Looking for suggestions on how to update two CC accounts to show Paid on Time status. In particular, Sears and Discover. Both accounts are closed by Credit Grantor but still have a balance. I have been making regular payments on both and have not paid late in over 4 years. Unfortunately, there were several 60 and 90-day lates back in 1998 and I'm having a hard time getting them removed. Have disputed with TU and Exp on two separate occasions (Never Late) but both accounts always come back verified. Had thought about a goodwill letter, but considering that the accounts are closed, I'm not sure how much success I will have with that method. Does anyone have a better idea on how to get the late pays removed?
I would try the Goodwill letter for sure. Considering that you have made regular payments to them even after the account was closed has in fact shown YOUR "goodwill" in my opinion anyway. You have been for the last years attempting to make things right with them, Go for it!
I'm in the same boat with some old lates from Discover and Sears. Here is what has and has not worked for me: Sears: First round dispute as payment never late got several 30-day lates from 1998 cleared on Equifax and TU. Two disputes with Experian failed. Goodwill letter to Sears failed. Immediately after getting a rejection letter from Sears, I telephoned and asked for a goodwill adjustment and the CSR granted the adjustment immediately. That was about three weeks ago, now I'm waiting to see what happens when my report updates. That card has a zero balance because of the ridiculous APR and now lives in the sock drawer just to help my credit mix. Discover: Lates are more recent, two from early 2001 so it figures they would be more difficult to get rid of, especially since the account is paid & closed. Requested goodwill adjustment via telephone in return for paying off remaning balance on closed account. Rudely rejected by CSR. Tried another CSR, same result. I finally gave up and paid off the balance anyway just to help bring down the balances showing on my reports (paying down balances has proven to be the most effective way to bring my scores up). Then sent a written request for a goodwill adjustment. Denied. Account was then reported "Charged Off" even though it was paid. Called Discover again, spent the afternoon getting bounced from CSR to CSR, department to department, none of which could/would help me. Faxed a letter to the Credit Bureau Desk at Discover. Got the Charge Off notation removed, but not lates or the "Account Closed by Creditor" notation. Next, I disputed with all 3 CRA's, but it keeps coming back verified, now I can't dispute with Experian any more, even with different standard reasons. Now I'm waiting for Nutcase results from the letter I sent to Discover. If that fails I will hope for the best with CHOD. Maybe someone can offer me some guidance about a better way, but I think it's just going to take some perserverance and maybe a little luck.
Chucky, I went through this with Experian on my Discover Card. They kept saying Discover was verifying the lates. So when I asked the EX csr who to call at Discover she told me 1.800.DISCOVER. So I did. What happened next was very interesting. I explained to the csr at Discover what had happened with EX and asked her if she could pull up my payment history for the dates in question. She told me she couldn't because the dates in question were over 12 months old and she could only verify my payment history for the past 12 months. I told her Experian told me to call this number because that's the number they use and she responded that if EX contacted her she couldn't verify any lates over 12 months old. Needless to say the lates on my Discover that were over 2 years old are gone.
The same thing happened to me. I had a Discover card that was opened in 1992. Paid in full and closed in 2000. I have 2 late pays, both from 96. I called Discover and they couldn't even FIND me in their system! I then disputed with TU and EX as never late and they both DELETED the damn account!! I didn't want it deleted because of it's age, but I don't think I can even get it put back on now because Discover doesn't know who I am. I'm not sure that I should dispute with EQ now or just let it go. The lates should be gone in a year anyway. mysti_summer
