Follow up to Merrick Charge Off question

[Onlinecreditnewbie2]

I am saddened that the more common response is dont fight --- when, in normal life --

No one who said that would let a parking ticket be reported as a DUI.

Why would the OP - allow this tradeline, to report as OPEN - w/no date closed?

Why would the Activity Designator be BLANK - and not say Paid After Collection?

Or better, why is it just Blank?

Why would we - consumers expect this to be acceptable, when - we know its inaccurate?

[Anonymous]

Hey, how's it been going so far? Any updates?

Equifax has pulled the same sort of **bleep**ery on my accounts as well. I'm rooting for you!

Would love to see some of your dispute letters related to this subject, since they're being such bastards about pushing forward the "Delinquency First Reported" date and refusing to fill in "Date Closed."

[HowDoesThisAllWork]

Sorry everyone!

Life got busy and myFico was a causulty of that.

But, things are back on track so I have time allocated for this again.

So, update...

What a pain in the tushy this has become.

Quick Recap:

1.  Oringal issue was that Equifax Report had several issues - most compelling was the 'date closed' and 'date updated' fields were inorrect.

2.  Original issue was that the Transunion Report had a similar issue - pretty much the 'date updated' field.

3.  Original issue was that the Experian Report was 100% correct!  So, nice 'issue' to have, right?

So, I innocently contacted Equifax and asked them to correct the stuff with the Equifax Report.  That was a total sh*t-show.  So, I wrote a letter to Merrick, asking them to resolve the Equifax and Transunion issues.

Original contact with Equifax was in June, 2021.  That resulted in - as mentioned - nada.  zilch.  nichts!

So, in August I wrote the first letter to Merrick (August 19, 2021) and then wrote a follow-up letter (as I did not include everything that I thought needed to be addresses in the Aug 19 letter) on August 27, 2021.  Not much happened from that.  So, I followed up with a 'second' round of letters on October 13, 2021.

The 'date updated' field - for like a month - stopped updating on an essentially weekly basis.  That was really my biggest issue with the Equifax and Transunion reports.  Every seven to 10 days the data in the field 'date updated' or 'date reported' changed.  It made this debt look like it was new-er debt.  Which has the highest penalty.  With time that penalty subsides (in the form of me gaining additional points).

So, and forgive my memory here (what I say here might be a bit off), but after that roughly one month time frame, both started updating again.  And there was never any problem - nor any updates/changes - to Experian.

So, a bit later I wrote a second round of letters to Merrick.  Again, pointing out the Equifax 'Date Closed' and 'Date Updated' fields (among others) and the Transunion 'Last Update' field.

That concludes my involvement (read: any action from me).

The current state of affairs is essentially this:

1.  Transunion Report is now 100% correct.  Yes, sir!  Yes, ma'am!  100% correct.  I have a Credit Report from 2021 DEC 18.  So, this can be an effective course of action!   So, all data is correct and it is no longer updating weekly.  Whew!  Thank the good Lord.

2.  Oddly, my Experian Report (also as of 2021 DEC 18) reflexts a 'Status Updated' date of "Feb 2021".  That was changed - going from memory here - in late September/early October 2021.  Never ever have I mentioned Experian in any letter to Merrick.  But, it is not updating weekly (which it never has....it was always the one - out of the three - that was 100% correct and 'static').

3.  Equifax is now even worse.  None of requested blank data fields has been "corrected".  And, the "Date Reported" field now shows "September 21, 2021".  My credit score (specifically, my Equifax credit score) has dropped 40 points.

Ugh!  So, now I am deciding what to do.

[HowDoesThisAllWork]

Here are some screen shots of my credit reports from just a few moments ago.

There are four:

A.  Two from EquiFax

B.  One from Experian

C.  One from Transunion

[Miikawaadizi]

Any updates? I'm totally invested now. 

[HowDoesThisAllWork]

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@Miikawaadizi wrote:

Any updates? I'm totally invested now. 

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@Miikawaadizi 

No, there is no update.  I just pulled all three Credit Reports and there are no changes (as expected).

I am not sure that I am going to pursue this any longer.

Transunion is now 100% correct.  So, there is a HUGE win.  At least, from my perspective.

Experian (for some unknown reason) updated the "Status Updated" field to Feb, 2021.  No clue as to how/why.   But - that is a move from Dec, 2020 to Feb, 2021.  Only two months.  So, not a huge issue (the fact that it is incorrect ticks me off, but not sure that any further action will correct that....so at this point I feel that it is likely better to just leave it...as much as I dislike that decision).  I have never mentioned Experian in any letter to Merrick.  I am MOST interested to see if the data in this field is ever changed again.  Clearly, that field - and the corresponding data - is of huge importance.

And Equifax, well, that has been the cluster "you know what" since the beginning.  This credit report and the reporting of this is why I have journeyed down this rabbit hole.  And, to be honest, I am grateful for this experience.  I am a much more informed consumer as to how this charge-off thing works...what is supposed to be and what is not supposed to be and what actions one can take (and the potential consequences - intended or unintended - can be).

It seems that the more I take action on this (specifically looking at you - Equifax) the worse things get.

I can only assume (and I am no where near itelligent enough to be doing that) that there is an issue with Equifax.  Every dang time I have spoken with them - with the one expection - I get off the phone frustrated and pissed off and worse for the wear.

I have not thrown in the towel just yet.....but I am really close.  We will see what the next 60 to 90 days brings.

Thank you for your interest.  I hope that you - and everyone else - have learned a thing or two.

[HowDoesThisAllWork]

Just as a follow-up to those following this thread....

My three Credit Reports look like this (as of 2022 APR 09):

1. Transunion - still 100% correct/accurate (so, no change from my last comment back on 01/16/2022). December, 2020 is over one year ago at this point.

2. Experian - still shows the "Status Updated" data as "Feb, 2021". This is, naturally, incorrect, but the win here is that it has not been updated since. Naturally, this is a huge win as there has been no change for over one year. This account - for this CRA - shows as one year +, which is a good thing.

3. Equifax - still the cluster (but, again, grateful for this as I become more more involved with and aware of this process) as the "Date Reported" and Delinquency First Reported" data as "September 21, 2021" and "September, 2021", respectively. Naturally, incorrect. EDITED: December, 2020 and April, 2017 is the correct data.

But, the blessing here is that there has been no change since. And, that means that this account (incorrectly) shows as 6+ months now. So, for scoring purposes this is better than "last week" (or similar).

At this point, I believe that I will just lick my wounds (so-to-speak), take in the learning experience, and look forward. Naturally, my Equifax scores are "much" lower (much - as that is all relative) than the other two (Experian and Transunion). Something to the tune of 20 points lower. In roughly six months that gap may change (as - assuming status quo is maintained - in September Equifax will report this as one year +).

We will see. I really hope that this helps people | sheds a little bit of light for someone.

[Onlinecreditnewbie2]

Trans Union, of ALL of them are the cleanest of them all. 

Equifax shows it the most. 

Experian - masks their madness. 

Coming out of hibernation, hoping to find a way to share what should be known by the time you get a report card (thats what a credit report is). The details of how, when why are hidden. 

Raw credit reports only, preferably printed. No CK, IDIQ etc. 

Ask youself why - I know. I will likely get pushback on the logic, but the logic is no different than you creating an excel spreadsheet/google sheet with columns and data. 

For both EQ and EX  - because they could not send a Metro2 compliant file to insert data into their systems, and to correct the data - they likely gave up trying, and let what is - be. 

Think for a second - about how you see data in a excel spreadsheet - cause this is all it is, a dbase with fields, values and intent. If you have one with rows for like 7 entries - as an example - think about inserting a row between row 6 and 5, it will not CORRECT itself - there is manual intervention and some systematic changes that may occur and produce some unexpected results (Oracle DB/SQL Serv). 

Experian - please, chack for an "On Record until" Date. If this is not presentd, even as last reported it is likly  still reporting as OPEN. This impacts your scores in such a way, and they are aware of it. Experian also hides a CLOSED DATE, but see if you can see that. 

On Equifax - it does not appear to be a closed tradeline. 

1. Lacking a CLOSED DATE - the account is not closed 
2. Request a date closed - in compliance with FACRA/FDCPA (see below)
3. Activity Desinator Should say - Paid after Charge off, should not be blank 
4. 4. Creditor Classification is a required field - should not ever be blank 
5. Your Payment HIstory says 30 day in May 2017
6. Your Date of First delinquency says 4/1, there is a desrepency in your FACRA date 
7. Your status - still says written off - not paid after charge off

There is more - but, this is Equifax, Experian is likely worse. 

While collections age off natrually - this tradeline cannot cause it was left in its current state.