Stupid, innocent credit card mistake causing fairly big problems...

June 11, 2007 11:06 PM

Despite good intentions and record levels of responsibility, a stupid credit card screw-up and other small mistake just resulted in big fees and bad credit comments. How do I get these fees back and these comments off my credit report?

I've been trying really hard to be frugal, pay everything on time, and pay off my credit cards, which is why I'm really mad that even my innocent screw-ups are causing all these problems...

1) I recently paid off about $1500 on a MBNA/Bank of America credit card. Believing I'd paid it off, I didn't check the balance for a few months (very dumb, I admit). But the finance charges / interest ($40) that showed up on my next statement ended up accruing not only another $30 in late fees, but also a 30-day late notice sent to all three credit agencies. Oh no! I've been trying to get my score up so I can buy a house! My score is hovering near a critical threshold! It's my fault, yes, but it's on such a tiny fraction of what I just paid them, and I paid this the second I saw it... So, I really want this removed. How?

So far, I've called them and they said they can't take it off because they have to accurately report things. I know that's wrong from this very similar question. So, I'm sure there's some way to talk them into removing it, but what? Advice says everything from "just keep calling!" to "communicate only in writing." I don't really want to dive in to the certified mail credit repair process, but hell, if I end up going that way, there are two 30-day late notices from them three years back that I'd challenge while I was at it, if I knew how.

But I can't seem to figure this out. Even a quick summary, or a link to a good Credit Repair 101 article would be great. Believe me, I've tried -- I've spent the last three hours reading creditboards.com and googling. The chat board is a steep learning curve and more info than I need (they must have like six Newbie 101 FAQ articles and I still haven't found one that explains all the acronyms... like C&D, which apparently means Cease & Desist, which I guess is one way to get creditors to stop coming to your house, but I'm so far from that point and it's taking a long time to sift through for what's helpful). Meanwhile every article I've found googling is super-shallow like, "1) get your credit report , 2) make payments on time, 3) pay off your debts!! Good luck!!!!" I've also read some related AskMe threads, but a lot of the links to critical articles seem broken. Anyone been through this that can give me a quick guide?

2) Meanwhile, I also lost my wallet, so I had another ATM card issued. My gym tried to do their monthly auto-withdrawal for my membership fee. The old card number got rejected, and they sent me a letter saying that now I owed them my gym fee + $15. What?? I don't even remember anything I signed saying that was a possibility (though it's possible, maybe I did.) I mean, if they'd sent me a notice and I hadn't responded, sure, fine me, but this is the first I've heard of this. Any tips on this, besides just finding someone in management who will care if I cancel my account...? They've been notably unwilling to negotiate in the billing arena before, and I would really like to keep going there. Do I have some sort of way to contest this here, or can they just "fee" me whenever they want? I haven't called them yet because I have this idea that if you say the wrong thing, you've just shut off half your avenues for contesting them.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

posted by ruff to work & money (7 comments total)

If you've got credit issues and you want to buy a house, I think paying the gym off would be better than wasting your time and energy and risking another "late payment" on your credit report.

You can challenge anything on your credit report with the credit agency. The creditor has to defend their position. Sometimes they don't do so within the 30 day limit. In any case it will roll off if you keep the card for two-three years. DO NOT CANCEL THE CARD, the credit agency keeps the last twenty four months of activity with that creditor on file for a long time.
posted by BrotherCaine at 11:51 PM on June 11, 2007

A quick search turned up this, and this. You must obtain your credit report as a first step, and I believe the address to challenge 'inaccuracies' is on the credit report.
posted by BrotherCaine at 11:58 PM on June 11, 2007

Before you bother to do anything, pull your FICO score. Or more to the point, get a mortgage pre-qual. One 30-day on an otherwise excellent report shouldn't jeopardize a mortgage. Your score has already taken its maximum hit from this incident, and will rebound a little more every month. So if you find that the score puts you in a gray area between "best rates" and "good rates", just hold off a month or two.

BrotherCaine is right about the $15. It's an annoyance to pay it, but so much better than risking your score. Anything that risks putting you into a higher-risk mortgage rate is a gamble worth literally thousands of dollars. So $15 to make this go away is money well spent. However, insist on getting a copy of that contract so you can avoid future problems.

Many credit card issuers will forgive one late fee, upon request. For your otherwise good payment history, I'd be surprised if they said no. All that one takes is a quick call.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 12:24 AM on June 12, 2007

I had a similar situation with my gym membership. My gym was sold, and after that happened they stopped taking payments; 6 months later I got hit with a $400 bill for 6 months worth of payments (about $200 in membership fees). I wrote a letter requesting an invoice for how they got to the $400 and a copy of my signed contract, hoping that they wouldn't be able to produce it. They did.

In the end I paid the $400 and considered it an expensive lesson. NEVER again will I sign a recurring contract with a gym; I just pay the yearly dues up front and am done with it. I'd recommend most everybody does the same.

You may be able to negotiate the amount you owe to the gym if a collection agency is handling the case; they likely bought the debt from the gym at a discount.
posted by PFL at 8:58 AM on June 12, 2007

www.creditboards.com

Best thing I ever did for my credit. LOTS of reading resources, amazing people, great advice and wisdom - they'll help you through anything.
posted by othersomethings at 10:33 AM on June 12, 2007

You may be able to negotiate the amount you owe to the gym if a collection agency is handling the case; they likely bought the debt from the gym at a discount.

No, it's just last month's amount, and the letter was from the gym's national corporate office.

Many credit card issuers will forgive one late fee, upon request.

They forgave one of the two, but it's the 30 Day Late mark that I want to get rid of.

Your score has already taken its maximum hit from this incident, and will rebound a little more every month

But rather than letting it rebound, I'm hoping to get it removed altogether, either by talking them into removing it or by challenging it. It's half for the score but half for the principle -- the late marks three years back were from abject irresponsibility, so now that I'm trying, I want this record to actually reflect that. It's also kind of fun, trying to see how much influence one person can have over this behemoth company.

BrotherCaine, thanks for those links -- much better summaries than I'd managed to find so far!

Has anyone out there actually gotten stuff removed from their report? With information that's "accurate" so far as that goes, but not the whole story?
posted by ruff at 10:42 AM on June 12, 2007

othersomethings, thanks, but could you point me to where you'd start for my situation? Did it work for you to get a 30- or 60-day delinquent off your credit report, when it was part of a credit account you still had?

I spent about three hours yesterday going through what they call their newbies guide, and amidst tons of stuff about dealing with bankruptcy and negotiating with collections agencies, I couldn't find the straightforward "how to deal with a credit card company on one screw up." Maybe I should just post there or something?
posted by ruff at 10:46 AM on June 12, 2007