Charge-Off in Metro 2: Status Code 97 & Original Charge-Off Amount
How to report a charge-off in Metro 2 — set Account Status 97, report the Original Charge-Off Amount and keep it fixed, and handle balances, payments, and recoveries after write-off. With a worked example.
What a charge-off is in Metro 2
A charge-off is an account the creditor has written off as a loss for accounting purposes, typically after a long period of delinquency. In the Metro 2 format, a charged-off account is reported with Account Status code 97 ("Unpaid balance reported as a loss / charge-off"). The status reflects the creditor's accounting treatment — it does not erase the debt, and the consumer may still owe the balance.
Original Charge-Off Amount: a fixed reference point
When an account charges off, record the Original Charge-Off Amount — the balance at the time of write-off — and keep it fixed in every subsequent monthly update. This field is a historical reference: it does not change as the consumer makes payments or as the current balance moves. Keeping it stable supports recovery accounting and accurate consumer disclosures.
Distinguish the Original Charge-Off Amount (fixed) from the Current Balance (which can decline as recoveries are applied) and the Amount Past Due. Reporting all three consistently is what keeps a charged-off tradeline internally coherent across cycles.
Balances, payments, and recoveries after write-off
Apply post-charge-off recoveries against the charged-off balance rather than opening a new active tradeline. As the consumer pays, reduce the Current Balance while leaving the Original Charge-Off Amount untouched. If the balance reaches zero, the account is reported as paid; the charge-off history and the original Date of First Delinquency (DOFD) still govern when the tradeline ages off.
The DOFD does not move because of a charge-off or partial payments. It is set at the first delinquency that led to the terminal event and remains immutable — it anchors the seven-year reporting period.
Worked example
A consumer's loan reaches charge-off in March with a balance of $2,400. You report Account Status 97 with an Original Charge-Off Amount of $2,400 and a Current Balance of $2,400. In June the consumer pays $400 toward the debt. The June file still reports Account Status 97 and Original Charge-Off Amount $2,400 (unchanged), but the Current Balance is now $2,000. The DOFD set when the account first went delinquent is reported unchanged throughout.
A common error is moving the Original Charge-Off Amount down as payments arrive, or shifting the DOFD when a partial payment is received. Both create cross-field inconsistencies that validation will flag before submission.