I had an ancient credit card balance with BOA from 2003 when they closed it out. Last year (2010 - 7 years later when it should fall off) they sent me a 1099-c. I included it as income on my 2010 taxes and figured it was falling off since it was 7 years later. Pulling my credit report yesterday: - I have no FICO score - they reported me as dead last year and it also says the account was closed by my request also - apparently from beyond the grave. It lists 9001 in place of a FICO score - the code for deceased. My entire credit file is suspended. - They list three payments made on the account in 2008 and 2009. No payments were ever made on this after 2003. So clearly this is malicious on their part and not a paperwork error. I want to dispute it with Experian so I can get my FICO score and qualify for a home loan next year. I can dispute the fact I'm not dead easily enough. But I'm shocked by the fact they reported payments that were never made to make it look like this account had activity as recent as last year. That is breaking a whole bunch of laws, yes? Can I get this settled via Experian dispute? Or is an attorney needed on this? What effect will disputing it have on my FICO score - will it reage or reactive the account? Thanks for your help P
Welcome to Creditnet Wolfman. Yea, 9001 is FICO's code to report a "deceased" status. Not good at all. What is your credit report showing as the DOFD (Date of First Delinquency) for this card? That's what really matters when you're trying to determine when the SOL expired. I would dispute away with all the CRAs. There's no need to be afraid of how it might affect your FICO scores- they still think you're dead anyway!
Thanks for the reply Joshua. I pulled the Experian report and under the credit report entry it shows a series of boxes that reflect month with the year above it - it starts at 2008 even though the credit line was opened in 1999 - is there a way to look at the complete timeline so I can get the accurate DOFD? Thanks again for your help.
If you can't find the DOFD anywhere on your credit report, you can always call Experian and request it. They have to keep track of it for FCRA compliance.
