Charged off account with Citi (will it be removed)?

[Anonymous]

My Citi Bank credit card (AA Advantage) was recently charged off. I, in some way or another, stupidly ignored the notices leading up to this. Last month, I received a letter from Citi stating that I had until March 22 to settle my debt before they took further action or sent my debt to a collections agency that I didn’t open until today because it was sent in an obscure envelope. I contacted UPS and they informed me that it was from Citi. I called today to see what my options are and they said that my account is in review and that they wouldn’t accept a PIF over the phone - that my only options are to wait or mail in a payment directly to the payment department. The CO has already been reported on my credit report and my scores dropped by nearly 100 points. I wrote a check for the full amount and mailed it in anyway. Will Citi remove the delinquency since it’s still in review and they’ll most likely receive the check for the full amount before the date (May 6) that they will make a decision as to how to proceed with my account? If they don’t will a GW letter be the best way to proceed?

[RobertEG]

A creditor is entitled to report a charge-off to the CRAs at any time after they have taken that accounting measure.

Paying the debt does not thereafter require deletion of the reporting of the charge-off.

They are not required to delete the reporting of the charge-off based on payment of the debt, and the fact that they have placed payment or other restrictions on the account, such as delaying referral to a debt collector, does not require that they must delete the reported collection during any such review period.

If they wont do a voluntary GW deletion, you have no statutory or regulatory procedure for requiring deletion.

The CRAs expressly instruct creditors not to delete reported derogs based on payment of the debt.

That policy is included within their credit reporting manual, and incorportated into their credit reporting agreements.  It is thus not basis for a dispute filed with the CRA.