I know you all are aware how Experian works, but I thought I'd add another story to the pile. I'm in the process of disputing an account with Bank of America that was closed and settled in 1999. It is still being reported on my Experian report - and as a CO. It's been so long ago, I was unaware in recent years that it was actually one of the accounts paid off in a consolidation loan in 1999. Anyway, I disputed the account in Jan 2006 and Experian reported back that it was verified. I disputed again a few months ago and they said that they wouldn't re-investigate unless I had new information. At the time, I was still unaware that it was one of the consolidated accounts, so I called to find out why it was being reported more than 7 years and they said there was a late pmt in March 2003. In another call, they said it was first charged off in March 2003. I sent them a credit report from 1999 that showed the account had been reported derogatory back then, which should have been sufficient to show that March 2003 was not the first time the account was reported and it should be deleted after 7 years. They still refused to re-investigate. So then I sent another letter threatening a lawsuit and I resent the 1999 credit report in addition to a letter from Equifax regarding my dispute with them where they verified the DOLA as 6/99 and subsequently deleted it as well as letters to BoA requesting validation that had gone unanswered. Here's the response I just received from Experian: Here's the kicker: I had been getting no responses from BoA regarding validation. After sending the second letter to Experian, I was finally able to get a number for the charge-off department. When I called them, they were puzzled that it was still being reported because it was paid off on 4/23/1999. It should have been reported as a paid-in-full account with some late pays and instead is today being reported on Experian as a charge-off with a balance due of $1656. Experian will report this until 2010 without intervention. It's amazing that it's gotten through so many "verifications" to be completely wrong - or is it?
This letter is an automated response from their computer scanner. Did you send a letter to EXP which specifically says " this account is obsolete, please delete it from my credit file "? 7 year reporting period. 2007-1999 is 8 years. The account is obsolete, an easy delete with a simple letter.
Did you request anything in writing from BoA regarding their status? I would request a written copy of "furnished data to Credit Reporting Agencies" from BoA. I know BoA does supply these, and a copy of this to Exp should clear this up once and for all.
Actually, I had attempted mail contact with BoA several times without any response from them. I was in the middle of the validation letters when I finally got a number for their chargeoff department located in NC. Because of that, I was previously unable to send anything to EX that had originated from BoA. The reason I was disputing with EX in the first place was my problems getting anyone who could help with such an old account at BoA. Once I made contact with BoA, they sent everything over to their reporting department to have it deleted. I've called back to confirm and the process should be complete within a week or two. The main problem is that EX theoretically "verified" the status of the account and according to their information, it was a $1656 chargeoff that originated in March 2003 (that's why a simple delete letter wouldn't work - they assumed it should stay on record through 2010). That means that either they did not 'verify' with BoA at all and just made up their own numbers, or they called BoA and asked if I had ever had an account with them and they said "yes", which EX took as verification. OR... it's collusion on both their parts to sabotage my credit by providing completely false information about the account. By the way Biz, it was your suggestion to call BoA regarding their status of the account that eventually led to me finding someone who pointed me to the CO dept that ultimately confirmed the account status correctly. Thanks! This is a case where (in years past) I just assumed EX was right because my credit was so crappy anyway and I knew I had an account with Fleet (BoA) in the past. Even if you have earned some of your bad credit, it may not all be accurate. I made a bad assumption, and apparently both EX and BoA got it wrong. In fact, even though EQ and TU dropped the account in June 2006, they were still reporting it as an unsatisfied $1656 CO. If this account had been the only derog on my CR, I'd have played the fool to let it go on so long. Words to the wise.
The more bad credit you have had, the more likely you will also have erroneous bad credit. 1) Collection departments and collection agencies err on the side of bad. 2) The clutter of bad TLs obscures your own ability to catch and correct errors.
First, thanks for the compliment, I'm glad it all has worked out (subject to verification of your credit reports! which I highly recommend!) I apologize as I probably could have helped more with a direct contact number. I had a similar issue (BoA error), and I can appreciate your situation, as it seemed to turn into a full time job getting through to someone who could correct it! A positive note though; BoA corrected immediately, the error was gone in hours! I will gove them credit, that once you find the proper channel, they will correct rapidly. But, be prudent and follow up to ensure removal! Don't beat yourself up too much about letting it sit for a while, we all understand how it can be. The main thing is that you've made progress! Congrats!
Yeah, I just had to weed out about $30k in accounts before I could get down to this one! lol I've got 9 derogs worth about $2500 left across the 3 bureaus. One's dropping off this month, the BoA account will be off by this time next month, 5 have been paid and will either remain for age for another year or are being PFD'd, and I have 2 that I'm still working on. All in all, I'm getting to a good place. By the end of 2008, I'll be clean except for a foreclosure that will remain through the fall of 2010. I have yet to figure out how I'll deal with that one. It's besmirching my credit, but once it's gone I'll be bumped up to a different peer group on which my score will be based. Right now I've got 682-699-706 scores and I'm trying to get to 720+ and stay there. I've got a strategic decision to make on that one.
Actually, you are in a pretty good position, your scores are good, and with a bit more progress, you'll be in very good shape! Just keep pounding on it, one at a time, you WILL get there. Anything we can do to help, let us know.
