I’m going to try and break this story down as thoroughly as I can because I could really use any advise you all might have to offer:
This starts in 2006 when I turned 18 and opened up a $500 secured credit card with Bank of America. I used the card for about 3 years, fluctuating from paying the minimum to paying my statements in full but never had a late payment in this time.
In fall 2010 I went to prison(expectedly, but not expectedly enough that I was able to prepare my finances for the occasion) at which time my account went 30, 60, 90, 120 days late and then was finally “closed” at a balance of something like $550 with all the late fees that had been racked on.
When I was released 8 months later I called on the account and was informed of the late/non-payment and was told this account had already been sold to off to a collection agency and was told the only option I had was to wait for the agency to make contact and pay it off. Alright, whatever, part of screwing up and going to prison right?
Well, a year passes and it’s 2012 now and I never hear a single word from either a collection agency OR Bank Of America. I was in my early 20s at that time so I was a bit under the mindset that if they wanted their money, they would try and get it, but looking back now I guess that is just not the case. So I go to my local BoA branch at this point and inquire about the account. I’m told at this point that the account was forwarded to “internal collections” and that a BoA representative from that department would contact me.
I was never contacted by anyone. About 8 months later in July of 2013 I go into my local branch one more time! because I’m still just trying to handle this nonsense. To save some typing I can sum this by saying the exact same thing happened as last time.
At this point I stop all contact I have with BoA and just try and move on. In 2015 I put in my first app for a new credit card since that first BoA card and get approved for $300 at target. I started using that on small purchases monthly and paying it in full to start building some credit again. Cut to August of 2016 when I apply for another card with Capital One and get approved but they let me know that my credit has derogatory marks on it from BoA. So I finally check my credit report for the first time in my life...and I’m just absolutely blown away at what I find. I expected to see some late payments from my prison stay and then a closed account. What I found was this:
I cross checked the account info with transunion and equifax and both show the same. So somehow, every time I contacted BoA about settling the account, they just reopened it, let it immediately go to late payments and then just sent it to their “internal collections department”, then FINALLY just charged it off. I never once asked to have this account reopened, and I never once saw any type of late payment notice or anything. I had one physical address and one email address this entire time so there should have been no trouble contacting me if they wanted to about any of this.
So I try and call BoA and they say there is nothing they can do since it was already charged off and point me to the credit reporting agencies to dispute the matter. So in June of this year I open up a dispute with Equifax(great timing with that hack lol), give them the story I just told and they do their 30 day investigation and tell me that they verified all the info with BoA and that it is all correct as is. So I dispute it again and month later and get the same answer and they tell me that that’s it, I’m shit out of luck.
That brings us to this point now where I have multiple credit cards with low limits that I keep paid in full, a car loan that is current, a co-signed mortgage on a reno house, but now I’m at a brick wall. I’m trying to continue my real estate investment journey but I can’t get any other financing on my own because my BoA history flags my credit as having “serious delinquency”. The BoA account is so old now that it should have just fallen off my record, but based on the credit report I only have 2.5 years since the last charge-off.
So I’m lost. The credit reporting agencies tell me I have to deal with the matter with BoA, and BoA tells me they can’t even talk to me about the account because it’s charged-off. Do I have any options here Reddit? I’m now looking in to picking up a second property but it looks like the only way I’m going to be able to is with a co-signer/financier because of this damn BoA thing.
I apologize for the long post and don’t expect it to be read here, but would truly appreciate any advise someone might have to offer. At the very least I just hope some will say maybe this is all my fault and that I should have been more proactive about things back when maybe I could have done something. In that case, I know I just need to move on and find other ways to make my investments happen.
ffs though, a $500 secures student card from 11 years ago is what is continually holding me back? Damn.
TL;DR Bank of America reopened a credit card multiple times and let it go to their “collections team” without ever notifying me about any of it and now I’m stuck with a crap credit history that I just don’t feel like I deserve so I need the internet to judge me.
Submitted October 25, 2017 at 02:08PM by -webkit http://ift.tt/2yOHXFL
