Work on COVID-19 research while re-building credit...

[PhinPhin]

Hi all. This is our first post, but long time follower to get all the information we need to rebuild. I'm going to keep this short as possible.

For the record: FICO scores raised to just a few points shy of 600 with a goal of getting all of them as close to 680 as possible.

As for the question at hand. I had a Discover secured card along with two CapOne unsecured cards that I am using to rebuild my credit. While both of my CapOne cards had autopay setup I, unfortunately, failed to put Discover on autopay. As SARS-CoV-2 swept the world my work (I'm a scientiest), like many others, ramped up efforts on researching this virus. This meant round the clock work and very stressful hours. I missed two of my payments on Discover and they closed my account and reported deliquency 30 and 60 days. Once I realized this happened I paid the balance in full so there was no collection. However, the damage is done with my payment history and the closure of my oldest rebuilding credit card.

I know there are a lot of things creditors are doing to help assist those affected by COVID, be it mortgage/auto loans/student loans etc., but how should I go about asking Discover if they would be willing to change my last two months of payments to reflect on-time in goodwill? I would be happy to provide them any proof of my employment and to the best of my abilities my research (being that which is open source already).

Thanks!!

[ImTheDevil]

I would call and ask honestly. You'll likely have to speak to a supervisor or manager as a CSR probably won't be able to help. I hope it works and thank you for your efforts!

[PhinPhin]

Thanks! I guess that's the big question. I want to make sure I speak to the right person before even asking (or know if there's a certaini way to phrase the question). It is completely my fault, but prior to this I had a perfect repayment of the card at Discover.

[ImTheDevil]

I would ask for a manager and if you get one, just be honest about it. You can cite your perfect history with them and offer to mail/email/upload anything that proves your field of work as well. It's definitely worth a try.

[Rebuild2022]

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@PhinPhin wrote:

Hi all. This is our first post, but long time follower to get all the information we need to rebuild. I'm going to keep this short as possible.

I thought most of the credit card companies and banks are helping with missed payments and other things. I would call and ask them to remove the negative information and I am sure they would be happy to do it. If that fails you can take it up with authorities and seek out covid help.

[PhinPhin]

In case anyone is wondering. I called Discover this morning and got connected to a supervisor (after explaining to the associate). They removed both late payments and refunded me the two late fees as a check. Account will remain closed though. Thanks Discover!

[ImTheDevil]

That's a great result - congrats!