Impact of closed account due to being "stolen".

[Anonymous]

Here is the situation:

The only score watch alert I have received in the past three or four months (tap tap, hello is this thing on) has been a notification that one of my cards was closed and reported as stolen.

This was a BOA card that had one of my higher limits, and was in the middle of the pack when it comes to account age. It was at 20 months, no lates at the time it was closed.

BOA closed the account number and issued me a new account number and a new card. I beleive an online merchant or other was comprimised so a whole set of cards had to get cancelled. There was no unauthorised charges thankfully.

I just pulled my free TU report. It shows the old account opened in 9/2007 and closed 5/2009, with 20 months with no late payments. The new account shows date opened 9/200, with 14 months of no late payements.

They didn't contact me prior to closing the old account and opening the new account number, if it wasn't for score watch I wouldn't have heard a word of this until I received the letter and new card in the mail.

So what is the impact of this on my score?

Is the closed account stuck at > 2 years? When does this drop off?

Is date opened or date reporting what matters for scoring? Equifax (also pulled this report recently) shows both with the same opening date, but shows a much later reporting date for the new account number. When I hit 9/2009 is this new account number going to be considered as 2 years old?

Thanks!

Message Edited by DougH on 08-10-2009 03:09 PM

[AndySoCal]

To the best of my knowledge the FICO score is not affected by an account being reported as lost or stolen.

[Anonymous]

So now that the account is counted as closed/stolen it isn't factored into any of the scoring variables i.e age?

Is the new account considered the same age as the old account based on its opening date? Just hoping that I broke even, score wise, since the new account was given the opening date of the old one.

[jackg]

Rather than guessing at what might happen I would call them and tell them what you think should happen. ie: the new account should carry the same history as the the closed one. I firmly believe that as consumers we must be proactive in these circumstances rather than being victims to what ever they decide to do.

Good Luck

[smallfry]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So now that the account is counted as closed/stolen it isn't factored into any of the scoring variables i.e age?

Is the new account considered the same age as the old account based on its opening date? Just hoping that I broke even, score wise, since the new account was given the opening date of the old one.

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The card is factored into scoring and if it is lower than your AAofA it will hurt. 

[RobertEG]

When they issued the new account number, they should have folded all of your prior account history into the new account. That is their normal procedure.

It happened to me last year, when my wallet was stolen.

All five of my CCCs issued me new cards, and retained all of my prior account history.   One was a BOA card.

It is SOP.

Just call them.  They will restore the status of your account, I am sure.

[AndySoCal]

The creditor will issue you a new card and report the new card with the same date open ETC and the credit history will also be transferred too.

[Anonymous]

Smallfry is totally correct on this one. The way your report is set up right now - both accounts factor into your age. The same thing happened to me in 2006. The incident actually helped my score for awhile because my oldest account was duplicated on my report....aka 2 accounts were showing they opened years ago when only 1 actually did.

The "stolen" card will drop off your reports 2 years from the date it is reported as such. Thus in 2008 I had a score drop when my AAoA dropped.

If having your "stolen" account on there has lowered your AAoA it is hurting you now and you will be helped when it drops off in 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the information and great replies everyone. I don't think there is much of an impact, negative or positive. It's age was around the AAoA. It didn't have any lates.

If I ever get some AU's to report from my parent's cards its impact will become even more immaterial.

Doesn't sound like it is worth calling BoA or the CRA's over.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the information and great replies everyone. I don't think there is much of an impact, negative or positive. It's age was around the AAoA. It didn't have any lates.

If I ever get some AU's to report from my parent's cards its impact will become even more immaterial.

Doesn't sound like it is worth calling BoA or the CRA's over.

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If the history for the new card is in any way inferior to the history on the old card you should call and keep calling until they get it right.