I paid off a credit card last yr and 3-4 months later the credit card company reopened my account without my consent. I later had to get my credit report pulled to then realize that I was 30 days late for payment. Automatically a red flag went up because I never pay my bills late and guess what, the credit card that was reopened without my permission, charged me another annual fee that was 30 days late. Who knows how many days late I would've been late had I not pulled my credit report when I did. The worst of them all was that this had a terrible impact on my credit score. Please help... do I have a law suit?

Did you send them notice to close the account?

First thing to do is contact the credit card company by phone and in writing, telling them that you did not make these charges. As a rule you are only responsible for the first 50.00
Second. Before the day is out, file a police report and send a copy of it to the credit card people as well. Have the credit card company reort any and all transactions to you until this is cleared up.
Third: notify all the three credit beaururoes and let them know what's happened. Keep records of everyhting you send out. Send all out by registered mail so you get a receipt and no one can say they never got you paperwork. Also freeze your credit report. If any one tries to open an account in your name, you will be notified to see if it's you.
Then after all this and the credit card people still demand payment, then send a letter to your state attorney generals office.
If then the credit card people still hassle you, then file a claim.
If you pay all your bills on time and it shows by your credit score and if the credit card people never had any problem with you in the past there should be no problem with them. Also I'd think about canceliing your card do to this problem. Your credit would take a mild hit as oposed to being deliquent where the hit is worse.

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Originally Posted by mr.yet

Did you send them notice to close the account??

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Not only did I send them notice, I called them on the telephone and paid the balance off.

Lets back up a second here. Paying off a credit card balance is NOT closing the account. You would have to specifically tell them the account was being closed. It sounds to me as this may not have been done. So when the annual fee period came around, it was charged against your account. Didn't you get any statements? Has your address changed?

A single black mark like this (an outstanding and late balance of a few bucks) should not have a major impact on your credit rating.

As to whether you have a law suit, for what? How were you damaged by this? You would have to prove that you were materially affected. You would also have to prove that you informed them you want the account completely closed.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Lets back up a second here. Paying off a credit card balance is NOT closing the account. You would have to specifically tell them the account was being closed. It sounds to me as this may not have been done. So when the annual fee period came around, it was charged against your account. Didn't you get any statements? Has your address changed?

A single black mark like this (an outstanding and late balance of a few bucks) should not have a major impact on your credit rating.

As to whether you have a law suit, for what? How were you damaged by this? You would have to prove that you were materially affected. You would also have to proove that you informed them you want the account completely closed.

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Scott, let me first state to you that I called and wrote in to them that I wanted to pay off the complete balance and to close the acct because I no longer wanted it. I never received statements are my final statement of zero balance. It has affected my credit score a tremendous amount, that's my proof right there. Not to mention, they are already paying out 11 million to others for the same reason, so I think I have a case.

I would have to see the exact wording to judge whether what you requested was to close the account. I'm not saying that you didn't, just that its possible it wasn't worded properly.

However, I don't see how this could affect your score a "tremendous amount". I recently had a situation where I had ONE account that was listed as more than 90 days delinquent. All my other accounts had no late payments in more than a year. As I recall this dropped my score by less than 25 points. As it turned out, this was an identity theft situation since I never opened that account. The creditor acknowledged that they didn't have my signature, the account was closed, the entry removed and my score went back up.

I can't believe that ONE account less than 90 days late for a few bucks would have a "tremendous" affect. Also how were you harmed? Were you refused credit? Did an interest rate offer go up? Unless you can prove that you were matierially damaged, wile you may have a case, there is nothing to sue for.

If there is a class action pending, why not just join the class and get the few bucks per person being doled out?

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Lets back up a second here. Paying off a credit card balance is NOT closing the account. You would have to specifically tell them the account was being closed. It sounds to me as this may not have been done. So when the annual fee period came around, it was charged against your account. Didn't you get any statements? Has your address changed?

A single black mark like this (an outstanding and late balance of a few bucks) should not have a major impact on your credit rating.

As to whether you have a law suit, for what? How were you damaged by this? You would have to prove that you were materially affected. You would also have to proove that you informed them you want the account completely closed.

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I was harmed because I was refused credit, being I have excellent credit otherwise and I didn't know why, not to mention... the interest rate went up on my loan. There was a settlement that was paid out in the summer of last yr.

Ok, now you are giving some different info. First, if a creditor refuses credit they HAVE (under Federal law) to send you a letter explaining why. If the refusal was a result of info on your credit report, you can get a free copy of the report.

It appears though, that you are just surmising that its due to this one problem. I still don't think it should have such a material affect. Have you gotten copies of your reports?

If, it does turn out that you were refused creidt or had to accept a higher interest rate because of that one negative report, then you do have a case, but you need to document your loss. Then you can sue for that amount.