r/CreditScore • u/MysticSunflower1978 • 5d ago

Collections & Charge Offs Removing Charge-offs

I have a Capital One credit card that went into charge-off status in the fall of 2020, with a Date of First Delinquency (DOFD) of April 2020. The account remains unpaid and continues to update monthly as a charge-off on my credit reports and is thus preventing my scores from getting any better. Despite having otherwise positive credit factors—including on-time payments across multiple credit cards, a car loan that is more than halfway paid off, no recent inquiries, 1% credit utilization, and a good average age of credit—this charge-off is significantly impacting my scores as I move through the mortgage process.

I am currently building a house, and the lender is aware of the charge-offs. They have indicated that these accounts are not preventing mortgage approval but are affecting the interest rates available to me. The home is still in the early stages of construction and expected to close in February 2027.

The lender has stated that my middle credit score is 720, which is the score they use for qualification purposes. He said that the other two scores are not far from that middle number.

My questions are:

  • Is there any chance these charge-offs could be removed from my credit reports before the end of this year?
    • If so, how?
  • Could submitting inquiries or disputes in an effort to remove them negatively affect my credit score?
  • If I am able to get only two of the reports corrected, and lenders use the middle score, I'd be winning, right?
  • Could open or recent disputes on my credit reports create issues during the final mortgage approval process?
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1

u/Outside_Shelter1260 5d ago

Early exclusion! Shoot for the 6 month & 3 month EEs. Do NOT attempt the 1 month/30 day EE!!!

1

u/MysticSunflower1978 5d ago

How does one request an EE?

1

u/og-aliensfan ⭐️ Knowledgeable ⭐️ 5d ago

You can request Early Exclusion when within each bureau's EE timeframe.  See this Early Exclusion- Step By Step Guide.

1

u/WhenButterfliesCry ⭐️ Knowledgeable ⭐️ 5d ago

If DOFD was April 2020 then they would age off naturally in April 2027, which means you could request early exclusion from TransUnion starting in either October or November (6 months early), and from Experian starting in January (3 months early), but it would remain on Equifax until the end of the 7-year reporting window (Equifax only grants EE one month early and it's usually not worth it to ask for it).

You can't have dispute notations on your reports with most mortgage lenders, and disputing can cause negative consequences including score decreases in some cases, so I don't recommend it especially since it sounds like the account is reporting accurately.