Dispute or leave it?

[Ryanpm90]

Hello,

I am looking to buy a new car in the next couple months. I have a charged-off credit card that is listed on my Transunion accout twice. One is set to drop off in June of 2022 and the other is set to drop off in November 2022. I am unsure of how to go about this removing the duplicate account. I feel doing so will help me secure a better interest rate. However, I am also worried that disputting will get the creditors attention and they will come after me right before said account is due to drop off my report. 

Any advice would be great, thank you. 

[simplegirl]

If it is an account with a balance any disputing would just update it making it look like a fresh charge-off causing a score drop.

[coldfusion]

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@Ryanpm90 wrote:

Hello,

I am looking to buy a new car in the next couple months. I have a charged-off credit card that is listed on my Transunion accout twice. One is set to drop off in June of 2022 and the other is set to drop off in November 2022. I am unsure of how to go about this removing the duplicate account. I feel doing so will help me secure a better interest rate. However, I am also worried that disputting will get the creditors attention and they will come after me right before said account is due to drop off my report. 

Any advice would be great, thank you. 

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You really want to first know what the issuer is actually reporting so you can plot your strategy.   The one thing you do NOT want to do first is file a dispute with Transunion.  Personally, I would do something like what I'm outlining below, but note that this can take a bit of time.

I would first contact the issuer in writing that they are incorrectly reporting 2 different chargeoffs on your Transunion credit report and get their response.  If they don't respond within 30 days file a CFPB complaint against them for incorrect reporting, noting that you did contact them but received no response.   Legit CFPB complaints do tend to get people's attention. 

If the issuer does respond, their response will determine the next step.     One way or another you want a response from the issuer as it provides leverage when dealing with Transunion. 

If they reply that they are in fact reporting a single account, immediately dispute with Transunion. 

If they reply that they are correctly reporting 2 chargeoffs, file a CFPB complaint against the issuer.  The CFPB may come back and tell you to file another complaint directly with the FDIC (or if a CU, the NCUA).    The outcome should be that the issuer will correct their reporting, after which you would file a dispute with Transunion.   FDIC and NCUA non-frivolous complaints really get people's attention. 

If the issuer replies that they were incorrectly reporting 2 chargeoffs and will correct the error,  wait 30 days and then file a dispute with Transunion.

Once you get to this point, if Transunion drags their heels or refuses to remove, file a CFPB complaint against them since reaching this point means that you have confirmation from the issuer that they are reporting correct information.

Once the bogus chargeoff is removed keep monitoring to make sure it doesn't later reappear.     I

FWIW IME it can be a royal PITA to get Transunion to admit that they have screwed up.  They always want to get the last word in. 

[Anonymous]

This is exactly what just happened to me. I (ignorantly) disputed a charge-off from 2016, and all it did was cause the creditor (Kohls/CapOne) to report the charge-off again, so now I have a fresh charge-off reported this month. My score dropped 45 points. This TL is supposed to fall off in Nov 22 (it says on my Experian report) Is the best option to just leave it alone and wait the 10 months for it to fall off in Nov? And will it actually still fall off in Nov now that it's been updated as a recent charge-off? Should I pay the amount they charged off? Will that do anything positive? As it stands now, the account status is "closed" and the payment status is "charge-off." I can provide a screenshot, but I dont' see how to add it to my post...

Also, I am sorry for hijacking this thread -- since it's the same topic, I felt any responses could potentially help, but I am happy to move it if I need to. This is my first post, and I don't mean to be rude or break any rules. Thanks in advance for any advice about this. I'm kindof freaking out about the 45 point drop, as things had been going so well until I stupidly did this. 

[tnhomestead]

You need to see if you actually have 2 different reports, or if one is from the original creditor and the other is from someone they hired to collect. If that's the case. It can be reported twice, but will still drop off when the first one goes away.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your reply. It is the same OC. I'm thinking my dispute triggered them to report the charge-off again even though they haven't reported anything since 2016. I should have let sleeping dogs lie! My main concern is that it will still fall off when it's supposed to (Nov 22), and it sounds like you're saying it should 🤞🏻