This is very odd.

Before I fixed a bunch of things on my credit report, my score was 695. I noticed they has a "Written-off" statement beside my HBC card which was incorrect. I Contacted them, they acknowledged the error and sent me a correction notice. I also took care of a line of credit that was never discharged, but was fully paid. That item was never in poor standing and is now properly closed.

I waited a month or so and paid for another equifax report, which had no addition to it (except one good thing - my one and only credit card has a balance of $400 now, compared to $2200 of $2250 last report). Plus, they have removed the bad debt that was there incorrectly and marked the LOC as "Fully Paid - closed at customer's request".

So my report got better right? Nope, I dropped 21 points! 674!

I don't understand, there is nothing new except the credit card update which is an improvement, the closing of a fully paid and perfect history LOC, and the removal of an erroneous R rating credit card.

Help?

Thanks very much for you informative answers.

You're correct, the visa did not show as a collection.

I have decided to pay the Visa, i'll feel better about myself as I hate having things like that hanging out there.

Appreciate the time you took in answering my questions.

Best regards

Freetam

Based on your comments, I assume that the TD Visa account does not show as a Collection Account on your Equifax Credit Report.

When the TD bank wrote off your account and rated it as a R9, that rating will remain on your Credit Report until it is purged 6 years from the "date of last activity". If you decide to pay the balance of this account in full, it will still appear on your Credit Report and continue to be rated as a R9 but with the notation "Paid in full". For anyone viewing your Credit Report, they will see that although this account went into default and was subsequently "written off", the account has now been paid. Paying this outstanding account now will have no effect on your Credit Score as your Credit Score was affected at the time that this account was rated R9. It now boils down to a "moral" issue. If your current bank is prepared to ignore this defaulted debt in considering whether to extend credit to you, then basically, it's your decision as to whether to extinguish this debt.

If you decide to pay off this defaulted debt, then the payment date does NOT become a new "date of last activity". I would strongly urge you to pull another Credit Report 6 months from now to verify that a new "date of last activity" does not appear. If it does, send a copy of your current Credit Report together with a copy of your new Credit Report to Equifax by registered mail pointing out the discrepancy and request that they change it to reflect the original "date of last activity".

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Educating one Consumer at a time

Thanks for the reply.

I spoke with Scotiabank (current bank) and they looked into it for me and it turns out that the line of credit was paid in full, but never discharged.

They also told me that I was turned down for the loan because of the write-off and because I had done the application online. They said that coming into my branch and discussing it with a representative could yield different outcomes, as they may overlook the old write-off. That was where I misunderstood the overlook of the R9.

I hate that I have that bad debt, If i were to pay it, would the R9 disappear? Or would it simply update the last activity and reset the six years on my report, having no impact on my credit rating?

Thanks for you help.

Freetam

"Suspended" is not a term used by either Equifax or TransUnion on their Credit Reports

You made a final payment on your joint Line of Credit in April 2007 but from what I can see, this account was not closed. There are only 2 situations in which a bank will close a Line of Credit.

1. Both you and your "ex" specifically request the bank to close this L of C.

2. The L of C is so far in arrears that the bank had no success in collecting the outstanding amount owing, and therefore has closed the account and written it off.

You did not indicate that both you and your "ex" directed the bank to close this L of C and because there is no balance owing, the L of C is in good standing. This is evidenced by the bank reporting this information to Equifax in December 2010.

I can assume then that this L of C was always open albeit in a "suspended" mode until the bank received some direction from both you and your "ex" as to how you want to handle this account now that both of you are separated. It is a precautionary position taken by the bank

It works the very same way when a bank customer dies. The account is not closed, but is "suspended" or "frozen" until the bank receives some direction as to what to do with the funds. In this case, the executor will have to produce a copy of the will together with "Letters Probate" which is issued by the Probate Court confirming that this is the last will and testament of the testator ( deceased ) and that the executor has authority to deal with the estate of the deceased together with a copy of the death certificate. Then and only then will any funds be released and the account is closed.

Therefore, this "suspended" L of C has no effect on your Credit Report, your Credit Score or your ability to obtain credit.

What is causing you grief is the TD Visa credit card that you defaulted on 4.5 years ago. The bank failed to collect on this account, wrote it off their books and gave it an R9 rating which is the worst rating that you can have. Now, this account will purge from your credit report 6 years from the "date of last activity" but in the meantime, it appears that it is preventing you from getting any further funding from your bank. If this is not the case, i.e. the bank is prepared to overlook this defaulted account with an R9 rating, then I suspect that you have failed to meet the bank's DTI ( Debt to Income Ratio ) requirement they use for all loans other than for credit cards. If you are not familiar with Debt to Income Ratio and the calculation thereof, go to Member Posts, look down the list for "footloose" and go to post 4125 written on February 2, 2011. There I explain in detail what is DTI and how it is calculated.

I trust that after reading this post and reviewing my explanation of DTI that your situation will begin to make a little more sense.

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Educating one Consumer at a time

I have two entries on my credit report, one is for a credit card I failed to pay 4.5 years ago, the other is for a line of credit that I had with my ex of 12 years.

The line of credit was paid in full when we seperated 4 years ago, and it shows in good standing. The problem is, both of us thought it was closed. I called the 800 number for TD, and they told me that the line of credit was in a "Suspended" status. I don't know what that means.

The gentleman also mentioned the TD visa, which I denied knowing anything about, and told me that i needed to go into a branch to sort this out.

My question, is can they keep open, but "suspened" a line of credit that was fully paid and closed years ago in order to try and get me to pay a Visa that wasn't joint?

The line of credit is still on my credit report and because of it i can't get another line of credit to start a home based business, they told me at my current bank that they would look passed the write-off but that I am "at capacity".

If I go into the bank to sort out the Line of credit, will that in any way affect the Visa, and related statute of Lim date?

Thanks for the help!

Freetam

TDCT Line of credit
High Credit/Credit Limit:000000010000

Payment Amount:Not Available

Association to Account:Joint
Balance:$0.00

Type of Account:Revolving
Past Due:$0.00

Date Opened:2003-03
Date of Last Activity:2007-04

Status:Paid as agreed and up to date
Date Reported:2010-12

TDCT VISA

2High Credit/Credit Limit:000000001000

Payment Amount:Not Available

Association to Account:Individual
Balance:$618.00

Type of Account:Revolving
Past Due:Not Available

Date Opened:1999-12
Date of Last Activity:2006-09

Status:Bad debt, collection account or unable to locate
Date Reported:2010-07

Comments:Written-off Closed by credit grantor