Keep an eye on your credit reports...

[Chris_W]

Ugh, more credit issues. Received a notice from Wells Fargo that they canceled my line of credit due to a serious delinquency on my credit report. So I looked up my credit report and found that the home loan I refinanced and paid off last fall was still showing as OPEN and more than 150 days past due But the balance is ZERO! My credit score is all messed up again I've disputed the item and contacted the bank, so hopefully it will get straightened out soon.

[Kas]

Yes, always a good idea. Hope it is cleared up soon.

[Chris_W]

Well, things sure went smoothly. I called the bank that failed to close the account and they apologized over and over. They immediately put together a letter to the credit reporting agencies and made sure the account is now closed. I also initiated a dispute online about the 8 month apparent lapse of my house payment so that should come off too. Next I'll contact my other lenders to see if they can lower my interest rates (they've been going up all year long) and get my credit lines back.

Now here is the most amazing part. The bank later called me back and after closing the account found that because the payoff had been estimated during the refi as the actual closing date wasn't really known at first, they found that I had made a $723 overpayment. They mailed me a check today. Dang glad I found all this out!

[steg]

That's fantastic. Nothing like a little "bonus" money in June......

[LucyGoose]

Wow!!!! I will tell Jay all this!

[govgirl75]

Sometimes those dark clouds really do have a silver lining!
Gloria

[newtohosta-no more]

I'm glad something good came out of this problem, Chris. What a pain in the butt though.
And it reminds me that I need to get back in the habit of checking our credit reports on a more regular basis.

[Chris_W]

You know, I should have checked it the first time I got one of those "we are changing the terms because of junk on your credit report" letters, but the reasons given didn't make me think it was anything odd, just that I use a lot of credit quickly in the spring when I buy plant starts.

If you ever get one of those letters there should be a phone number on the back to call one of the credit reporting agencies and they give you instructions on how to get a truly free copy mailed to you or online. And I think everyone is entitled to one free copy a year (or something like that). You never know.

And yes, there really was a silver lining in this dark cloud Now I can buy more hostas

[pauhaus]

Wow Chris, thanks for the tip. Glad everything sounds like it's going to work out and with a bonus too! Pretty unusual especially when dealing with a financial institution these days.

[flowerchild59]

Thanks for the reminder. I haven't looked at mine for awhile.

[newtohosta-no more]

I think the site for the free yearly credit report is annualcreditreport.com. They should have instructions on there for you to either get your report online or in the mail (by either mailing in a written request or phoning in a request). There are three credit agencies. You can do all three at one time or space them apart over the year. That way you can check your report for free every few months. I use to do mine on Experian one month....then a few months later I'd do my husband's on Experian. A few months after that I'd do mine on Equifax....then his several months later. Finally I'd do the same with TransUnion. That's six reports over the year, so it gave us a better chance of catching anything odd in a shorter period of time. If you want your credit score you pay a small fee. Hope this helps some of you!

[Gardentoad]

When I got married and changed my name on my car title the DMV sent the new title to the bank and they mailed it to me. I didn't think anything of it. A few years later we applied for a loan to remodel the house. They said I had bad credit because of a delinquent car loan. I had paid the car off early with one lump sum. The bank records had me down as just making one more regular payment. I showed them the signed papers from the bank when I paid it off so we got the new loan.
Then I went to get this off my credit record. It turned out that unless I was refused credit as a result of the mistake, legally, I was responsible for the cost of changing the records. I never bothered with it. I figured if we needed another loan that I would just show the car loan papers again. I felt it was wrong to charge me to fix the bank's mistake and I wasn't going to pay for it.
It was never an issue again.