Can a creditor arbitrarily change the account number on an 4 year old, closed, and charged-off account? I thought at the very least that they would have to open a new account with my approval. Could it be possible that AMEX instituted this policy to re-insert negative accounts into the credit files of consumers who had managed to get the accounts cloaked? The AMEX line is that it is for consumer safety (that my true account nbr is not displayed on my credit report). But, the old account number was never displayed in its entirety. Only the first 12 digits of the acct nbr were displayed. Thats safe enough for me. The bigger question is can a creditor report an account to a CRA under a number that is not the actual account number? If I apply for credit using a 9 digit number that is not my "actual" Social Security number, I go to jail. Seems like a double standard
