Late Payment BoA Suggest Disputing with Credit Bureaus

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone,

Was wondering if anyone has come across a similar situation and could share their experiences.

I have a BoA credit card and accidently made a late payment. I thought autopay was on, but it wasn't. I only noticed when I got a report on my FICO score from another card and saw that it decreased from 770 to 650! Apparently it got reported as a 60 day late payment. I have never had a late payment before and was planning to be looking for mortgages soon, so this is devastating. I am really hoping that I can get some leniency. I immediately paid off the full balance of the card and called the customer service hotline. Spending three hours with them (Digital Services division) trying to get the payment deleted, but to no avail.

They say that I need to file a dispute with the credit bureaus. The customer service representative was very adamant that she could not help at her level, but kept saying that I could dispute with the credit bureaus and "It can't hurt, you never know what will happen". She emphasized it a few times. I want to read this as her saying BoA will either not respond to the dispute or will agree that it is an error, but I am worried that if I dispute it and they re-affirm the late payment that it is the end of the line.

I am planning to call the Executive Customer Service line on Monday before I take any action with the credit bureaus, but has anyone gotten this type of advice before? What did you do and what was the result?

[RobertEG]

It sounds kinda like a brushoff.

Once a party has furnished information to a CRA, then them have the statutory obligation to promptly update that reporting if they consider it to be inaccurate.  FCRA 623(a)(2).

You have noticed them of your concern, and they have not updated, which means they dont find an inaccuracy.

A dispute will require the CRA to forward your assertion to the creditor for their investigation and finding, which they have apparently already done, and then respond back to the CRA.

If they deemed the reporting accurate, they are essentially asking you to create unnecessary work on the part of all.......

[Anonymous]

Hi Robert, thanks for the reply. Yeah, that's kind of what I was afraid of. I feel like that sort of thing would definitely be a last resort.

I guess I still have a few options. I've found a few different phone numbers for the Executive Customer Service department and seen a few places online where they have had better luck with that department. And of course if that fails I can try to send physical GW letters.

Short of that, I guess I have to eat the credit score decrease. Just want to make sure I exhaust all my options first. Really sucks, but it was my mistake. Just very frustrating that one stupid mistake has such a big effect.

If anyone has anymore input or any direct experience with something similar I'd still love to hear from you. Thanks!

[gdale6]

Welcome to the board and I suggest you plead your case to the office of the CEO with a GW letter.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/GW-letter-Q-amp-A-Examples-and-GW-Success-Sto...

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the resources! Would anyone with some experience be willing to look over my GW letters before I send them out? I can PM them or post the letter with the specifics redacted.

[Anonymous]

Figure I'd give an update. Decided to send a goodwill email to the office of the CEO. Two days later I got a secured email message back asking me to call someone in the Credit Reporting Resolution department. The lady was very nice and listened to the details of my case (why I missed the payment, that I have never had a later payment before, that I have enabled autopay for full statement balance every month, that I am going to be mortgage shopping soon, etc), but she said that she would need to submit the case for review. We have a call scheduled for Friday morning to let me know the results. 

Does anyone here have any experiences working with the Credit Reporting Resolution department at Bank of America on goodwill?  Does anyone have any advice for the upcoming call, especially if they use the "We have to report accurate information" response? I'm sort of bracing myself for the inevitable "no", since it seems like Bank of America rarely helps with these types of situations, but I want to make sure that I handle this in the most optimal way.

[Anonymous]

Could you share how your conversation with the CRR went? My situation is almost exactly the same as yours and I'm beginning the process of either resolution or acceptance.
Thanks so much!

[FinStar]

Their Credit Reporting department is hit or miss OP.

In most cases they tend to leave the accurate reporting as is unless there were extenuating circumstances in which BoA was at fault for the erroneous reporting. Any CR adjustments are evaluated on a case-by-case basis so hopefully you'll hear something positive.