Credit card closed - please help!

[Anonymous]

I do not have any cc accounts, but have not closed the others. I do want to live debt free ( meaning no ccs), but am looking to buy a house this summer which could really wreck that plan. Really upsetting. Thank you for your reply.

[Anonymous]

I guess I shouldve said no other balances, old accounts, yes. I am definitely not wanting to close them now bc it will hurt my score even more!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I did move, but changed my address. I did not have electronic statements.

I'm curious what you mean here.  Where did you change your address?

[Anonymous]

wow im sorry to hear about this

[Anonymous]

I changed my address with the cc companies, post office, etc. I am not understanding how I would know I had a balance when I didn’t receive a statement.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I guess I shouldve said no other balances, old accounts, yes. I am definitely not wanting to close them now bc it will hurt my score even more!

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Closing accounts have no immediate effect on your credit score.  Accounts closed in good standing remain on your credit report for 10 years.  But if you close ALL your accounts you wouldn't be able to generate a FICO score since you need at least one account reporting for at least 6 months to have a FICO score.

[RobertEG]

You have a billing related matter for which you contest their finding of delinquencies in payment, and lack of billing statements upon which to base a finding of lack of payment of the min balance by the provided billing due date.

You thus have basis under section 161 of the Fair Credit Billing Act to file a dispute, which brings into play certain rights and prevents reporting to the CRAs until the matter is resolved.  I would strongly suggest filing a dispute under the FCBA.

However, FCBA disputes have a timeliness requirment for filing within 60 days of becoming aware of the billing related matter.

When did you become aware of the issue?

[Anonymous]

I only became aware of it yesterday. I did file a dispute with the credit bureau. I finally got someone from Regions on the phone this morning. I did have a $350 balance from residual interest. I made the payment and got the issue resolved. Should I file a dispute with Regions as well? I want my credit repaired!

[RobertEG]

FCBA disputes have stringent handling requirements that are more comprehensive than after-the-fact disputes under the FCRA.

Yes, if you meet the timeliness requirment of filing within 60 days after receiving notice of the billing related issue, then I would definately file an FCBA dispute with the creditor.  Make sure to send to review the dispute requirements before filing.....

[Anonymous]

It sounds like there are basically two issues at play here:

(1)  Fixing any of the reported lates on one account due to the residual interest issue.  RobertEG and others can help here.  You are also making progress with the creditor itself (Regions).

(2)  Your more general plan to live "debt-free."  While many of us do that here (we use our credit cards basically as debit cards, our loans if we have them are paid down to a small balance, etc.) it sounds like you adopted some variation of the severe approach recommended by people like Dave Ramsey, which involves closing all credit cards and paying off all loans.  And thus you have no accounts sending updates on open accounts.

Because of this you will end up with no credit scores of any kind, even if you get #1 fixed.  This will be a severe impediment in your goal to buy a house this summer.

I suggest you continue to work on #1 but also work on #2.  A mortgage lender will ideally want three open accounts.  #2 can be addressed completely independently of #1.  Unfortunately, it's hard for us to advise you on #2 because I don't think anyone has a clear idea of what is appearing on your reports (except a closed CC from Regions on which you have some late payments).