Old Discover account vanished ***updated***

[DoroLucky]

So I was trying to access my old account online and I could not get in with my user ID and pword even though I knew it was correct. I called Discover and was told they could not find my old account anywhere in their system. I provided the full account# and still nothing came up but my new account that was approved last week. I opened the account back in 2008 and had a balance on it up until January 2015 (and that was the last time I used my online account) when I finally paid them. The account was actually closed back in 2011 by Discover. I gave them my SSN and all my personal information, still nothing came up but my new account from the approval last week. The rep told me it may have been purged out of their system since it's been over 7 years. Discover last reported anything on it in January 2015. I have 6 baddies left (all late pay) and this account is one.

Thoughts on why it went POOF without a trace?? ***(FYI she said she used another system and still could not find it). 

Thanks!! 

[CreditDunce]

I have never read the forum rules... but I think you are venturing into a taboo topic.

[DoroLucky]

Well the mods can delete it if it is. I was just wondering why they can't find it and gave details on it.

[CreditDunce]

It is the part about using the dispute process to remove valid accounts.  There is another credit board that caters to those questions.  We could speculate why Discover can't find your old, closed account.  But I don't know if there is really much that I can say about it.  CCC do archive old accounts from their systems.  Once archived, the CSR will not be able to find the account.  Normally they can recover it if there is a need.

[DoroLucky]

Removed and edited it, thanks.

I will call them back tomorrow and see if they can point me in the right direction to see if they can find it. It was really weird. I even used the same user ID AND email address to register my new account and didn't get the message that it was already taken. I could not do that with Cap1 and Chase, I had to get new user ID's.

[CreditDunce]

Discover has been furiously upgrading the IT systems.  At least I gather that from all of the outages and various bugs that are being fixed.  One of the big things they need to fix is to have all of your accounts with one login.  For example, I have a credit card login and a savings/checking login.  My guess is they are being more aggressive in deleting old accounts than some other banks to reduce the amount of historical data.  The more historical data they have, the longer the maintenance windows need to be.  If they wanted it back, the would probably need to pull it from tape. 

It could also be as simple as they have been having performance issues on their websites.  The less historical data the better the websites will perform.

If you hadn't paid it off, Discover would probably have you blacklisted at this point.  It might have been worth a thought to see if they would have been willing to re-instate the TL as soon as you paid off the account.  The baddies would have aged off after 7 years, leaving you a good aged account.  It probably would have been a long shot even back in Jan 2015, though.

I will let others chime in.  I can only speculate on why Discover deleted your old account within 15 months of you paying it off.

[DoroLucky]

Thanks for you input, I really appreciate it.

[DoroLucky]

Well, I got a copy of my Experian report today and that old Discover is no longer on it. Also, called Experian and got an early exclusion for another account. Only 5 baddies (all late pay) left on Exp! Should call EQ and see if they can early exclude that same account (it's schedule to fall off May 2016 anyway).