PLEASE HELP!! I'm in the process of rebuilding my credit and doing a pretty good job so far. My question is this..I had a American Express account 16 years ago with a balance of $386.06. If i paid this off will i be available to recieve another card? Anyone been through this situation? PLEASE HELP!!!
AMEX has a reputation for not being very forgiving and having a great memory. However, 16 years is a long time ago. They may not even have record of your old debt anymore.
Unfortuneately they do have a record of the debt. I called and checked to make sure the other day and to my surprise the debt is still there. Should I pay and cross my fingers or jus move on? Really would love to have them back.
The debt is so old that you have no obligation, other than a moral one if that matters to you, to pay it off. Personally, I believe in always paying off what I owe, so I would take care of it and move on with my life. How good is your FICO score these days?
Hi One of the posters is right the debt is to old to legally collect. But if you want an Amex Card pay the o/s balance. Once I did I was able to get the card.
Thanks, I too believe in paying your debts. So Im going pay the 16 year old balance and hope for the best. I'm aware that they can't legally collect but i should pay regardless. I totally forgot about the debt. My Fico score for EQ is 716, EX..620. Haven't recieved my TU score as of yet. Had a bunch of collections a few years back and only have one remaining. Also have a charge off from B of A. Have very limited credit history. Just recently picked up a secured card through Wells Fargo along with Cap 1. Score jumped almost 50 points when they reported to 3 bureaus. Those are the only revolving accounts i have. Best Buy approved me for Rewards Zone mastercard only $100 cl. Denied for discover and walmart. Should i slow down in applying? Trying to build history so if you have any advice for me i would appreciate any. Thx..BTW you think cause of that last collection on my report is the reason of the denials?
American Express and Capital One are one of the best (worst?) creditors because they do keep every (and I mean every!) itemized statement. They probably could give you duplicates if you asked them. I've had many colleagues and friends in your same situation with them (Cap1/AmEx) and they WERE able to provide lots and lots of documents and will not "forget" if you try to re-apply for their card. Now the good point I can mention (you'll have to ask them to confirm), my colleagues were told (and they showed me proof) that if they paid the collection account and opened a new account with AmEx they would show the opening date as the original date (in your case 1994//16 years ago!) on the credit report. So if you were to keep in good standing that would show 16 years of a positive tradeline Applying for a lot of credit may look "suspicious" to the creditor(s). They may question that you have one active collection and one paid collection so they may not want to loan you money/extend credit. However, one positive move would be to get the AmEx CC paid off because if they really can get you that tradeline showing 16 years of positive transaction that would be great. However, in the mean time, just try to pay in cash ($) and only charges as much as your can pay back. Showing a collection (unpaid) is all the more reason to deny credit to someone because they (the creditor) assume you cannot pay bills. However, try your best, and just pay what you can. However the other posters are right, the AmEx is SO old that it is not legally collectible (OOS). On the other hand, if you can verify with AmEx about what I have been told with the tradeline that may be a positive benefit to you and to AmEx.
I went through a nightmare recently with AMEX where they decided to place a charge-off on my account from 16 years ago. They immediately removed it via a phone call placed to them. I have not seen my updated credit report yet but I have called several times and received letters confirming it was deleted. They will NOT, however, remove the debt from their records. No worries on my end - I really don't need an AMEX card and my score is 785. As an aside, when they placed the notation on my account my score went from 785 to 697 overnight. I am hoping the score will return to the previous number once the deletions are complete.
Were you able to see if your scores went back to original number? Also if I paid this old account, can they legally report the charge off to the credit bureaus? BTW it is 14 years old.
From what I understand is that negative information prior to 1997 can only be reported for 7 years from the date of the charge off. If the debt is 14 years old it will not show up on your credit report. Amex will just update their records to reflect the payment. Sometimes it might show up as a closed account with a 0 balance but it be a positive trade on your report.
Thanks for the reply. Hope it will show as a positive trade line. Another issue I have is I recently had my last collection fall off TU and my score went up from 606 to 752..thats at least what my Fico TU score sys. My FICO EQ is 716 and FAKO EX is 675. I have 1 charge off from BofA in late 2008 in the amount of $808. I have one acoount that reports 17 late payments..(I have disputed). Have limited credit history with only a secure well fargo(300cl) and cap 1 secured(200) also a best buy rewards(100cl). Can not get approved for anymore. Anyone know why this is? Have at least 4 inqu in last month. Any advice is appreciated.
You might want to contact Amex ands ask about their Oasis Program. With that program if you pay off the outstanding balance they will issue you an optima card for 50% of the outstanding balance (500 min to 5000 max) I heard they also back date.
Also, your BOA balance of $808 is factored into your utilization percentage. Assuming you have a zero balance on your WF, Best Buy, and Cap 1 accounts, your utilization percentage is 57%. Some of the options you have is to contact Amex and see about the Oasis Program and pay off your BOA. If you have a balance on your other accounts I would pay them off and wait a few month on applying for additional credit.
