and the forums for examples of letters... They should explain what happened and what you are requesting, but should be relatively short.
Good luck... Keep us informed if you try this and if you get a response!
This.
@loviedovie wrote:One of my first cards when I was starting to build credit was a Banana Republic retail card. Low limit and worthless rewards. I only kept it open due to the age of the account.
Unbeknownst to me, Barclays bought it a few months ago, UNENROLLED ME FROM AUTOMATIC PAYMENTS which I'd had in place for 10+ years, and reported me 30 days late to all 3 bureaus.
I was furious. They said they were unable to reverse it, so I just closed the account. (My history is old enough now. I don't need that crappy little retail card.)
Is there anything I can do to get that 30 day mark off my reports and go back to 120+ months of 100% on time payments? I know it's not the end of the world to drop to 99% but it just makes me so angry because I did nothing wrong. I had to idea my card had even been sold to them. 😔
Does anyone have any advice?
Thank you!
I would
- write to Barclays and request that they remove it
- dispute it with the bureaus and
- complain to the CFPB
FWIW I find Barclays to be a very unpleasant bank.
@SouthJamaica wrote:FWIW I find Barclays to be a very unpleasant bank.
Thankfully, I have never had any issues with them... Of course, I never contact them so they don't have a chance to irritate me. 
Anyway, OP, your best bet is the goodwill letter along with proof that you never received any notices from BofA (rental contract showing that somebody else lived at the address notices was sent to for the entire time they were sending notices would be great).
As someone else said, go to annualcreditreport.com and get a copy of each of your credit reports and go through them with a fine-toothed comb.
{edited to remove the brain-dead reference to court action because I was thinking of a completely different post!}
Thank you Dalmus!
Any idea where I might find exmaples of a goodwill letter? (Or where to send it to?)
I got a goodwill deletion from Verizon once when they mailed a final bill to an old address. I just asked nicely on the phone and they said yes. I don't see that working with Barclays... I will try a letter!