Credit Score Issue - Creditor takes responsibility but won't correct issue?

Question

I recently pulled my free credit report and FICO score. I have had impeccable credit for 10 years, with a recent score of over 750 when I bought a home two years ago. In December, a creditor called to say I was 60 days past due on an account I had opened in August to buy a television. I moved to Atlanta in August, opened the account with my new address, but they sent bills to an old address that did not have mail forwarding. I have no idea why they were sent there. I cleared up the account, the creditor placed everything back in good standing - even admitting fault in my account notes. Unfortunately, they reported it as 60 days past due and have told me they can't change the reporting to the credit bureaus (they referenced that they can't change it in the letter I received because of the Fair Credit Reporting Act). It is pulling my score WAY down. How can I fix this problem? They admit they were wrong about where they sent the bill, but they won't pull it from my report. HELP!

Answer 1

If you opened an account to buy a television, you should have taken the responsibility to make sure the payments started on time with your contract. You can't say just because you didn't get the bill, you didn't know you had to pay for it. The only thing you can do is dispute it with the credit bureaus and see if it can get taken off that way.

Answer 2

I don't think that there is really anything that you can do. It was your responsibility to make sure that all your information is correct and up to date. yes, the creditors sent the bills to the wrong address, but....the account is still 60 days late.

If you still feel that it should be refused, you should file a dispute with the credit agency where this overdue account is posted on, and see if they will correct it. Mind you, this takes about three months. If everything is in good standing with the creditor, by the time the three months pass, your credit score will probably go back up as credit agencies update their systems every quarter.