I'm a newbie and this is a great resource. I'm trying to clean up my credit reports (669/676/683) after getting them from my mortgage lender Friday (fortunately, I qualified for my mortgage, thank God). Anyway, I'm starting with the simpler ones - this one really annoyed me: Baybank: 10 payments, 3 late, 8/94-2/97 Fleet: 35 payments, 0 late, 8/94-1/03 Now, these are both for overdraft protection on the same checking account, which is still active. BankBoston bought Baybank in '97, then Fleet bought BankBoston in around '00. At the time of the derogs (1996) I kept on calling Baybank to automatically pull the $20 minimum from my checking account each month, but the CSRs kept on only doing it as a one-time deal and waiving the late fee. But, the tradeline still shows the negatives. The CR gives different addresses for Fleet and Baybank, but Baybank doesn't exist any more. As those 3 late are 3 of a grand total of 10 on my CR (4 are with MBNA over the last 7 years and I'll deal with them next...), and I was told each time that they'd take care of the mixup... I want them gone. I'm still a Fleet customer even though I live in IL (I have a lot of work travel in NY/MA and like the ATM access), but I'm willing to leave them over this issue. Left to my own devices, I'd send a letter to both the Baybank and Fleet address explaining that I was told that the errors were their fault, that I was appalled to see the effect of the errors on my credit rating, and that I expect a correction. But, I'm afraid that I'm going to do something wrong and keep the tradeline for even longer if I write the wrong thing. Any suggestions? I have read the various newbie materials, just don't know how angry in tone to start.
If you are a good current customer of Fleet, try something similar to the "Goodwill" letter. Compliment them, tell them you love them, but this prior mixup with Bay Bank is very upsetting, hurting your credit scores, you are baffled why they didn't do what they said, and now have to live with this mistake blah blah blah... see if it works - it does a lot of the time.
I decided to take the Planet Feedback approach. Fleet bought BankBoston who had bought BayBank. Here is what I sent: Dear Ms. Jones, I hope you are able to help me with a problem I've encountered with FleetBoston Financial Corporation. The problem concerns account management, specifically credit reporting of a customer service event. I am generally a very satisfied customer of Fleet (and before that BankBoston and BayBank). Even though I now live in the Midwest, I still maintain my primary checking account with Fleet as I travel heavily in New England for work. My checking account number is XXXXXXXXXXXXX. Unfortunately, there was one set of customer service incidents that have caused me some grief, many years after the fact. I started an overdraft/reserve line with BayBank when I set up my checking account, and was told that (if I had a balance) it was configured to automatically take the minimum payment (somewhere between $15 and $40) out of my checking account at the end of the month. This sadly was not the case. On multiple occasions, no deduction was ever made until late notices were sent. I would call BayBank, repeat what I was told, have them agree with me that it was possible but that my account was not actually configured that way, and have them tell me that they would take care of it and that auto-debit would be enabled for future months. Finally, after the fourth attempt at this, the auto-debit was properly configured. Now, since this all happened in 1996, it should be the end of the story. Unfortunately, BayBank did not adjust my credit record appropriately, and my credit record still shows 3 30-59 day deliquencies out of 10 payments on a Baybank tradeline, while my Fleet tradeline is perfect. These BayBank deliquencies and especially the percentage of deliqunecy are affecting my ability to obtain unsecured credit at today's preferred rates. I now realize that I could have saved myself a lot of grief by more carefully monitoring my credit reports, so that I could have notified BayBank immediately of the issue. I would appreciate it greatly if, as a goodwill gesture to a loyal customer, Fleet could adjust my Baybank tradeline to show zero 30-59 day deliquencies. These will be slowly moving off of my report over the remainder of 2003, but an adjustment at this time will make my life significantly less stressful. Thank you for your consideration in this matter. I look forward to your prompt reply.
This was waiting in my mailbox when I got back from a business trip. It was dated March 18, so they were incredibly prompt (Sunday afternoon to Tuesday) in their reply: Dear Mr. GoIllini, Your recent correspondence to PlanetFeedback.com has been forwarded to Fleet Bank for review and reply. I am glad to address your concerns. As you have requested, we have submitted updated to the three major credit bureaus on your behalf to remove the derogatory payment information. Please be aware that it may take up to sixty days for these changes to be processed. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention, Mr. GoIllini. Please continue to think of Fleet for all of your financial needs. Sincerely, xxx AVP - Customer Relations Yippie!!! BOFA is next.
