Capital One deleted account from CRA's after closure

[CJ7]

I was an authorized user on a decades-old GM card.  The account owner passed away, so I called in to close the account.

Within a few days, the account went *poof* from all 3 CRA's on my reports.  Is there some reason it didn't continue to report

for 10 years, just because I was an AU?  Would I have any success in getting the account history placed back on my reports?

[Anonymous]

I believe this is par for the course for AU's. From everything I've read anyways. 

I bet your AAOA took a hit? How many points did you lose? 

[FinStar]

You were the AU and not primary accountholder. Let's face it, if the primary accountholder is deceased then the lender (per your instructions) will close the account and any AUs associated with the account are typically removed. The only exception is for joint accounts or where the account responsibility is transferred (i.e. POA, Trust, etc.).

So, it is unlikely you will be able to get the account to re-report.

[CJ7]

I probably lost 10 points, this was a few years ago. AOOA dropped by 7 years.

What I find odd is that the same lender is still reporting to the AU of an account

that I owned and closed 6 months ago.

[FinStar]

Ok but is the AU deceased? If you are the primary accountholder and close the account (and neither party is deceased) then the account will report under those stipulations.

[CJ7]

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@FinStar wrote:
Ok but is the AU deceased? If you are the primary accountholder and close the account (and neither party is deceased) then the account will report under those stipulations.

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Not deceased.  Seems I should have just closed the GM account without mentioning the deceased part...

[HeavenOhio]

"Deceased" will eventuallty land on the credit report.

[FinStar]

Except that whenever there's a public record associated with the deceased individual, then it would've been a matter of time before the account would've been shut down by the lender to avoid any potential liability, regardless of whether you used the account or not.

Bottom line, honesty is the best policy. So you did the right thing by letting them know.

[UncleB]

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@CJ7 wrote:

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@FinStar wrote:
Ok but is the AU deceased? If you are the primary accountholder and close the account (and neither party is deceased) then the account will report under those stipulations.

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Not deceased.  Seems I should have just closed the GM account without mentioning the deceased part...

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Just FYI generally speaking an AU can do anything on an account except for close it... usually only an account owner is allowed to do that, unless the owner is deceased, of course.

I'll also add that while creditors are allowed to report closed accounts for up to 10 years, they aren't required to.  Any attempt to get a removed AU account to start reporting again will likely be fruitless.

[UncleB]

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@FinStar wrote:
Except that whenever there's a public record associated with the deceased individual, then it would've been a matter of time before the account would've been shut down by the lender to avoid any potential liability, regardless of whether you used the account or not.

Bottom line, honesty is the best policy. So you did the right thing by letting them know.

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+1

As soon as the Social Security DMF (Death Master File) was updated lenders would have been able to find out the account holder was deceased. 

Many lenders are becoming increasingly efficient with this... just ask anybody who's SS# has been added to the DMF in error.