Merrick Bank - Charge Off Because of Returned Payments

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi All,

New to the community but in need of your thoughts.

I'm rebuilding and have three subprime cards to assist in this effort: Merrick Bank Visa (opened 7/16); First Premier Mastercard (opened 9/16) and Total Visa (opened 9/16). I have never missed a payment with any card.  

I recently changed banks so I reset the payment account for all of the cards including the Merrick Visa.  In April 2017, three attempted payments to Merrick Bank were returned because of an administrative error with the routing and account numbers at the new bank.  I called Merrick Bank to advise them of the issue and I believed it was resolved.  Two days after my call, I recevied a letter from Merrick Bank indicating that they were charging off my account because they were not confident that I could pay the balance.  Needless to say, the charge off tanked all of my scores by 35 points.  What can I do to fight this?  I opened the card 7/16 with a limit of $700, Merrick doubled my limit 3/17 to $1400 and charged the account off 4/17.

Any advice to what to put in a letter to Merrick or the CRA is appreciated. 

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OP can you double check your CR and make sure they say "Charged Off" and not "Closed by Guarantor/Issuer"? because it's a big difference in the two and your scores could drop that much by losing CL/UTI and if they reported you with a 30 day late (normally you don't get a letter saying "charge off" .. at least my DD didn't) , it's usual to get a letter when account is closed and the "charge off" only appears on the CRAs

thanks

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Something seems off here, like we're missing something. If I'm understanding correctly you always PIF up until March when you paid the minimum and let a balance carry forward. Then, in April you switched banks and had 3 returned payments before the April due date. They then CO before a payment was even late?

This seems really unlikely, even for a predatory lender (they want to keep their customers around to fee farm them). However, if this is the case, I would contact the collector as soon as you can, politely explain the situation, and arrange a deal to immediately pay the balance and have it erased from your report.

Assuming OP has told us everything, this serves as yet another warning against using "banks" like Credit One, Merrick, and First Premier. There are almost always better options available to you. After this issue is resolved, I'd recommend canceling your predatory accounts and going for a Discover and/or Cap1 secured card. They are pretty easy to get and they won't screw you over.

Best of luck!

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Yes, that's correct.  If I could go back, I would've just gotten secured cards but when you're trying to rebuild you just can't be picky.  Certainly can't wait to have this resolved.  I started out last July with a 502 TU/515 EX and by April I was up to 625 TU/618EX the charge off just killed me.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi All,

New to the community but in need of your thoughts.

I'm rebuilding and have three subprime cards to assist in this effort: Merrick Bank Visa (opened 7/16); First Premier Mastercard (opened 9/16) and Total Visa (opened 9/16). I have never missed a payment with any card.  

I recently changed banks so I reset the payment account for all of the cards including the Merrick Visa.  In April 2017, three attempted payments to Merrick Bank were returned because of an administrative error with the routing and account numbers at the new bank.  I called Merrick Bank to advise them of the issue and I believed it was resolved.  Two days after my call, I recevied a letter from Merrick Bank indicating that they were charging off my account because they were not confident that I could pay the balance.  Needless to say, the charge off tanked all of my scores by 35 points.  What can I do to fight this?  I opened the card 7/16 with a limit of $700, Merrick doubled my limit 3/17 to $1400 and charged the account off 4/17.

Any advice to what to put in a letter to Merrick or the CRA is appreciated. 

---

OP can you double check your CR and make sure they say "Charged Off" and not "Closed by Guarantor/Issuer"? because it's a big difference in the two and your scores could drop that much by losing CL/UTI and if they reported you with a 30 day late (normally you don't get a letter saying "charge off" .. at least my DD didn't) , it's usual to get a letter when account is closed and the "charge off" only appears on the CRAs

thanks

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Its a Charge Off.  I just sent a copy of the letter to CFPB.  I'm really hoping it can get resolved.  Also, what does "DD" mean?

[Anonymous]

It means "Darling Daughter"

so the orignl letter actually said "charge off"?

[AverageJoesCredit]

Doesnt a creditor have to give you opportunity to pay off account before charging off? I thought thats,a last resort if they dont collect whats owed. Normally i would think theyd contact you and after certain time pass it to a collection agency. To just up and decide your accounts charged off seems petty and kind of ridiculous. An error was made it happens. Can you imagine if everytime a someone didnt mske a payment and creditor just decided to charge off on spot, what kind of credit world would be left?

[Anonymous]

Aha! It did say charge off unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Doesnt a creditor have to give you opportunity to pay off account before charging off? I thought thats,a last resort if they dont collect whats owed. Normally i would think theyd contact you and after certain time pass it to a collection agency. To just up and decide your accounts charged off seems petty and kind of ridiculous. An error was made it happens. Can you imagine if everytime a someone didnt mske a payment and creditor just decided to charge off on spot, what kind of credit world would be left?

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that's why I was trying to figure out if OPs original letter from Merrick says "charged off:, but if it was stated "closed" and he failed to pay apr & may because then it makes sense it was charged off because then the last payment would have been march

[Anonymous]

Sorry to keep asking questions OP, but when was your last/ontime payment (don't add NSFs please), because if it was March or Feb then there really isn' recourse....but if you made payments in Apr & May... I would still write the letter showing the payments, and from bank verifying no bad intentions and ask for a recon/reinstatement

[Anonymous]

For OP and others who aren't aware, I have a pretty reasonable way to make first time payments on new credit cards (or if I change banks!):

1. I will PULL a payment (meaning, go to the credit card website and make a payment) for a small amount or the minimum due.  I will do this the first time I'm able to (say, after a statement cuts) or when I get a new bank account.
2. I will also PUSH a payment (meaning, go to my bank's website and use the bill pay feature) of a small amount but a different amount from #1's payment.

Then I will log in to the credit card website to confirm that BOTH payments were accepted.  If one wasn't, I will find out why, correct it, and send a new payment using the method that failed.

I hate changing banks, so I do it very very rarely.  I actually use the same Chase checking account I opened in 1997 JUST FOR CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS because I know it works, the numbers never change, etc.  They're also the fastest push-payment method I've found, sometimes arriving the next day (even on weekends in some cases).

[Anonymous]

I was with BoA for over 26yrs and as soon as they offered "bill pay"..i jumped on that pony and rode on my merry way...never regretted it for a moment. When BoA and I had a parting of the ways (no longer cared for their services) I moved to "bill pay" with NFCU 2.5 yrs ago.  Outside of 2 lates in 25 (32 TLs) years I have never missed a payment and I give "bill pay" all the credit.  However, I still keep a ledger and I write down every payment/date/spend and the bal....call me "old fashioned" but I love it when I can put a big ol' zero on a bal owed

my 2 lates were because I forgot to add back to bill pay and I was in hosp, but paid the day I got out ...fees waived but still took a hit on both one company "goodwill removal" but other (not naming names..right Cap One?)

also I am very fortunate that being military (now ret) I know exactly when my pay days are

anywho..if you have a bank..do bill pay if you can for at least the min and that way you will never be late or miss a payment (you can always go online and pay more)