Charge off on Credit - denied grad plus.

[bkshah]

Hi, I have a charge off on my Credit report, because when I moved out of my apartment something happened (i dont rember exactly 2 years back) but the gas company kept sending me bills. So now there is a 130 USD charge off on my account and I am not being approved for a grad plus. However until now I was approved because the lady at the ED INVEST bank would over ride it. BUt Bank Of AMerica is not doing that. They want me to write them a letter. What should I do? What kind of a letter should I write so as to please them?
Neone have similar experience?
thanks
bhumik

[kryptik]

I would file a dispute with the credit agencies and have that charge off removed from my credit history immediately.
and then write a letter explaining the mix up with gas company, and also include include a letter or some form of document showing the gas company problem is solved. If that is the only blemish on your credit, you should cite the fact that your credit is excellent with the exception of that mixup.

PS: Be sure to file the dispute with all the agencies the gas company reported the charge off to. There are three of them but some companies only report to one or two of them and on some occasions all three of them. Equifax, Transuion, Experian

[EpiJunky]

I concur with kryp:

Heres usually a quick way to getting these things resolved:

Find the executive customer service/CEO/CFO/etc. phone number for the gas company - you can try this website, they are great The Consumerist: Shoppers Bite Back (http://www.consumerist.com)

Call them and tell the problem and that it needs to be fixed asap as it has created a negative impact on your credit report and score and that is keeping you from attending school as you cannot get loans.

Tell the person that you need something sent to all three credit agencies preferably electronically (as its faster) or by expedited mail to get this discrepancy resolved AND removed from your credit report.

visit the three credit reporting agencies like krypt said and begin a dispute for this. They will provide you free access to your credit report because of the chance that there is incorrect information. File the claims.

Follow up with the gas company and make sure the letter was sent out. Make sure they send you a copy as well.

[EpiJunky]

200th (actually 201) post! Wooopppeee!

[kryptik]

congrats on your 201 hehe

[westMD]

The content of the letter? Write them and say you are sorry for the mess up in your credit history, ha ha ha. This is rediculous. On a serious note, the quickest way to get this things done, I will advice is to switch your Grad plus app. to Citibank or Chasebank and I am prety sure one these Bank will approve you. Dealing with credit bureaus and with disputes is not as quickly resolve as some people pointed out here. It will take on average 6 months to resolved. Good luck.

[kryptik]

The content of the letter? Write them and say you are sorry for the mess up in your credit history, ha ha ha. This is rediculous. On a serious note, the quickest way to get this things done, I will advice is to switch your Grad plus app. to Citibank or Chasebank and I am prety sure one these Bank will approve you. Dealing with credit bureaus and with disputes is not as quickly resolve as some people pointed out here. It will take on average 6 months to resolved. Good luck.
6months? by the FCRA(fair credit reporting act) they have up to 30 days to investigate/validate a dispute.

[EpiJunky]

Um....sorry west, but youre a bit wrong.

Like kryp said, they have UPTO 30 days to respond to a dispute - which means thats the maximum amount of time allowed to respond to a dispute. I myself have gotten an error removed in a week FROM ALL THREE CREDIT BUREAUS - thats why I provided the information I posted above.

The letter that would be coming from the gas company would directly tell the credit bureaus that there has been an error and to remove the incorrect portion of the credit history the OP has with the gas company.

It also sometimes requires you to call executives at companies to get things moving...but not always. Begin the dispute, wait a few days, and check the status...if no change, start calling executives...