Charge offs and reporting

[Anonymous]

I have an old Discovercard account that was charged off some time back, but they are still reporting late payments every month.  Is this legal?  I have sent them certified letters to attempt to settle the debt and gotten no response.

Is there anything I can do to get them to a) stop reporting missed payments b)retroactively remove missed payment reports back to the date of the charge off c)settle this debt all together (anyone had luck with Discover?)

thanks for any help that someone can offer.

[203bravo]

Well acutally the notation of "charge off" is an accounting term used by discover to write off the debt as bad debt, get it out of their active receivables, and get tax advantages for it.  It does not forgive you the responsiblity of paying the debt, so the payment is still late.

Not sure exactly what you are looking at or on which report.  Most reports direct to the consumer will show a payment history on a chart format and the acccount will go to 30 days late one month, 90 days late the next, then 120 days late the following month until they account for the charge off.  Then it will show "CO" for each month they update.  Are you suggesting that they are showing the CO for several months then suddenly going back to 30,60,120 days late notations?

[llecs]

The are unfortunately reporting correctly. They can continue to report lates every month up to the point it is sold to a CA, settled, or paid off in full. Moreover, they can continue to add interest each month.

Try using the PFD letters found in here. If trying to settle, then increase the percentage you are offering. However, you do not want to have it reported as "settled". A settled account is just as bad as a CO.

Can't speak for Discover, but some CCs like CapOne will be better off if PIF. CapOne is ruthless.

ETA...Bravo is a faster typer.

Message Edited by llecs on 01-23-2009 03:23 PM

[Anonymous]

I've actually sent them multiple PFD letters and haven't even received a response.  I want to pay the debt off immediately, but I am getting no correspondence from them.

I am not even sure if they sold the debt to a CA or not.  Like I said no correspondence at all.  

If they sell it to a CA are they allowed to continue reporting it each month?

thanks for everyone's help thusfar.

[llecs]

If/when they sell it, Discover will report a $0 balance and will stop reporting any lates from that date forward. The prev. lates will remain though. Plus you'd have a CA to deal with.

I'd look around to see other's experiences. Also try planetfeedback.com. E-mails will go straight to the execs and you may get lucky. Also try sending future PFDs to the CEO/pres. etc.