Here is the situation. I have a 30-day late on my credit report from an old closed Capital One credit card dating back to Feb 2002. The problem is that the card was my ex-wife's card where I used to be a co-signer, however, during the divorce Capital One refused to remove me from the account until the balance was paid off. So, in 2/02 my ex was 30-day late on a $20 balance (while I was paying her $2200/mo alimony. Great!) I've been trying to get Capital One to remove it for years, every time they refuse. This thing been dragging my credit down as the only negative item on my report. I did a credit score simulator today thru Informative Research credit interface, Experien scoring system showed an impact of 82 point due to a complete removal of this card or a change to "paid as agreed" status. Is it possible?? That's a HUGE change for my score, even though it's always between 690 and 720 and I could never figure out why it doesn't go any higher even after I paid off multiple mortgages, car loans, credit cards, etc. My debt to available credit balance is about 25%. So, the question: what is the most effective way to clean it off my credit? I wouldn't care if I were responsble for this late payment, but it sucks that my ex's sloppy credit affects me even 7 years after divorce. I've heard that somebody took their creditor to small claims court and the creditor perefered to just remove the thing from the credit report instead of spending money on lawyers. Any other suggestions?
Have you dispued with CRA's? A 30 day late that old would probably not be verifiable. I would dispute it every 60 days until it finally comes off. I have had so many derogs come off my report over the past year just by tripping them up in the verification process.
Yes, I've been disputing it about three times a year every year, and surprisingly, Capital One confirms it with CRA every time. I've removed everything else thru the disputes but these guys. That's why I'm looking for some radical ways to do it.
Currently I have a nutcase letter that was delivered a couple of weeks ago to three OC's. Have you tried this tactic with them. BTW, I am new here and you seem to some knowledge of how the dispute/validation works. It is very likely way more than myself. With that said and while the supply of my advice might exceed your demand for it I must tell you that I refrain from naming the company's I am dealing with because I know that this board is being monitored by the opposition. If you don't know nutcase you can find it here. I'll let you know how it goes for me. The only other thing that I can say is that if you are not comfortable with nutcase(it is a form of DV letter) I would try over and again to get them on mistake in DV. My experience with such cc companies is that they ignore your DV letters. This is a violation if you set it up correctly.
i would contact the executive offices at crap one and explain the situation. do a search for the contacts.
jenz has good advice. Capital One is extremely hard to deal with except through the executive offices. They will verify almost everything. Planetfeedback used to work for contacting the exective offices, but I don't know if anyone has used it recently.
i remember when we were all advising people who needed to build credit to go to crap one, now we tell everyone to run away. they have got to be the worst company to deal with.
I think they still have their place in the rebuilding scheme of things. They even have some decent prime cards. I have one. But, you have to keep your nose clean with them or they'll mess you over.
good point - use them for prime and always pay on time and you should be fine. there are a lot of banks that you open a secured card with and after like a year will unsecure you.
I'm not sure if CapOne will unsecure you, but I do know that if you have a secured card and pay it on time, they'll send you offers to "buy" a credit limit increase, like $500 for $200 or something like that. I got my prime CapOne because they offered a 3.9% for life balance transfer. Then later I got a better offer and basically "sock drawered" Cap One. I use them occassionally for gas or something. They're great for my ratio, because they gave me a hgh limit which is now unused.
