Last summer I had a problem with my "travel rewards" credit card. I use it for all charges and have upgraded to some pretty spectacular places! But when my main credit card had been compromised, I started using my "gas rewards"credit card for a very short time. The charges I made didn't account for much. In fact, they were barely enough to file in a small claims court. Time passed and I never received a bill. I can remember thinking, I know I'll get the bill next month for sure, and after a couple of months went by, I couldn't really remember if paid it or not. Since I wasn't getting a bill, and I always pay my bills on time, I figured I had paid it.
Unfortunately, I had not! But they were super busy stabbing me in the back in the meantime. Without any written notice, they began contacting the credit reporting agencies about my delinquent account. Over approximately four months time they caused my FICO score to decrease by close to 150 points. The good news is that my score was so good, it's actually still very high, again, because I pay my bills on time.
It turned out that becuse I wasn't using their card, I was placed on an e-billing cycle on their end. One that doesn't send the bill to my bank, like the better creditors, but to an email address that had been hacked back when I was working as a second grade teacher. Sometime around 2005 or so, the email address they had was spamming all my contacts asking them for money because I had been traveling and was mugged. I tried to close that account, but only succeeded in clearing out the contact list, so no one would get spammed any longer. In theory, they would have received one of those messages, and contacted me, but no such luck.
I finally received a paper bill at home! I opened that paper bill right when I got it, and paid it over the phone. When I informed them about my stolen credit information, they promptly refunded me around $150 of fees! They did this because I never pay my bills late. However, the damage to my FICO score remains as reported, and they refuse to do anything about that, due to company policy.
It was super easy for the credit card company to effect my FICO score, which still causes me to lose sleep over this stupid mistake because: A) someone hacked my email and was trying to scam my family and friends, B) someone got my credit card number and charged two cell phones to the tune of $900 - which I caught and C) I never got the electronic bill sent to the bank. Sheesh. I'm doing the best I can to keep up with scammers and thieves. But it leaves me wondering: While I am getting nailed for allegedly late paying a tiny sum of money, did the person(s) who stole the phones get away with that?
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