https://www.cnbc.com/select/amex-platinum-card-2025-changes

I paid it in full.. at some point today, it will change from "Processing" to "Payment Received."

When it does, I will have a zero balance.

Is that what will report to the bureaus?

Was thinking about this.  I've "successfully" rehabbed my credit mostly by simply waiting for one derog to fall off but also I opened five cards over the last year and a half or so.  I've got CLIs on all of them, and all but two have decent limits.  What I don't like is that four of these cards have interest rates on the higher end of their advertised scales.  Has anyone had any success with calling them up and asking them to reconsider your interest rate?  Specific institutions are Discover and Citi (three cards, two Citi and a Macy's AmEx).

I know what you're going to say, I shouldn't be paying any interest anyway and I'm not - the only balance I'm carrying over month to month is a 0% balance transfer that I'm paying off over time, and that's not even one of the cards I'm worried about.  But, as I have been building my credit limits while I don't need them, I figure the right time to lower my interest rates is when it's irrelevant to me, as I would expect if I do need to carry balances that's not a time when I will be able to ask any favors of the institutions.

So, can it work?  Or would it just be a waste of time?

We've had some great success stories recently from lurkers, so I thought we could see who is out there reading and maybe get some to become regular contributors here.

This weekend I received back their response which included a signed affidavit of the bill of sale, which was really just how much they spent for the bundle of files not mine specific, and documents from the OC including a notice of first default from the OC, the disclosure statement, and a ledger of activity from said account......of a completely different person.  

Included is a letter to me from the debt collector, which I never received either electronically or physical which has my name and correct address.  But the account number on that document doesn't match what they sent.  So, in my book they failed to validate.  Please correct me if I'm wrong here. 

I'm going to send a letter disputing and notifying them of the failed validation attempt.  But my question is: how detailed should the letter be?  I'm assuming simple so I don't do their job for them, but if I include an aggressive statement that tells them stop collection, remove me from their files, close the file and stop bugging me....am i opening myself up further to them?   I can get a letter from Claude, but I don't want to be *Admin prohibits insults that reference an individual's intelligence.* about this.  

Thanks!

They unfortunately informed me:

So now I'm just asking myself what to do.

I've been doing nothing, they have been my only derogatory on my report since about 2021.

I am reluctant to contact them; given the department they are in, why would they want to cut a deal? They sound like they are ready to do Pressler and Pressler stuff. 

Should I continue to just ignore them? I got out of that chat pretty fast, all they have is my name and email...

What advice do you all have?

Capital One used to give CLIs if you maintained good account history etc so... This is my chance to not max the card out and screw the opportunity up.

My question is, simply, how to best use it as far as how much to spend a month, how to calculate dates, and how to really manage this one well, since I have about 7-10 accounts to pay off, mostly revolving open and unsecured credit cards. I'm ignoring the "collections" for now. They are mostly dormant, so.. What is the best strategy about how to use and pay this $500 limit card?

Thank you!

I am ignoring them.

How am I doing, and does anyone else have similar? My credit must truly be on an upswing if I triggered some kind of point where stuff like that will e-mail me. Not even mail a letter....

They promote the fact that it's a soft inquiry on either TransUnion or Experian, but what no one knows at Klarna as of this program rollout is how this lease will report on your credit report, or even if it will report on your credit report.   If it doesn't report at all, that would be a great hidden trade line. However, if it reports as an installment loan, which most likely it will if it's going to report at all, that could be an issue for someone who's applying for a mortgage or perhaps another type of loan that might be sensitive to new accounts reporting. If it reports as a revolving account for any reason, that could really be a problem. 

Amazes me that a program of this magnitude... nobody knows what's going on ahead of time or even considered this might be an issue for people who are conscientious regarding their credit reports.   The Rep from Klarna's advice was to see if it shows up on your credit report and then you can see how it's reporting or if it's reporting after you sign up for the lease.   I'm like, no, that's why I'm asking ahead of time so I can avoid this aggravation. 

In part, the letter says blah blah blah "we noticed that your overall card usage with Chase and other issuers is low.  Because of this, we may lower your credit limit to $13,250.00 in 50 days.  If you anticipate a change in your spending needs, you can opt out of the review by contacting us at the number" blah blah blah.

Now the truth is, I hardly ever use this card so $13,500 would really be fine, but I don't want to lose the CL because I am still possibly overly optimistic that I might be able to find a nice house that I can afford, and I'm trying to keep my credit as buffed as possible.

My question is, what should I do?  Should I take the CLD or is there any possible negative action they could take if I opted out of the review?  Not sure what the best course of action is here as this hasn't happened to me before.  It's kind of a gut punch after spending the last 3 years on a targeted mission to get my credit all shiny, and just in the past week or two I've both got all three FICO 8s over 800 and also broken an almost 2 year streak of CLI denials with Discover.  I also only have really three remaining action items that I want to do with my credit; 1) get my APR down to the advertised minimum on my AmEx BCE (they won't re-evaluate until I'm out of my 0% introductory APR which lasts another month or thereabouts) and 2) get my CLs on my Citi Double Cash and Costco Visa over $10k, they're currently at $7k and $5k respectively.

Any knowledge and guidance is appreciated.

No BK was involved

TIA

dice727 is actually me. (in case you missed it, the thread is here: https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=567281)

yes, for the many doubters, sadly everything posted in that thread is real. I posted under an alias with mom's permission because I had some pending legal issues and this account could possibly be tracked back to me.

so now 18 months later, all that's been resolved, I received my Chapter 7 discharge in June and am working on rebuilding my credit.

since I IIB'd pretty much every major creditor around and most of the good CUs, rebuilding is going to be an interesting process.

current snapshot:

FICO08s are EX 584, EQ 606, TU 573.

I have no personal revolving accounts open right now. I didn't reaffirm the mortgage, so that's not open either. I do have open student loans. I am an AU on one open Ann Taylor account of my wife from 2003 with no balance and $3650 CL. I do still have some older paid/closed accounts on my report which helps my AAOA along with the student loans.

going to use this thread to keep track of progress and notes.

feel free to interject any advice if you think there's something I should/shouldn't do! I rebuilt many years ago from a bunch of CO accounts, but pretty much just waited until 7 years passed and everything fell off before starting to rebuild. so this is new territory for me.

My question is is the wording SOLD to my advantage..they never said they owned the account or that it was their account and that I owe them. Does this give me leverage on getting them off the back of the person who received this, and what is the way to do that with this type of account letter? Thank you!

https://whychat.me/ltrcaval.html

l

 "As it turns out, the people that tend to use buy now, pay later tend to have less borrowing space on their credit cards."

Please note that you will need to be at MEMBER STATUS before you can access or download these files.  

Member status is achieved through posting.  We don't publish the number of posts required, because it is designed to discourage spammers and scammers, but it's not a high bar.   Thank you for understanding.

Word and PDF files

PsychDoc_CREDIT_REPAIR_FOR_BEGINNERS.doc

Psychdoc_s_Credit_Repair_for_Beginners.pdf

What would be a good way to meet the requirement? Amazon gift cards? Gas gift cards?

Which brings me to the leading statement. I called Merrick after trying to log in on their site at the number they gave me. So now it's not just closed, it is charged off. This must have happened in the past month or so.

So, if January is a debt collector.. I haven't done this in a very long time. I know it means I no longer need to pay them the full balance, since they bought my account for pennies on the dollar. And while I don't know how many pennies on the dollar, I am most inclined to follow the advice of offering them 20% of the balance and see their counter or if they accept.

I have not responded to their e-mails.

So, I am asking.. what is the best way to attack this? They do say they are "collecting for Merrick" and Merrick just told me my account is charged off. So, since the cheapest route to getting rid of them wins the day.. what should I next do?

This is all recent in the last month or two and I am rusty. Can't remember the last time I had to deal with a collection agency. After this I have just one more to do and I'm looking good...

The reasons were: 

Too many inquiries  or applications for credit  in the  last 14 days.    (we have not applied for credit)    

amount  on  on  bank cards to high  relative to the credit limit in the last 6 months.  (it was about 26% as new charges were put on just before statement date.)

Too few months  since  most  recent personal installment account opened.  (new truck back in September 6 months  ago.)

Too  many inquiries in  the past 12 months.  (1 inquiry 6 months ago for auto loan)

Credit score is a 719

I scrambled to find  out who the inquiry or application for credit was, why the low score and there's NOTHING. No inquiry at all nor a new loan/account reported, I'm not  quite sure where they got the information. It says it came from Experian.   

Come to find out after pulling all  reports from 3 different  places this is an Experian Vantage score not a Fico score.  The day his credit was pulled his vantage score was 719 and his FICO score was 771. Maybe I am just over reacting but when it said inquiries or credit in  the past 14 days my heart sank thinking with  all the security breaches going on that someone had stolen his identity.  All Wells Fargo calls it is a "Credit score they did not specify vantage or fico in their paperwork so beware.   

They are using Vantage scores.  Unknowing that to automatic credit line increases and me applying him  for this card even crashed his vantage score.   

This leads to another question I have thought about for some  time because if I think  of  applying for a low interest loan or something at a credit union I always  ask if they use the fico score or vantage score because there is such a huge difference.  If it's a vantage score most of the time I drop it and think see ya later.  BUT.... the credit bureaus are essentially private owned.  they are there to make money. So this whole Vantage score thing makes perfect sense.  You create your own scoring, which is lower than fico, offer businesses a cheap rate to  pull the vantage score over fico and in turn they can say your score is low and  offer a higher interest rate.  I it's just a theory but that's the way it seems to pan out.  Why would a business not benefit from using the  vantage score over a fico score when it makes them more money?  It seems to me a way to work over the consumer.    

Just my rant for the day.  

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac to Accept New Credit Score Models From Mortgage Applicants

FTX insider Caroline Ellison has been quietly moved out of prison

Quote

"On some level, my brain doesn't even comprehend all the people I harmed," Ellison told the court. "That doesn't mean I don't try."

I got an email from this company: Klima Peters Daly.  It's a collection law firm in Maryland. They are collecting on behalf of LVNV Funding LLC.

The original creditor: Bank of Missouri

Enter Collection/Charge off: April 2024

Maryland SOL: 3 years

Does anyone have any information about this company or has experiences?  I did a search which yielded no results. Thank you. 

I would appreciate everyone's feedback.  I am interested in putting together limits between $25,000 plus

No idea how many shares I'll be able to buy, or the price or terms at this point, but OF COURSE I opted in.

For years I've been frustrated by the tiny (mainly $1k) CLIs, even after I returned to the world of prime credit, but I slowly dragged the limit up to $27k where it's sat stubbornly for a couple of years.

Today when I logged in I was greeted by a popup offer to request a CLI. 

Since previous requests between $35k and $50k have all been denied, I asked for the low end of that -- and was approved.

It's taken nearly 16 years for Capital One to treat me like an adult again.  

1. Two business cards with lines of about $7k were placed by BofA with Mercantile Collections Agency.

2. Another was placed with CCL for about $4k

These are personally guaranteed but there has been no mark on my credit report.

What are my best options to resolve these? All ideas greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

Credit Bureaus Are Leaving More Mistakes on Frustrated Consumers’ Reports Under Current CFPB

Wonder if the EQ FICO will go away.

I filed a complaint with the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau on Experian providing them with all the relevant information along with a police report from 2016.  I thought all this had been handled back then.  Thank god I still kept everything.

I bombarded John Erickson, President and CEO of IC Systems with 30 faxes of ten pages each with my complaint and proper documentation.  (that's 300 pages on his fax machine)  🙂   I think I will get his attention!

For anyone who is having problems with IC Systems the CEO's email address is jerickson@icsystem.com

I am also filing a civil lawsuit in the amount of $4,000 in damages.  That's the maximum amount I can get under Minnesota law.

I felt attacking this matter with the collection agency and the original creditor and lighting a fire under Experian with the CFPB would get me the fastest results.  I used Chat GBT to help me write all my complaints with all the proper language.  That software did an amazing job for me.  Once it had the facts all I had to say was write me a complaint to the Minnesota Department of Commerce or Experian and it immediately drafted the appropriate letters.  The software is awesome and it's free!

Now, if you want to lob any criticism, I'll take it squarely on the chin.  Letting cb build for several years, and letting the card go dormant (despite having "last use" date noted in my spreadsheet) aren't exactly displaying my "A-game".

Shortly before ending the 2nd call (with add'l review and a callback promised for this am), I explained to the acct spvr that while I and my wife were dealing with her near-fatal leukemia bout these last 2+ years, keeping my Citi account active kinda faded from my radar ...

I report further as things develop .

I have some accounts on my credit report that have been closed for over 10 years. They are positive tradelines but low limits. Should I have these removed or is better to leave them? I don't think deleting them would impact my Average Age of Accounts too much. 

Thanks

When my Discover migrates to Cap One, my total credit lines will be $77k.

I'm concerned that Cap One will close some of my cards (3 being my oldest) and wondering if I should be proactive and reduce some of my credit lines myself before that happens. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Pre approved Sync BP Visa offer. Sent to shredder.

The people handling the application department are completely useless and therefore I called their Executive Response Unit this morning.  It was a short call but the lady was very nice and extremely helpful.  Although the help was not immediate she told me the matter would be resolved within 48 hours.  😁

Any advice would be appreciated.

Quote

We’re changing some terms in your Credit Card Agreement and making changes to
our Bank of America Preferred Rewards® program, as well as our Customized Cash
Rewards and Travel Rewards credit cards — here’s what you need to know.

 

Here’s what’s changing

 

Credit Card Agreement
We’re amending your Credit Card Agreement due to some changes in our business practices, to clarify some language and to
make it easier to read. We’ve included an Amendment to your Credit Card Agreement with all the details — please review and
keep it for your records. This information is also available in Online Banking.

Bank of America Preferred Rewards® program
Our Bank of America Preferred Rewards® program will soon become the BofA RewardsTM program — look for a new world of
rewards coming in May.

Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards and Travel Rewards credit cards
Starting in August 2026, the 10% customer bonus will no longer be available for all qualifying Bank of America® Customized
Cash Rewards and Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit cards. If you’re enrolled in the BofA RewardsTM program, you will
qualify for the 10% Member tier bonus.

Here’s what else you need to know
We’ve included the annual Privacy Notice, which you can also access anytime in Mobile* and Online Banking. Simply go to
Accounts, select Statements & Documents and look under Other Account Documents.
Keep in mind, you may receive more than one copy of this change in terms notice, as well as the annual Privacy Notice — we
send separate notices for each account you have with us.
We’re here to help if you have any questions.

Unless something really compelling happens, that fits in my wheelhouse, 2026 will mostly be a year of gardening. In the near term, on January 14th, Bilt 2.0 launches. Three new cards to choose from. Not sure yet, which card I'm switching too.

In the bigger picture, most spend will be with Hyatt stays in mind. Of course it could all change.

After nearly 20 years and current scores of 830+ across the board, I am in a place in life where the benefits of the Platinum card are worth the Annual Fee, so I decided to apply only to be auto denied due to “prior account(s) cancelled by AmEx”.

I called to appeal but got nowhere, however I did eventually end up transferred to department that was able to provide me reference numbers for all 3 accounts, balance for each, and an address in California I could mail payment to if I so choose, but with no assurance it would result in them reopening their doors to me.

My question is two-fold:

1). Anyone had any luck appealing this?

2).  Will they ever forget and forgive if I do not pay, or did the balances/number of accounts IIB mark me for life?

So I completed and was successfully discharged from my Chapter 13 in July of 2025. I was able to get my BK removed from EX and TU. TU removed everything attached, but EX left 3 Amex accounts on there. One of them is reporting “OK” One of them is now reporting “CO” in January of 2026, and the other is reporting 150 days late in Dec of 2025. Obviously, there has been no activity on these accounts since June of 2020, so I’m guessing it’s was just an error in reporting related to the attached BK being removed. 

My question is. Are these remarks with these recent dates hurting my score and profile? They are listing no data before those months. Also, do I dispute these obviously wrong reporting statuses and dates? If so, would I be poking the bear and possibly get my BK re inserted back on my account. My only thought would be to dispute sending a letter stating that these were CO in BK in 2020 and shouldn’t have any activity updates in 2025 or 2026, but I don’t know if I’d be drawing attention to the fact that the BK is gone and they may bring it back on the report. Or if I should just leave it alone until I hit the 7 year mark at my BK so I don’t risk this. 

Thanks!

Happy New Year!

I can't seem to find the sample letters section. Either I'm not looking thoroughly enough, or they've been moved. I tried the search bar, but it keeps freezing mid loading line. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks!

Wife 811 (+8)