1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Accepted Solutions
I agree that they should volunteer this information to the customer. They don't. 
BA sometimes creates the situation where the customer feels stuck. They want to pay their debt, but when the bank suddenly increases their interest rate, which causes the monthly payment to skyrise -- they are left with few choices.
These customers had never been late with their payments to BA. BA, in responses to the economic challenges, raised a lot of people's interest rates and minimum payments. In some cases, payments doubled and quadrupled.
*sigh* The customers should not have debt to begin with. But since they do, they have an obligation to pay it off. If the bank changes the terms, and they can without notice, without reason, the customer should be able to make payment arrangements that they can afford WITHOUT being punished by the bank.
Six months of report "30 days late" when the customer has NOT been 30 days late, is wrong.
The way it shows up on the credit report is "30 days late" repeated six times. It never advances to "60 days late".
1. If there is anyway you can be current when you go on the payment plan, then do so!
2. Look closely at your first bill on the payment plan. It will have the current agreed upon payment amount. It may also have a "past due" amount. It has been my experience (for my clients) that BA will say do not worry about it. If there is ANY way you can pay both amounts off, then do so!
3. Keep copies of your statements and get a copy of your credit report.
4. If you need to apply for credit, then write a letter explaining this is how BA punishes people who ask for a lower interest rate. Show them the credit report and point out that logically, you can not have 6 "30 days late" in a row. If it was *really true* then BA, who is no dummy, would report it is as "30 days late, 60 days late, 90 days late, 120 days late, 180 days late..." Every knowledgeable banker and underwriter will be nodding their head with you in agreement. Tell them you are in the process of disputing this obvious wrong information through the CRA.
The first time I tried to get a credit limit raised for one of my clients who had just deployed, I took all of this information and went in to talk to the banker. She agreed with me that there was something fishy going on with BA. Copies were given to the underwriter.
We were turned down that visit -- after two days of deliberating. I continued to make the clients payments, waited thirty days, and said, let's talk again.
The limit was raised by 15k second go around.
To this day, the client is strengthening the relationship with the bank. And the bankers smile (and maybe groan a little) when I walk in. But I get things done for my clients. But both the bank and the clients smile -- I get things done and everyone makes more money.
And be honest when you talk to the people involved. My client had a payment jump from $340 to $1500 because they allowed some unauthorized charges and they increased the interest rate when he was almost halfway to his limit. He could not pay $1500 a month. He told them that. We negotiated terms with BA before he deployed. I shared all of this with the bank, when I went to personally talk to them.
If you need help, please let me know. I can post suggestions on here for you. There are lots of experienced readers who can also share advice.
In a post above it's stated that BA can report this "punishment" because you broke the contract. That's inconsistent with the reporting guidelines. BA has to legally report accurate information. If the clients were never ever late, then BA would need to report that they were never late as that is the accurate information. How about disputing with the CRA's as not being accurate information?
