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This is my first post. I have searched around the forum looking for answers, but nothing seems this address this particular situation, so I am hoping to get some thoughts on the best approach to the situation below.
I had an overdue credit line from a local credit union become a charge off in 2014. The account was paid to the creditor in April of 2015, and my credit bureau reports have been updated to paid account/was a charge off. I've tried a few GW letters to no avail, but that is not the basis of my question.
When I pulled my recent myFICO scores and reports, the account is showing as CO for January 2018 in the Recent Payment History section of the detail report on myFICO for Experian. In the seven year payment history section it is showing as 90+ days late/other derogatory - 1 time (Jan 2018). I also have experian, so when I pulled the report from the experian credit monitoring service, it shows that the time since late was 1 month. I called experian and they did confirm that the charge off is showing up as the recent delinquent item. Both myFICO and experian are reporting my experian score at 665.
When I review the details on myFICO for both Equifax and TU, the current status shows Payment after charge off/collection (TU) Charge-off (Equifax).
TU - There is nothing in the seven year payment history section and the description says paid in full/was a charge off. myFICO TU score is 698 while the TU credit monitoring site shows my score at 639 (that's a separate mystery). Report also shows this is the status as of Jan 2018.
Equifax - There is nothing in the seven year payment history section and the description says paid charge off. myFICO equifax score is 729. Report also shows this status is as of Jan 2018.
I know a charge off can stay on your record for 7 years from date of the missed payment that led to the charge off even if it was paid, and I know that a creditor can report the charge off every month. What I do not know is whether they can report it the way that it is being reported to Experian. It seems that both Equifax and TU are being reported such that the accurately described paid charge off is the status of the account, but neither of those are being reported in the payment history section as a recent CO, so it appears that I am getting the benefit of the age of the delinquency in my scores for those bureaus notwithstanding that they are continuing to report to TU and Equifax monthly.
Unfortunately, the CO notation in the payment history being reported the way it is with Experian is clearly still hurting my score as a very recent negative item. I was hoping to get your thoughts on whether this was being reported in a manner in which the creditor is entitled to report, in which case I can only attempt to continue to seek goodwill or whether this manner of reporting to Experian is actually disputable. It just doesn't seem clear to me as I know they are entitled to report until it falls off, but it seems the reporting is supposed to be in a manner such that old negative items become less impactful over time and are not reported as recent negative items. The way this charge off is reported to Experian, the negative item seems to have the same impact today as it did a few years ago.
I also don't want to engage the creditor until I have a better understanding as to what they can do as I don't want them to say it was an oversight and start updating TU and Equifax as well if they are indeed reporting Experian correctly.
Delinquencies are reporting to two different areas of your credit report.
The payment history profile records the historical delinquency status for prior months, while the current status is only a snapshot of the status as of that reporting date.
When you pay a delinquent account back into a non-delinquency status (i.e., Paid, if the account is closed, or Pays as Agreed, if the account remains open), the current status after that update is no longer a delinquency, and each monthly historical status would also thereafter show OK (a non-delinquency status). "Paid, was a charge-off" is the a non-delinquency status that simply includes the additional special comment that it was charged-off at some prior point in time. The "was a charge-off" comment is not basis for continuing to show a delinquency status under the payment history profile in subsequent months.
If you have evidence that an account was paid such that it was no longer delinquent, then that is basis for dispute of any showing thereafter in the payment history profile of a delinquency status UNLESS the account remains open and a new chain of first delinquency occurs.
Thank you very much RobertEG for your reply. I've seen your posts and responses in the forum, and once again you are most helpful. Everything that you said makes total sense and seems to match what I expect, so now I am certain that the way it is being reported is incorrect. I was able to copy below the way that it is reporting on the Experian report. The information showing in the seven year payment history and recent payment history is what is concerning me.
If this is improper, I will definitely be contacting the lender. I still have a copy of the certified check from when it was paid as well as the delivery confirmation as it was sent by FedEx, so I have proof that it was paid in full. It's odd that it is not reporting this way in Equifax or TU.