Credit card company lost(?) my account

salamanda · ‎07-17-2015

I used to have two credit cards with this major credit card issuer. Now, per their online system and everyone I've talked to, I have one. What next?

I already wasted two hours in their customer service system to no avail. That card, if it existed, existed so long ago that they have deleted all records of it, or so they say.

I see no reason for them to cancel it. I was current on payments and always paid on time; I'd just made a big payment; my usage was around 50% of my limit.

I haven't gotten any mail notifying me of a change to this account, and no new collections agency has contacted me.

So, what gives? I don't want to end up with lates on my credit report. If they have no records, I'm willing to concede that perhaps I don't owe them money But in that case I'd like the trade line removed or zeroed out on my credit bureau reports.

And I'd love for all this to happen quickly. I'm applying to refinance my mortgage, so the sooner that high-usage card goes away, or at least the more certain I can be of no lates showing up, the better.

salamanda · ‎07-17-2015

Forgot to say thank you in advance if anyone has any advice. I used to read this forum a fair bit, but I've already forgotten everything I knew. Thanks for any advice you can share.

tufa4311 · ‎07-17-2015

@salamanda wrote:
So, what gives? I don't want to end up with lates on my credit report. If they have no records, I'm willing to concede that perhaps I don't owe them money But in that case I'd like the trade line removed or zeroed out on my credit bureau reports.

Willing to concede that perhaps you don't owe them money? What does that mean, do you or do you not owe them money? Your latest credit report - it will have the tradeline and the balance as of the report.

Also take note of the last time your payment history was updated by the creditor of that tradeline. If it says "ok" then they reported, they couldn't report unless they have your account on file.

796 TU FICO 08 (08/2018)
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740: EQ Score Power (Beacon 5.0) FICO 04 (01/23/2015)
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Goal: 800+

Anonymous · ‎07-17-2015

I'm equally stumped on your question.

How old is the account? When was the last time you used it or made a payment that was accepted (drafted from your account)? What does your CR say?

I had a delinquent account appearing on my CR that wasn't mins (I had been an AU but was removed as such). I called to get details, they couldn't find it associated with my SSN. I disputed and it was removed.

salamanda · ‎07-17-2015

My account just disappeared in the last week, so my latest credit report did show it, and it'll take awhile to either see the OK or not.

As of about two weeks ago, I owed them a couple thousand dollars. But if their new position is that I do not owe them money, I'm willing to agree to that. I merely want what they're telling me and what they're telling the credit bureaus to match.

salamanda · ‎07-17-2015

Seeing more request for clarification, I'll add a few more details. I guess I was a little too coy, sorry.

This is a credit card I've had for over 10 years. About two years ago, my family had an emergency, and I ran up the balance and went through a phase of making minimum payments. Now I'm on my feet again and really working to pay off debt. When another card offered BTs at 0% for 15 months, I did a BT to pay down this card, transferring about $2000 against a balance of maybe $5200 (out of a limit of $7000).

This weekend, I logged in to confirm the balance and to find out when that lower balance would likely report to the bureaus. (I assumed it was when the statement posted.) Instead, the account was not visible at all. I assumed it was a glitch. Today, I tried again. Still not visible online. So I tried the online chat customer service, then phone customer service. Everyone insisted that I only had one credit card with them (the other one) and that no account by that account number was in their system.

Does that help? Anyone have a suggestion as to what to do next?

salamanda · ‎07-17-2015

I forgot to add, in reply to iceinjuly, that the BT payment was made approximately 3-4 weeks ago.

RobertEG · ‎07-17-2015

Credtiors in need of instant cash assets will often sell their accounts receivable assets that are in good standing to factoring companies.

It is possible that the debt was sold to a factoring company rather than to a debt collector.

Anonymous · ‎07-18-2015

@salamanda wrote:
Seeing more request for clarification, I'll add a few more details. I guess I was a little too coy, sorry.

This is a credit card I've had for over 10 years. About two years ago, my family had an emergency, and I ran up the balance and went through a phase of making minimum payments. Now I'm on my feet again and really working to pay off debt. When another card offered BTs at 0% for 15 months, I did a BT to pay down this card, transferring about $2000 against a balance of maybe $5200 (out of a limit of $7000).

This weekend, I logged in to confirm the balance and to find out when that lower balance would likely report to the bureaus. (I assumed it was when the statement posted.) Instead, the account was not visible at all. I assumed it was a glitch. Today, I tried again. Still not visible online. So I tried the online chat customer service, then phone customer service. Everyone insisted that I only had one credit card with them (the other one) and that no account by that account number was in their system.

Does that help? Anyone have a suggestion as to what to do next?

Huh. That's weird. I'm making a few assumptions, so tell me if I'm incorrect.

- You went through a rough patch with minimum payments only, but the account did not enter a seriously delinquent/charged-off status.

- The card remained open for further use for the duration.

- It reported as open/active with a balance, credit limit, date of last payment, etc. for the duration.

- The new card was opened with the same company.

If those are correct, I would suggest you continue to converse with the issuer, as this sounds like a classic case of computer data loss. You can often get transferred to a higher tier support department that will allow you to e-mail documents for their review. Sending in a copy of the statement could assist in locating it. They may have to go into "cold storage" archives, or it could be as simple as someone accidentally altered your record.

Even if they did sell your account, due to how recent it is, they would be required to keep a record of the account and its disposition. One way or another, it sounds as though data simply disappeared from the computer system they commonly access and some level of technical support will be required to find it.

salamanda · ‎07-18-2015

I called back (again) and talked to someone, and this person managed to find it! It seems that a bunch of the information (e.g., my SSN) had been deleted. They put in a request to have it restored with the IT department, which should take 3-5 business days. We'll see if it does get resolved next week. Thanks for the advice!