Hello all,
I paid an AMEX chargeoff from March 2019 for $2800 on Feb 22, 2020. I paid it via the Amex website on my computer. I get an alert today that my Experian fico8 score dropped 35 points. It appears that Amex double reported. On March 18, they reported it as "uncollectible and written off as a bad debt" with a balance of 0. I contact Amex credit bureau unit on March 20 and inquired about it and was told it would take a couple of days(?). It updated again about 1 hr after I called to "paid/was a chargeoff" but I didn't get any points back. I know it's been tons of discussions on this forum on whether or not paying chargeoff accts helps your score, but this seems a bit much. Has anyone had a similar experience with Amex??
If you pay a charge-off, you may expect your credit score to go up immediately. You’ve cleared up the past due balance, your credit score should reward you for that, right? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Paying a charge-off doesn’t remove the account from your credit report. That's because clearing up the past due balance doesn’t erase the fact that your account was actually charged-off. Paying a charge-off also will not improve your credit score – at least not immediately.
Over time, your credit score can improve after a charge-off if you continue paying all your other accounts on time and handle your debt responsibly. However, if you’re late again or you have another account charged-off (or something worse like a foreclosure or repossession), your credit score may drop even more and can take longer to recover. The charge-off will eventually drop off your credit report whether you pay it or not. The credit reporting time limit for charge-offs runs out after seven years and 180 days from the date of the first delinquency that led to your account being charged-off.
