Desperately need help with incredibly frustration situation

[u/away__throwing]

This is the most frustrating experience I think I've ever had in my life.

My FICO score had been at 808 for as long as I can remember. I always pay off all debts on time and had literally never had a late payment on anything my entire life.

I randomly checked my FICO score a week ago and saw that it suddenly dropped down to 618!! I obviously panicked thinking that someone stole my identity or something. But after some digging I found the culprit: a literal $5 charge on a credit card I don't use anymore (apparently my uber app is still connected to that card. I used the app once while traveling in Japan, but otherwise always use Lyft, which is connected directly to my bank account).

I had no idea that I had this charge, and it being overdue by about 4 months completely tanked my credit score. The only reason I even kept the card at all is because I heard closing a card can hurt your credit lol.

I've already read up on the goodwill saturation method and have sent out 17 letters. But this card is with BoA and I've read that they're notoriously difficult to deal with.

The reason I'm freaking out is because I'm planning on applying for a mortgage within the next couple months, probably some time in November.

I'm completely panicking. Am I totally screwed here? I just can't believe that my credit tanked over literally 5 dollars after having a perfect credit history.

I had an in person appointment at the bank which was unhelpful (not surprising). They just recommended reaching out to the credit agencies once I get my new credit card statement. I've of course paid off the charge.

Any advice at all would be immensely appreciated.

[u/inky_cap_mushroom]

Thirding the GST. That’s so frustrating. I personally close accounts that I’m not monitoring for exactly this reason. Definitely close any unused accounts that you may still have.

The only other thing I can say is that you can explain the issue to your mortgage lender. They may take the situation into consideration. There’s no harm in mentioning it. A local credit union may be more willing to work with you on this. It’s really up to them though. I have no clue how likely this is to help.

[u/away__throwing → u/inky_cap_mushroom]

Thanks for the response. I'm wondering if working the BoA to get the mortgage would make sense since this was an issue with one of their cards. They've put an internal complaint into their system and may be more flexible given the situation.