Account Closed By Credit Grantor

[Anonymous]

I'm recovering from a series of unfortunate events which severely affected my credit (events that were not of my own doing).

As a result of a bankruptcy that I NEVER declared that showed up on my credit reports, I had one of my two credit lines I had opened at the time shut down after Equifax reported to Citibank that I had filed for bankruptcy. I was able to salvage my other credit line by getting in touch with the creditor immediately after finding out the news and explaining the situation to them.

Ever since then, I've been obsessed with making sure that my credit is back to where it used to be before sh*t hit the fan.

I worked with a two lawyers over a good part of 2016 to make sure that the bankruptcy that I never declared was taken off my credit reports, and that was finally accomplished this past August.

This leads me to the following...: The closed account still shows up on all three of my credit reports, but only on Equifax does it show that it was closed by the credit grantor. - My counsel advised me to not pay whatever balance was left over on that credit line until after the bankruptcy was taken off the report. The day that I spoke with Citibank to pay off the debt, earlier that morning, without me lifting a finger, Citibank had updated their system to reflect that the account had been closed in error. However, like I mentioned, on Equifax only does that credit line appear as closed by the credit grantor.

So... My question is this... Is the fact that the phrase "closed by credit grantor" affecting my credit score with Equifax at all? Equifax is the lowest of my scores and there is about a 50 point difference between the lowest and my highest scores. Anybody else have a similar experience? I will be disputing this with Equifax but want to get in touch with Citibank first to make sure there is an all clear in their system. All replies and comments welcomed!

[Revelate]

Account closed by credit grantor doesn't matter in the slightest for the FICO algorithm.

Status field, unless it's listed in dispute is effectively irrelevant, it's just a note for anyone looking at the file.  At least based on your signature line EX/EQ look reasonably in line (FICO's stated design goal is +/- 30 points unfortunately, the algorithms aren't 1:1 between the bureaus) whereas TU is kinda an outlier north of 720.  

IS there anything else besides the fake BK and the closed tradeline with balance depressing your score?

[Anonymous]

The only other thing that I can think of is the app spree I went on after finding out that the bankruptcy was taken off my credit report between Late September and Early October. Inquiries mainly on Equifax and Experian. Not so many on TU. That and my AAoA is 1.5 years. After the BK was removed, my scores didn't go back to the 750s like they were before all this happened. They were in the 510s for a good part of 2016 and then in August, they showed up in the 660s, and now they're were there at in my signature.

I actually paid today (Oct 18) to get the three credit scores from the three bureaus through Experian, and everything else looks squeaky clean. 100% on time payment history, no collections, no public records. Etc. Two months from when I pulled previously in August to confirm that the BK was off. I kept getting invititations to apply for the CSP consistently in August and that's what hinted at the record having finally been set straight.

The only other thing that's puzzling to me that I found on the report I pulled is that...

1. I am no longer with the employer under which TU has me listed. I left the company for a better opportunity in May 2014. Started working for that company in February 2013. The other two bureaus dont have my employer listed.

2. The Credit Card that was wrongfully closed in December 2015 was opened in Feb of 2014. 100% on time payment history for that card is being reported on Equifax only as going as far back as Summer 2012. Payment history for that card doesn't show up on TU. Payment History for that card shows up on Experian for September 2016 which coincides with the final payment I made after the BK cleared from my credit reports. I'm not sure why there is history going as far back as 2012 for this card when the account was only opened in February 2014.

Thanks for answering my question Revelate! Kudos!

Even if it is not affecting my FICO score, it still is a derogatory comment, and I'm going to dispute this and get it removed.

I reached out to Citibank earlier in the evening and they told me that for something like this, I need to reach out to the fraud department as the account was closed due to a mix-up in name. It's the second time I've heard that from two different CSRs so, pro-tip, just in case someone else is dealing with a similar issue.

Edit: Also, just want to add that I'm not sure if it's worth disputing the perfect payment history going back to 2012 on the card that was wrongfully closed. I'm sure it will help. What do you guys think?

[Revelate]

I'd keep working through Citi before I went down the dispute road: dispute may not help at all and may exclude the tradeline from further scoring.  Heck if they wrongfully closed it, see if they might be willing to open it back up and maybe it'll come with the original open date... might as well shoot for the moon so to speak if they acknowledge it is an error.  

Your AAOA is 1.5 years post spree?  How many inquiries on each bureau?  Bunch of new accounts could well spank your score depending how much you spreed; 750 is pretty reasonable for a 2 account file and a year+ when we're talking FICO 8, but once you thicken the file up via a spree, it's less where characterized.  Thomas Thumb has suggested that thin files may score differenty under FICO similar to Vantage Score, and if you have call it 4+ tradelines now, you're no longer in that category most likely.

[Anonymous]

I will definitely try to deal with Citi first. My lawyers dealt with the credit bureaus and that was enough of a headache for me and I just stood on the sidelines and did nothing while they did everything.

I was told by the Citi CSR who took my final payment on the wrongfully closed card that since the account was closed more than three months ago, that they couldn't open it. Maybe I will ask to speak to someone higher up and see what they can do. But yes, they've definitely already admitted that they made the mistake so I'm going to ask for all that I can get.

My recent app spree yielded five new cards - Amex EDP, Amex BCP, Cap One QS1, CSP, and CSR.

The card I was able to salvage from Amex when I found out about the BK was an AMEX PRG, which I upgraded to the Platinum before I began the app spree.

So yes, 4+ new lines, consistent with what you've already pointed out.

Thanks again for all your help!

[Anonymous]

If the inquiries from your spree were heavier on the bureau with your lowest score, that could be part of the reason.  Fortunately the sting from inquiries usually doesn't last very long.