centex

Wasn't FedPen one of the ones that acted like a whiny little biaatch for a number of years over petty little crap like this and also having a bunch of other open lines?

Assigned tells you little. It is the language such as "our client" that will give the best idea about placement versus sale. An assignment of rights is often a sale. This contrasts with a placement. Does your lender understand that the account (based upon your representation of the matter) is outside of the window upon which successful litigation may be maintained? What constructive steps have been taken to dispute the amount in question and how it was calculated? Was any of the discussion related to an offer to settle placed into writing? Charging off an account is an accounting term. It does not relieve one of the liability. Unfortunately, because of the mortgage shopping, you can bet that PCB is aware that you need to resolve it and knows they have you over the barrel.

WHO is reporting and HOW does the account appear on the paper reports? Has PenFed actually sold the account or simply placed it (meaning PenFed still owns the paper)? Yes, both are relevant to how best to quickly address this for the purposes of a mortgage.... Edited to add two additional questions: 1) what happened to the $14K payment? 2) did you simply quit paying when they closed the account?

Standalone offer or included with the monthly statement? At least they are asking though...I know some who keep a store card or two simply for the credit mix...

damn I miss Jen-bunch-o-numbers...

Sounds like an account opened when Macy's actually handled their own paper...then they (also most other major department store chains) turned card operations over to banks like Chiti (or worse, Suckchrony). Those moves changed things from customer-centric to the holding bank not caring since they had no need to reward loyalty. Same thing happened with a lot of gas cards... Side note...back when Macy's was its own servicer, employee numbers served as your account number. Unfortunately, they tended to turn those off pretty quick after you gave notice.

Very frustrating to hear a segment this AM that borrowing should go full hog right now because "money is cheap" compared to what it might be later if rates increase. Talking heads must apparently be some of the same people writing credit guidance columns...

What about creditors that ARE NOT on your report at present? Do you have ANY delinquencies that may still be lurking, even if they are old enough to not be reported?

Have you updated your address with each and every creditor? All it takes is for ONE to have the old address and it undoes everything else address-related. Use the paper report and see who is updating on a regular basis. Even if it is a closed account, if they are updating, the address they have is what will populate more often than not for the address field.

Concur with the others...online dispute is NOT generally the preferred mechanism. That system occasionally is useful as a backdoor but NOT for disputing.

Beyond percentages of lines in use, scoring ALSO looks at the number of cards with a balance. Does not matter WHAT the balance is, just that a balance was reported. In this case, we are seeing seven of ten cards with a balance. That is a hit to the score. And then add in that almost every one of those is over 50% utilization...another score killer. Your larger increases will come as you zero out accounts.

What are these ATM's of which you speak? I vaguely remember them from the days of cash, but couldn't tell you the last time I actually used one. I don't even have a logo'ed debit card...the one I have is literally just a card to be used in an ATM...probably close to 30 years old at this point. Most small local banks have rebates if you are actually wasting cash when rewards could otherwise have been accumulated.

Not at all uncommon in the world of co-branded cards. Was not as common an occurrence back when stores handled their own stuff. But with the likes of Citi involved, they will pare the unused lines to reduce what they have to earmark for loss reserves. The chop four months ago was your warning to use the card. If you did not, they clearly presumed you have no need for the card.

Get your paper reports and THEN evaluate how to approach each of the Big Four.

May we inquire as to the WHY of this question? There are so many more important things to look at for the prudent consumer...after all, absent a BT offer that makes sense, one would not want to be revolving a balance.