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My Kohl’s CO has been the blemish of all blemishes on my reports. All through this six month rebuild, I knew this one would be the toughest. $421 dollars. Nearly a year of ‘OKs” followed by me just walking away from the debt. Opened the card in Nov 2013. Charged off in early 2015 after 180 days late. The principle was originally just $145, but with all the fees ballooned to the $421 total (on a $300 CL) we see on all three reports today.
So I worked on all the more fixable stuff on my reports first. And I got two secured cards that I’ve used perfectly since July. But finally it came time to see what, if anything, could be done about this Kohl’s situation. Created a thread asking for the CEO’s email. FICOdeMio responded and said good luck. Most of us on this site know that Kohl’s is not known for PFD at all. But I said to myself it was worth a try.
I emailed the CEO last Tuesday. I explained that I’m far more responsible now that I ever was in the past. I apologized for acting like a fool. And I asked for mercy.
I got a response Thursday afternoon from a high-ranking Kohl’s executive thanking me for my letter and asking me to call her. I called Friday morning. The number she gave me was her direct line and she answered on the first ring. I introduced myself and started to re-explain my situation, assuming she sends hundreds of emails a day in her position, and probably didn’t remember my name. She cut me off. “I was just thinking about you. I was hoping you’d call today!” She knew exactly who I was and got right down to business. She acknowledged that nothing could be done about my situation via PFD. Company policy. I was deflated. “But wait, I have far better news.” She had gone the extra mile to go through my account and found that in the Spring of 2015 (sometime when I was already 150 plus days late) Kohl’s had sent a letter to my former address that had been returned as “undeliverable.” THIS she could do something about. Company policy is that the customer MUST be given each and every statement, and if it’s provable that the customer was not, then Kohl’s considers that a mistake on their part.
The outcome? She saw to it that my account was changed from CO to Closed by Customer. She deleted all the months of “late” and replaced them with “OK”…. ALL THE WAY UNTIL THIS MONTH. She waived all late fees and I just called in to pay my final “bill” for $145. So not only is my account no longer derogatory, it reflects as if I have paid my bills on time from Nov 2013 all the way until Dec 2016, even though the card was terminated almost two years ago. EX and TU are already reflecting this and my FICO went from low and mid 600's to low and mid 700's instantly. EQ is of course taking their time. Anyway, back to the story.
I was almost speechless. I could only say thank you over and over. She said she always tries to do whatever she can to help, and that my email was personally read the second it was forwarded to her by the CEO. She even quoted certain sentences in my letter where I said how I knew how busy they must be. She said she’d never be too busy to read customer letters.
I just spoke with her again today. She just wanted to make sure I was satisfied with the outcome and to see how my week was going so far. I told her she put me in position to be able to be approved for a mortgage. She gave me a shot to overcome dumb mistakes of a very dumb 20-something. I told her I’d never forget her positive impact in my life.
The upshot: This forum is outstanding. FICOdeMio gets all the credit for pointing me in the right direction. And Kohl’s gets all the credit for going as far as they could to really make a difference in my life. Nothing is forever, guys. And everything can be set right eventually with a little elbow grease. Stay patient. Stay motivated. And never give up.
Congrats!
AWESOME SAUCE!!!!
That is a great Kohl's story!
I'm glad it worked out as good as it did!
WTG!!!
Do you happen to have the CEO's email address? I need to email them since calling them does nothing. Please and thank you!
@mysterythemoon wrote:My Kohl’s CO has been the blemish of all blemishes on my reports. All through this six month rebuild, I knew this one would be the toughest. $421 dollars. Nearly a year of ‘OKs” followed by me just walking away from the debt. Opened the card in Nov 2013. Charged off in early 2015 after 180 days late. The principle was originally just $145, but with all the fees ballooned to the $421 total (on a $300 CL) we see on all three reports today.
So I worked on all the more fixable stuff on my reports first. And I got two secured cards that I’ve used perfectly since July. But finally it came time to see what, if anything, could be done about this Kohl’s situation. Created a thread asking for the CEO’s email. FICOdeMio responded and said good luck. Most of us on this site know that Kohl’s is not known for PFD at all. But I said to myself it was worth a try.
I emailed the CEO last Tuesday. I explained that I’m far more responsible now that I ever was in the past. I apologized for acting like a fool. And I asked for mercy.
I got a response Thursday afternoon from a high-ranking Kohl’s executive thanking me for my letter and asking me to call her. I called Friday morning. The number she gave me was her direct line and she answered on the first ring. I introduced myself and started to re-explain my situation, assuming she sends hundreds of emails a day in her position, and probably didn’t remember my name. She cut me off. “I was just thinking about you. I was hoping you’d call today!” She knew exactly who I was and got right down to business. She acknowledged that nothing could be done about my situation via PFD. Company policy. I was deflated. “But wait, I have far better news.” She had gone the extra mile to go through my account and found that in the Spring of 2015 (sometime when I was already 150 plus days late) Kohl’s had sent a letter to my former address that had been returned as “undeliverable.” THIS she could do something about. Company policy is that the customer MUST be given each and every statement, and if it’s provable that the customer was not, then Kohl’s considers that a mistake on their part.
The outcome? She saw to it that my account was changed from CO to Closed by Customer. She deleted all the months of “late” and replaced them with “OK”…. ALL THE WAY UNTIL THIS MONTH. She waived all late fees and I just called in to pay my final “bill” for $145. So not only is my account no longer derogatory, it reflects as if I have paid my bills on time from Nov 2013 all the way until Dec 2016, even though the card was terminated almost two years ago. EX and TU are already reflecting this and my FICO went from low and mid 600's to low and mid 700's instantly. EQ is of course taking their time. Anyway, back to the story.
I was almost speechless. I could only say thank you over and over. She said she always tries to do whatever she can to help, and that my email was personally read the second it was forwarded to her by the CEO. She even quoted certain sentences in my letter where I said how I knew how busy they must be. She said she’d never be too busy to read customer letters.
I just spoke with her again today. She just wanted to make sure I was satisfied with the outcome and to see how my week was going so far. I told her she put me in position to be able to be approved for a mortgage. She gave me a shot to overcome dumb mistakes of a very dumb 20-something. I told her I’d never forget her positive impact in my life.
The upshot: This forum is outstanding. FICOdeMio gets all the credit for pointing me in the right direction. And Kohl’s gets all the credit for going as far as they could to really make a difference in my life. Nothing is forever, guys. And everything can be set right eventually with a little elbow grease. Stay patient. Stay motivated. And never give up.
Hi mysterythemoon,
I am glad that all is better than well! It's great that this negative was able to be turned into a positive. You were honest and sincere with Kohl's and I think that may have helped to go a long way in their opinion. It does not get any better than that!
The story you shared with us here is both and inspiration as well as a motivation to each of us to make attempts to contact our creditors to try to make things right.
800 here you come! *Woohoo* ;-)
What an inspiration OP! Congratulations on working out such a successful outcome!
Man, that's a great story. I almost feel like emailing them myself, just to thank them for being a HUMAN BEING.
My Kohl's experience is a little diferent... I had not recevied a Kohl's statement for several months, but always called in to make a payment anyway, knowing that it was due. Well, in November and December of 2016, life happened, as it sometimes does. My father was ill and I had to spend an extended time away from home caring for him. While away, I missed two of my Kohls payments and returned home in january with a 30 and 60 day late on my credit report (Which I paid immediately). It was a crazy time, and my fault entirely, but getting a statement as a reminder would have made a huge diference. I sent a GW to the Kohl's CEO and was immediately called back by someone the following morning. I explained my situation, and she was very nice and helpful on the phone. She said she would do everything she can to help and to follwo up on Monday. Well, monday comes, and I call back and get VM, Tuesday, same thing. Wednesday I find her email and email her to follow up- no response. Finally, on Friday, I get a letter saying there is nothing they can do.
So, I send another email, and get a call from a diferent lady. She is less sympathetic, and tells me that had I just bought something under $50 and forgotten about it, that she could help, but there was nothing she could do for me. She also said that if Kohl's made an exception for me, would I expect them to make an exception for someone who's house just burned down. I said that I would expect them to treat every request on a case by case basis. She got short with me in the end, and just ended the call.
This whole episode is killing me. I am desparately trying to get this removed so i can qualify for a mortgage, and i am determined to be persistant, but at what point does persistance just result in the credito ignoring you? At this point, i am not sure what to do.
I know the original post is 6 months old. I'm hoping that the OP or FICOdeMio may see this. Could someone share the email address so that I could try it? This is the last baddie on my credit.
Thanks!!!!