One incorrect derogatory

[Anonymous]

My FICO Score - great. Long history of pos. Credit.  1 derrog that is 30 days late (a few years ago).  Major bank. Cad is still open but I don't use it because they have not been responsive to removing the derrog despite it being their error.  I have notated the account with a statement "dispute" ..  Question is:  1) Would I do better to close this card entirely, 2) Just leave it only, 3) Continue to pursue it (despite numerous efforts.  My credit limit on this card is quite high (30K), and I have other cards with this same bank that have no derrog's.

Any input would be appreciated

[cdtotten]

What kind of error have they made?

Closing the account will only hurt your score by lowering your available credit and potentially hurting your utilization. If the account has a negative on it, it will still report the negative after you close the account.

[Anonymous]

Tnx  for the info.  They have me late 30days about 2 yrs ago.  I was having a problem with the vendor and the bank knew about it. 

[IOBA]

I would suggest keeping the card open.  Use it once in a while to keep it active so that the creditor doesn't close the account.

Which creditor is it?  If we know which one, posters will be able to share their experiences dealing with that creditor with you.

I personally pay the debt, even when in dispute with the vendor.   Fo far, it's always worked out that in the end I have won my dispute.  Maybe not initially - but eventually.  I keep good records and once the creditor "agrees" with me, then I use that credit towards the current statement.

Um, I know this may sound silly and unnecessary - but it's always important to get it on record that the creditor is issuing a "temporary  credit" while it investigates the dispute.  Not all creditors will do this.   Some creditors provide lip service - say they will but don't follow through.    To protect yourself, always get a claim/dispute/inquiry number, the dollar amount they are issuing as a temporary credit, and the name and the employee number of the person you are speaking to.

Follow up a few days later by calling customer service to verify the dispute is in progress.   Ask if their is a temporary credit on your account.

Stick with it.    We will help as much as we can when we have more information from you regarding the creditor.

[Anonymous]

Great advice .....  Vendor here is B of A.    I made them aware that XM-Sirius was continuing to charge on one account (I closed two with them on the phone),  But they continued despite my efforts to get them to stop.  B of A knew about it, and even reimbursed my account for several months of charges (7.95/mo), but said they couldn't stop the charging and that I should continue to try to work with the vendor.  Eventually, I had the account # changed on the credit card, and the vendor was unable to keep automatically withdrawing.  Vendor (or their computer) then sent me notices to update my credit card!!!  Unbelievable.

So with all the erroneous charging that Sirius did, and all the reimbursing me that BofA did, I was left with 1 30 day late during this fiasco.  I've disputed it several times through credit agencies and by letter to the BofA, .... They don't remove it.

We're talking about $7.95 (over 30 days) on an account with a credit limit of 30K.

You're 100 % correct -- I should have made a payment to the bank while I continued to try to unwind it with Sirius.  However, with the bank reimbursing me for about 6 months of erroneous charges, I thought they would automatically do something.

Final chapter in the story.... Sirius came after me trying to collect (which I ignored for awhile - then wrote to them once more)  The credit collector kept sending me letter (we're talking $7.95).. Finally, I did what I should have done at the beginning -- I just paid it with a few dollars of penalty/interest.

Sirius/XM -- never again.  I even shy away now from autocollect purchases.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[IOBA]

BA is a tough one.

My recommendation with BA is start GW them.   I would go into a branch, talk to the branch manager, and ask them to take off the 30 day late.  She/he will tell you no, but keep pursuing it.  Explain that it occurred during unauthorized billing and disputes on your account.   When they still tell you no, ask who you can take your request to, further up the food chain, so that the manager is removed from the process.

I would also consider filing a complaint with the BBB.  BA does NOT like complaints filed, not that they will correct any problem.

BA also had a grievance department.  A super duper, end of the line, customer dispute, customer service department that no one seems to know about.  I don't have a direct number to them.  But I do remember eventually reaching them.  (My complaint was my state issued ID that was good enough to open the account with was not good enough to close the account out with.   Yeah, go figure.)