Rebuild Thread And Some Questions

[WilbertSmithsonian]

Discover updated to paid on EX, and dropped off EQ. EQ report now has 0 chargeoffs/lates but still has the 2 unpaid collections that are at least 3 years old.

 

Score on EX bumped 7 points to 563, waiting for MyFico to update again soon so I can find out where EQ score is at.

 

Disputed Transworld and Penn Credit collections on all 3 bureaus (with the exception of Penn Credit disappearing off EX yesterday for some reason).

 

I'll wait for these disputes to get resolved and then attempt disputing Discover with EX, if it's still there by then. TU has not updated the BOA or Discover chargeoffs yet.

[WilbertSmithsonian]

EQ score just updated on MyFico, 614 now 😃

 

That's a 63 point increase from 1 month ago, since all 3 paid chargeoffs/collections from Cap One, BOA and Discover have dropped off.

 

Only 2 negatives left are Penn Credit and Transworld, which are currently under dispute for DOFD issue.

 

After I started the disputes, I actually realized that there was a workaround to pay National Grid (the OC on the Transworld account) through their electronic system, so I did that last night. I don't think I was really "supposed to" but I now have receipts from National Grid saying I paid the balance on my account. Hoping I'm able to get rid of Transworld soon.

 

The Capital One that I'm an AU on hasn't even reported the 0 balance yet, it's still reporting at 86% utilization which also brings my overall utilization to about 77%.

 

Can't wait to see what my score looks like after that updates to 0 (total util will be roughly 20% at that point, and I will also be AZEO on EQ). If it bumps to 650 or higher, which I think it likely will, I'm definitely going to apply for something. Need to look through the CreditPulls database and try to find someone that only pulls EQ...

[WilbertSmithsonian]

Penn Credit has dropped off all 3 reports. 

 

EQ 622, TU 566, EX 563

 

Trying not to get too excited about Penn Credit yet because it's possible they just stopped reporting while they investigate the DOFD issue since I contacted the OC about it. For now I'm happy though.

 

EQ currently has 1 baddie left out of 5 - the Transworld collection from National Grid which is currently under dispute.

 

EQ is also the only bureau that had my NY address as the current address on my report. The others were showing a Florida address since my 2 AU accounts have a Florida address. I have a feeling that this is why only EQ has been removing paid collections/chargeoffs at the 5 year mark, and the others haven't.

 

So once my current disputes are resolved and I make sure all 3 bureaus have the correct NY address, I am going to dispute all those paid accounts.

[WilbertSmithsonian]

Sent out a letter to Transworld today letting them know that I paid the OC and they need to stop reporting. The account is also currently under dispute for DOFD inaccuracy, so if they don't go away after this dispute, I'll dispute again through CRAs on the basis of account being returned to OC. And send another letter to Transworld.

 

I also paid off the Amazon (Chase) card that I'm an AU on last night. It's currently at 74% util so hopefully they will auto-report the 0 balance within the next couple of days.

 

Capital One that I'm an AU on should be reporting 1-2% util at the end of the month too. It's currently at 86%. My total revolving util after those 2 updates will be like 1%, so I'm hoping that'll put me in a position to apply for my first ever unsecured card.

[WilbertSmithsonian]

The 0 balance Chase (Amazon) reported to all 3 bureaus. EX bumped 12 points to 575. MyFico is slow as hell with alerts so haven't seen the updated scores on TU and EQ yet.

 

That Amazon was at 74% util previously, so the score bump was likely only from my overall util going from 77% to 54% - since I still have the Capital one at 87% as my highest individual util card, which should be reporting in 2-3 days at a 2% util. This will bring my total util between 1-2% from the current 54%.

 

Also, realized that it's possible I may have made a mistake paying off the National Grid / Transworld account, since even though Transworld is a CA, it's "possible" that they also do buy debt, so not 100% sure if National Grid actually owns the account. Not a huge deal anyway - Transworld under no circumstances does PFD so it was worth the risk, and they've been reporting like clockwork for years. So worst case, at least they'll stop updating this if I can't get rid of it on my reports.

 

P.S. I know no one is really following along with this and I'm basically talking to myself, but I did say I was going to share my journey. And I think it'll be helpful for other people down the road once I get to a great score. So I'll continue sharing 😁

Edited August 29 by WilbertSmithsonian
Score is 575, not 675

[Economics101]

I've been following along. Just lurking. And I am pretty sure there are others. I am having to rebuild after having scores in the 790's and total credit limits over 200k. Your post has been helpful. Thanks

[WilbertSmithsonian]

Saw that the Capital One card reported the paid balance on EQ, so decided to screw around and check some pre qualifiers.

 

Got pre-approved for Amazon Store Card (Synchrony), so I applied. Got a "we need more info, call this number" message. So I called, had to scan my face and upload pics of my ID.

 

Called back, got approved for a $900 CL. It's not much, but it's my first unsecured card ever so I'm thrilled about it. Funny part is they didn't actually pull EQ, they pulled TU which is my lowest score - 565 with 2 paid chargeoffs, 2 paid collections and 1 unpaid collection (all 3-5 years old).

 

TU also still has the 86% single card utilization and 54% overall utilization, which is just crazy that they approved me for anything with that score.

 

Once the other reports update, I may try to apply for 1 more card before taking it easy for a while. My AAOA is going to take a bit of a hit but I figure the best time to do it is now, then in 6 months try and get a Capital One unsecured since I just got a secured a few weeks ago.

 

Progress!

[WilbertSmithsonian]

MyFico finally got the alert about Capital One being paid off on EQ.

 

EQ score is now 671, up 120 points in slightly over a month since I started rebuilding 🤯

[hegemony]

awesome work!

[WilbertSmithsonian]

Wow, Synchrony is already reporting on my EX. I literally got the approval 24 hours ago.

 

Unfortunately my new score had 2 updated TLs - Cap One being paid off, and the new account reporting. The total change was only +11, but now I have no way of telling how much of an effect each TL had.

 

New EX score is 586. Less than I was expecting, but it's still progress.

Edited August 31 by WilbertSmithsonian
I can't spell, apparently

[WilbertSmithsonian]

Synchrony also reported to EQ and TU. TU score bumped 10 points to 575 (part of this update was also the paid off Capital One).

 

EQ score has not updated on MyFico yet, but the nice thing there is that the Capital One 0 balance is already part of my current EQ score there. So I'll actually be able to gauge the impact of the new TL once it updates. I imagine I'll probably take a big hit on score, but should rebound in a few months to a year.

 

Also, sending out the following letter to TU and EX on Monday morning. With slight modifications depending on which CRA has which info currently reporting.

 

Quote

September 2nd, 2024

 

TransUnion Consumer Solutions

P.O. Box 2000

Chester, PA 19016-2000

 

Re: Current Address Update And Tradeline Disputes

 

This letter is to inform you of my request to update the current address on my consumer report, and my request to remove several obsolete tradelines from my report.

 

I have included a copy of my NYS Drivers License and a bank statement as proof of address/identity.

 

Full Name

Wilbert

 

Social Security Number

123-45-6789

 

Date Of Birth

01/01/1969

 

Current Address

123 Somewhere Ln

City, NY 12345

 

As noted on my drivers license and bank statements, the current address on my report should be updated to 123 Somewhere Ln, City, NY 12345. Note that this is not a dispute of any existing addresses on my report. Those should remain as “Previous Addresses”.

 

Tradeline Disputes

 

I dispute the tradelines listed below, for the reason of obsolete/no longer relevant.

 

Under New York State Business Law Section 380-j and in accordance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), these accounts should be removed from my credit report as they are paid, and older than 5 years.

 

Tradeline 1

Bank Of America

Account Number: xxxxx

Date Of First Delinquency: August 20th, 2019

 

Tradeline 2

Discover Bank

Account Number: xxxxx

Date Of First Delinquency: May 22nd, 2019

 

Tradeline 3

Portfolio Recovery

Account Number: xxxxx

 

Please send any correspondence to the NYS address listed on the documents I’ve included with this letter.

 

Truly Yours,

Wilbert

 

The reason I added the bit about previous addresses is because my 2 AU accounts (highest limits and longest ages on my reports) are a Florida address, which is also showing as my current address. Would really suck if that had an unintended side effect.

 

I've heard EX is more difficult with this 5 year thing than the others, but I think TU should go pretty well. I'll update when I find out.

[WilbertSmithsonian]

I made a mistake above. It seems that Sync actually hasn't been added to my TU yet - only EX and EQ. Strange that reducing my util from 54% to 1%, and my individual card util from 86% to 2% only resulted in 10 points.

 

But I suppose that is due to my dirty scorecards. The utilization change got me a huge boost on EQ, but TU and EX have multiple derogs (90 day lates, collections/chargeoffs). EQ only has 1 collection which is 3 years old, no other negative info. So it's most likely a scorecard difference that explains 10/11 points vs 47.

Edited September 1 by WilbertSmithsonian

[WilbertSmithsonian]

PRA dropped off of EX yesterday, waiting for it to drop from TU still. EX score bumped 3 points to 589. Only 2 baddies left on EX now are Discover chargeoff, which I sent out a dispute letter for yesterday, and Transworld who updated my collection to Paid/Closed even though I paid the OC through their online portal.

 

I sent out a letter to Transworld last week, tracking shows it available for pickup so I'm not sure if they read it yet. I'll need to reach out to National Grid I guess, and find out if they forwarded the payment to Transworld or not. National Grid wouldn't even agree to take payment in the first place when I called them, which is why I attempted the online portal without asking them to recall the collection beforehand.

 

TU still has 4 baddies: Discover, PRA, BOA and Transworld. Sent out a letter to them yesterday for BOA and Discover removal. Expecting PRA to drop off on their own this week.

 

If all goes well with the CRA letters, all 3 reports should be equal with just 1 baddie left to work on - the paid Transworld collection.

[WilbertSmithsonian]

Well I just spoke to National Grid on the phone. After being transferred to 50 different people, I was told that the payment was not sent to a collection agency, and the account is now closed and in good standing. And owned by National Grid.

 

Couldn't get them to mail me anything stating this for some reason, but they said I'll be getting a letter soon saying my account is paid off and in good standing.

 

I hear Transworld is a real pain to deal with. But looks like this might work out.

 

If Transworld won't budge on this, is it a bad idea to provide payment receipts to the CRAs since that's admitting that I own the account and the debt is valid? I am not planning on doing this unless dealing with Transworld directly won't get them off my back. But not sure what my next step should be if they continue reporting this as a paid collection.

Edited September 4 by WilbertSmithsonian

[hdporter]

On 9/4/2024 at 9:12 AM, WilbertSmithsonian said:

I hear Transworld is a real pain to deal with. But looks like this might work out.

 

What are you looking for from Transworld?  In response to your payment to Nat'l Grid, the collection has been marked "Paid".  Are you asserting this is inaccurate?  (Why?)

 

[WilbertSmithsonian]

12 minutes ago, hdporter said:

What are you looking for from Transworld?  In response to your payment to Nat'l Grid, the collection has been marked "Paid".  Are you asserting this is inaccurate?  (Why?)

 

Transworld is the CA and based on what National Grid told me, the CA never received any payment and the account is now in good standing. i.e. not a collections account, since I paid National Grid directly through their online portal.

 

The reps that I spoke to didn't seem all that knowledgeable and couldn't give me a clear answer specifically on whether or not the account has been recalled from the collections agency. But my intent is to get Transworld to stop reporting an account as a collection when it's not in collections and they have no authority to collect it.

 

May work, may not but I also sent a goodwill email to National Grid's "Leadership Team" and asked them to recall from collections if they haven't yet.

[hdporter]

The account was factually referred for collection to a CA.  The collection tradeline is a consequence of that.

 

People have tried, and do try, to manipulate repayment in an effort to effect removal of the collection from their reports.  The success rate is small, but not "0".

 

The appropriate reporting of a collection account for which the balance has been satisfied is to update the balance to "$0".

 

The fact that your payment was made direct to the OC and accepted doesn't change the material facts of the past collection activity.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 6 by hdporter

[WilbertSmithsonian]

4 hours ago, hdporter said:

People have tried, and do try, to manipulate repayment in an effort to effect removal of the collection from their reports.  The success rate is small, but not "0".

 

Yeah, I'm just trying each of the options I can. Transworld is notorious for being difficult and also not doing PFD so this was my first option, since paying Transworld wasn't gonna get me anywhere.

 

If it doesn't work my next step is to dispute the DOFD which shows as August 2021 when the account was closed. I have documents showing my last payment was March 2020 and the first missed due date was April 2020. CARES Act makes this complicated as technically the August 2021 date might not be legally wrong, but if I can get the bureaus to update the DOFD to April/May 2020 then this should qualify for removal as early as April 2025.

[WilbertSmithsonian]

Transunion dispute was processed, Discover and BOA removed due to the NYS 5 year rule.

 

Score bumped from 574 to 689.

 

Experian still has Discover reporting (currently under dispute), aside from that the only negative on all 3 reports is Transworld (National Grid) paid collection.

 

Paying OC didn't seem to work in this case, Transworld won't remove. I think my next step there will be to provide the CRAs with my National Grid bills showing the account was past due in April 2020 instead of August 2021 like Transworld is claiming, in hopes that I can get the DOFD modified to April 2020. In which case it should drop off my reports in ~7 months.

 

If that doesn't work, I might just accept it and stop disputing so the DOLA will at least start aging and lower the impact a bit over time. I can still likely get it removed in August of 2026 due to the 5 year rule, so it's not the end of the world I guess.

[WilbertSmithsonian]

I went ahead and filed complaints with the BBB, CFPB and NYS AG Office against Transworld.

 

Quote

This company is reporting an inaccurate date of first delinquency on a National Grid collections account and has falsely verified the inaccurate date after I disputed it with the CRAs. This is an attempt to re-age a debt and prolong the reporting period, which is a violation of my consumer rights under the FCRA.

 

This inaccurate reporting negatively impacts my credit for 1.5 years longer than necessary, prevents me from obtaining further credit, causes me to pay higher interest rates than necessary, etc.

 

I have bills showing my last payment date to National Grid was in March of 2020. I have bills from National Grid after March of 2020 showing that my first due date that I missed was May 8th, 2020. My final bill from National Grid was issued in August of 2021, which would be the chargeoff date.

 

This company seems to think that it's ok to report the chargeoff date as the DOFD, rather than the correct date specified under FCRA reporting guidelines, which is the **first missed payment that led up to the eventual chargeoff of the account** (May 8th, 2020).

 

Up until last month when I paid off this collection, Transworld Systems was reporting a "last payment date" of March 20, 2020 - so even they admit that I hadn't made any payments on the account between March 2020, and the chargeoff date of August 2021. Yet somehow they continue to verify false information that contradicts their own reporting, by reporting August 2021 as the date of first delinquency - rather than the true date of first delinquency, which is May 8th, 2020.

 

Not sure if it will get me anywhere, but it's worth a shot. I know that the CARES Act created some complexities with credit reporting, but all of my National Grid bills have due dates less than 1 month away from the bill issue date. They also all make reference to "applying for deferred payment agreements and payment plans", so clearly I was not under any deferred payment agreement or they wouldn't be telling me to apply for one, and certainly wouldn't be telling me that my due date is 25 days away each month.

 

If this doesn't work I will probably send Transworld an ITS letter and contact an attorney.

Edited September 16 by WilbertSmithsonian
spelling

[WilbertSmithsonian]

My dispute on Experian for the Discover charge-off came back as verified, no change. So I called Experian this morning.

 

The front line rep submitted another standard dispute, so I explained the NYS 5 year purge rule and said that a standard dispute would just result in Discover verifying the info again. I told her I was hoping to resolve this with Experian, and didn't see any need to involve Discover.

 

She proceeded to tell me that Experian doesn't have the power to click a button and make the account disappear from my report, so it would have to be a standard dispute where they verify with Discover.

 

Asked to speak to a supervisor. The rep told me she was waiting on the supervisor to review the account, but I wouldn't be eligible to have the account removed until January, since the 5 year rule would be based on the charge-off date, and not the DOFD.

 

After an hour on hold, rep came back and told me the supervisor created an internal dispute to have the account removed. And it should drop off within 24-72 hours.

 

Once that gets updated, all 3 reports will now be (nearly) identical, with only 1 negative TL remaining (the paid National Grid/Transworld collection).

 

I plan to just let my accounts mature after this, and not apply for anything new for 6-12 months.

Edited September 16 by WilbertSmithsonian

[hdporter]

5 hours ago, WilbertSmithsonian said:

 

She proceeded to tell me that Experian doesn't have the power to click a button and make the account disappear from my report, so it would have to be a standard dispute where they verify with Discover.

 

Kudos on persevering with this to a favorable outcome!

[WilbertSmithsonian]

3 hours ago, hdporter said:

 

Kudos on persevering with this to a favorable outcome!

Thank you! It already dropped off, just waiting on a fresh score tomorrow.

[WilbertSmithsonian]

Discover dropped off EX already. Score bumped to 651.

 

Interesting seeing the differences in scores across CRAs when all the reports are the same. Guessing due to bucketing differences etc.

 

Current scores: EX 651, EQ 671, TU 689

[hdporter]

Score disparity I'd likely due to some other factor.  (You've noted getting EQ via myFICO; where are other scores sourced from / are they FICO 8?)

 

Re "bucketing":  It's a real thing, but more on a "macro" level.  Some people discuss it's impact like it's more volatile than wind direction.