Lost Credit Card reported as Negative Item

[kman79]

Hello everyone,

I'm just wondering if anyone can give me some information and advice on this.

A couple of years ago, my wallet was lost, and I reported all my credit cards lost. I recently looked at my CRs and noticed that Applied Card Bank is listed as an Adverse or Negative item because the credit card was lost/stolen.

Is it possible for a lost credit card to be considered as an Adverse/Negative item on my CR? There were no unauthorized charges on the card when I reported it lost. I'm just wondering if I can call applied card bank and have this removed from my CR.

I'd like to write to them regarding this so I can get a written response, but the address is a PO Box, so I'm not sure if I can send certified/signature required letters to a PO BOX address.

Any help with this is greatly appreciated, thank you.

[freems4]

Yes it could be; Depends on what steps that you took on the reporting the lost/stolen cards.

Did you asked them to close that account, or for a replacement.

Yes you can a send certified/signature required letters to a PO BOX address.

[Hal Jordan]

Who told you it was an adverse item? If it wasn't myfico through either transunion or Equifax I wouldn't sweat it. I have freecreditreport and I get silly alerts like that that mean absolutely nothing.

I get this one all the time.

Negative things impacting your score:
You have no major credit cards open


Positive things impacting your score:
You have 2 or more Major Credit cards open

Having a lost or reported stolen credit card is NOT factored into how Fair Issac applies FICO scores. So don't sweat that man. It's nothing to worry about.

[kman79]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I pulled my three credit reports for the year from each of the CBs. It shows up the Experian and TranUnion CR as a Negative/Adverse items. What gets me is, my whole wallet was lost along with my other cards, but they're the only one that is reporting it as a bad thing

I called and reported it lost, and they sent me a replacement card; that replacement card is still current and in use.

So I'm just wondering if it is affecting my scores and if I should contact them about it. What do you guys think?

[freems4]

It all depends on how they handle the report to the lost/stolen card.

1. Did they use the same account on the replacement card?

2. Did the give you a new account with the replacement card?

3. How is it listed on your CR? Open/Close

[Hal Jordan]

You will always get a new account number whenever you report a card as lost or stolen because the former account number (the number on the card) is no longer active. Account numbers with credit cards match the numbers on your card.

The old account will always show closed because it was.. well, closed.

They will open what appears to be a new account on your credit reports but when you look at the date opened it will be the same as the closed/older/reported lost account and will show the exact same payment history.

It is nothing more than a closed account. not really negative or positive. FICO does not penalize people for having their credit cards stolen.. your credit score will not go down if your card gets stolen as long as there aren't any negs on the account.

One thing that I think may impact your score when it comes to replacement cards is this. If you have any late pays on your credit card and they close the account and open a new one. I think it may appear as more late pays when they update the new account to your reports.

Example. You were 30 days late on jan 2010. That account gets closed because you lost your card or it was stolen. they OC issues you a new card and it will show your full payment history so the new card will also show the exact same payment history as the closed account including the same late pay for January 2010. So now you have what appears to be two 30 day lates from two different accounts which are in actuallity only one 30 day late.

Solution. Contact the Creditor and ask them to remove the older accounts information from your reports because it's showing a duplicate 30 day late. I had something similar to this and was able to call Wamu (now merrick) and get the old account removed no problem. Within a week the old account was gone from all three of my reports and the active account reflecting my accurate payment history remained. But the thing that makes me think it may not be factored is the fact that my score did not change one point. It literally remained the same as it was before it the old account was removed.

[Lian]

What is adverse about a lost or stolen card?

In my opinion, if actions occurred based on that loss, such as charges being made and payment on those charges now being delinquent, they would be reportable, but not the act of the loss itself. How did they report it? What code in your CR includes the ability to report a card as closed due to its loss or theft? I am not aware of any. How was this reported?

I would send a request to the CRA under FCRA 609(a)(1), and get all information reported on this matter by the creditor, such as the reporting code they used. From that, you would have grounds to contest the accuracy of their reporting. I am at a loss to think of a derogatory reporting code that covers a lost or stolen card outside of items related to the use of that card by another.