Is it possible to remove a repo from 2012?

[Anonymous]

Hi all - long shot, but figured I would try.  In August 2012, my car was reposessed by VW credit.  I made the mistake of having a co-signer who did not make the payments.  I was young and dumb.  Moving on, I paid to get the car out of repo, took the car in to my possession and paid all remaining balances on time.  The car was fully paid off by me in August of 2013.

In November of 2015, I purchased a new car financed through Chase.  All payments were made 100% on time and still are as the loan is current.  I have 4 credit cards which are paid off every month, sometimes reflecting no balance, sometimes reflecting a small balance depending on when I pay my bills/when the CC company reports to the credit agencies.

My main FICO scores (used for mortgages, FICO scores 5,4 and 2) are as follows:

Equifax: 723

Transunion: 781

Experian: 706

My husband and I are in the process of buying our first home.  I would LOVE to have the VW credit removed, but I never negotiated anything when I paid to get it out of repo.  Am I SOL?  Is there anything I can do to remove that?  I would like to get my middle score in to the 740 range to qualify for a better rate.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

You can ask for goodwill removal of the account, since it was paid off and you have been in good standing since.

[Anonymous]

Does this work even with an older/closed account?  I am not familiar with these at all and am reading up on them now! 

[RobertEG]

If you paid the debt, then the creditor did not incur a charge to profit and loss or its equivalent, and thus the repo has the normal credit report exclusion provision based on the catch-all provision of FCRA 605(a)(5), which is 7 years from the date of the repo, and is not based on the DOFD.

Seven years from date of the repo is later than 7 years from the DOFD, so you effectively extended the exclusion date when you removed the loss by paying the debt.  I would use that argument in a good-will request to the creditor to delete the reported charge-off based on your having paid the debt, and the argument that you should not be penalized by having done so by the later staturory exclusion of the reporting.

They might see the equity in that request......

[gdtobefree]

I would send a goodwill letter to the CEO, explain the situation and remind them that you did pay the car off.

I'm pretty sure some where in the UCC there is a loop hole. It's been years since I've dealt with UCC laws.