I know this is long, so please bear with me. I had a Nextcard account that was sold to Merrick Bank. I made some payments to Merrick but then fell behind. I have written here about this problem, but I feel I have a better grasp of the issues now, so will try again. HERE IS THE DISPUTE: After I fell behind, they called me repeatedly asking for a payment. I paid when I could. When I paid something, it was $50 a month. I got as far as 120 days behind. On each call, they told me that it would be charged off after 180 days if I reached that point. In May 2003, i got to where I was 120 days late. From that point on, I have made a $50 payment to them every month (always on time). A few months ago, I checked my credit reports and saw that they were reporting this account as a chargeoff as of June, 2003. But, it was reported as a chargeoff only on Experian. On Equifax, they have shown it as paid as agreed since July, 2003. So it is good on EQ, but bad on EX. And, they do not report to TU on this account. I have spoken to them about this and the CSR says I actually went over the 180 day mark, they charged it off, and sent it to internal collections. They cannot explain why they ALWAYS tell me in their monthly calls that it will be charged off if it reaches the 180 day mark. How could I have reached the magical 120 day mark if it was only 120 days late in May 2003 and charged off the following month? Were there 60 days in May of last year? I now have 13 straight months of on time payments. I truthfully think they made a mistake and we never reached the 180 day cutoff. I want them to change the charge off on experian and have it reflect timely payments for the last 13 months, just as they are doing on EQ. BUT, I do not want them to go back and change the EQ reporting to show a chargeoff 13 months ago. The problem with Merrick is that some CSR's are jerks and others are pretty decent. How do I handle this????
You are getting off on the wrong track. WHATEVER date they choose as THEIR chargeoff date is not important. What you need to be concerned about is that fact they are reporting a CHARGEOFF and not a "PAID or PAYING as AGREED-Was a charge off" May seem kinda symantics, but for example, you were refinancing etc, the mortgage company would require the charge off be paid so it was not a liability against your house. And a year of "good" payment history is nice to have. Problem you have though is that you are calling the creditor. YOU HAVE NO CONSUMER RECOURSE if they do not change things (state laws aside). Your dispute needs to GO DIRECTLY TO THE REPORTING AGENCIES, and MUST include DETAILS of what exactly you are disputing. If they fail to conduct a reasonable investigation into your dispute, the CRA AND the creditor can face liability under the FCRA. Good luck!
