Charge Off Reported

[Anonymous]

I'm working to become debt free and improve my score and an old bank account that I had closed years back just reported a "charge-off."

So here is the information from my credit report (TransUnion) and the creditor;

Payment Status: Collection/Chargeoff

Account Status: Derogatory

Amount Past Due: $64

Account Type: Deposit related

Date Account Closed: Jul 01, 2017

Date Reported: Dec 01, 2017

Remarks: Charged off as bad debt. Profit and loss write-off.

After talking to the creditor via email, they stated the account went into a negative status Oct 2012, in which they charged 2x $32 insufficient funds fee for a transfer attempt. On Jan 11, 2018, they stated as a courtesy, they refunded those fees to the account. The account is still showing open to this day, even though it was reported as charged off. The balance prior to the "refund" was $64, so not appearing to be charged off. When asked if they can delete the reporting, they responded "We regret to inform you we are unable to remove the credit reporting and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

So some back story, this account was requested to be closed ~2010, but they have no record of. There were never any late or delinquent notices sent to me, or notice of charge off. They stated that I was enrolled in e-statements, and provided statements from 2012 showing the timeframe the transfer request/fee was incurred.

What are your suggestions for the next step? I've already asked if this issue could be elevated, since the "$64" was refunded, and therefore never charged off. I've also started a dispute with TransUnion. Any other action? I don't have faith in the dispute process, as I've had poor experiences in the past.

[Anonymous]

Hopefully my story will help. I've had BofA charge-off since 2012. Up until June 2017 I decided to dispute it through the 3-Bureaus to see if BofA still had record. I used some Dispute Letter templates online and even revised mine to make them "undectable through scanners" so my letters looked completely original.

I waited 30 days to see if they would respond and on EXACTLY the 30th day, I received letters from all 3B's and low and behold BofA STILL had record of my $715 debt (ME thinking 5 1/2 later they threw away the files). After all the hassle of waiting a month for the dispute reponse letters to arrive (really 5+ years thinking "Oh, I'll just wait 7 years for the SOL to kick in"), I decided instead to just pay off the $715 balance on December 11, 2017 to get it over with.

BTW this was my ONLY credit history and debt, and it was a secured Visa card (I never believed in credit and I'm barely starting to build mine since June 2017)

Fast forward, today is January 13, 2018 and I'm waiting to see if all three of my scored change "drastically" after paying off my only CHARGED-OFF debt. So far two days ago my Experian score went from 597 to 620, but I'm hoping they are still verifying the info because it's only been 30 days since I paid the debt in FULL. *Also the Charge-Off is remaining as CHARGED-OFF, CLOSED. I didn't go with the route of asking BofA to negotiate a "pay-for-delete", not even sure if they would've accepted it. 

Bottom line: Just pay the $64 today. I feel all the weight off my shoulders KNOWING I paid off my debt that I created on my own, and I hope you do the same KNOWING yours is only $64. I would say DO NOT go my route dodging it because 7 years is a long time to wait and I could've spent those 7 years building credit and credit card limits rather than waste time off a measly $718. 

Also if you can't afford the $64 then making payments to it will be even better to increase your score, but even those few months waiting for your score to rise could be annoying, so I'd rather hold off on your other life expenses and just pay the $64. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hopefully my story will help. I've had BofA charge-off since 2012. Up until June 2017 I decided to dispute it through the 3-Bureaus to see if BofA still had record. I used some Dispute Letter templates online and even revised mine to make them "undectable through scanners" so my letters looked completely original.

I waited 30 days to see if they would respond and on EXACTLY the 30th day, I received letters from all 3B's and low and behold BofA STILL had record of my $715 debt (ME thinking 5 1/2 later they threw away the files). After all the hassle of waiting a month for the dispute reponse letters to arrive (really 5+ years thinking "Oh, I'll just wait 7 years for the SOL to kick in"), I decided instead to just pay off the $715 balance on December 11, 2017 to get it over with.

BTW this was my ONLY credit history and debt, and it was a secured Visa card (I never believed in credit and I'm barely starting to build mine since June 2017)

Fast forward, today is January 13, 2018 and I'm waiting to see if all three of my scored change "drastically" after paying off my only CHARGED-OFF debt. So far two days ago my Experian score went from 597 to 620, but I'm hoping they are still verifying the info because it's only been 30 days since I paid the debt in FULL. *Also the Charge-Off is remaining as CHARGED-OFF, CLOSED. I didn't go with the route of asking BofA to negotiate a "pay-for-delete", not even sure if they would've accepted it. 

Bottom line: Just pay the $64 today. I feel all the weight off my shoulders KNOWING I paid off my debt that I created on my own, and I hope you do the same KNOWING yours is only $64. I would say DO NOT go my route dodging it because 7 years is a long time to wait and I could've spent those 7 years building credit and credit card limits rather than waste time off a measly $718. 

Also if you can't afford the $64 then making payments to it will be even better to increase your score, but even those few months waiting for your score to rise could be annoying, so I'd rather hold off on your other life expenses and just pay the $64. 

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They cleared the $64 off themselves, by refunding the said fees.

[Anonymous]

This is what I would do:

I would start by using the GW saturation strategy.  Sooner or later, someone is going to open and read one of these letters.  Who knows, it only takes one person to read and see how ridiculous this is.

Also, you might think about lodging a complaint with the BBB.  Just a thought.  Do your research, but this might be an option for you.

Best of luck!!