Complaint / Review
Bank Of America, MBNA
Reported to Credit agency months after loan is paid off, Nationwide

Back in 2002 I bought an Apple laptop with an MBNA 'gold option' line of credit. Every bill was paid on time, ensuring that my credit score remained in the high 700's.

I paid off the loan in Oct. Case closed I thought, no more bills. I was wrong. This month (Aug) my wife and I are refinancing our house, and indeed will qualify for a very favourable rate as her credit is nearly 800! However, we received an email from our mortgage broker saying there is a problem with my credit reports.

Bank of America reported a $9 charge as a collection to the 3 agencies in July! My credit score has dropped from 778 to 644!! I initially thought this was an error as I have never banked through B of A. I had no idea that MBNA was bought by B of A. She advised us to call them as this seemed rather out of character.

I called, and after getting bounced around 5 or so departments (as I had no idea what my account number etc was) they informed me that somehow my paid off account was showing a $9 balance that was sold to the collection agencies. This is termed a 'buyoff' apparently and looks rather bad.

I made it clear to them that they had never, not once, attempted to contact me via mail, email or telephone regarding this erroneous billing. Naturally, I did not check my account statement after I had paid it off - it was paid off! I also told them that if they had, of course I would have paid it, it is less than the cost of a Quizno's sandwich. However, it was far easier for them to ruin my credit. All for $9.

Apparently this is being investigated by them, as they didn't have my correct address. It seems they will probably remove this charge from my history, but if they do not, I think I have a good case for a suit against them. They are spending far more than $9 now it seems on labour costs to rectify this!

This could cost us hundreds more in payments a month for my mortgage and it makes me sick that they can just do this to a good customer with perfect credit. They did not follow any protocol in informing me of their intentions, no, it was far easier to just report me, and ruin my good credit.

I hope they take this off my credit history. Correction - they WILL take it off. I made it abundantly clear that that is what I want. I hate B of A.
All for $9.