“TBOM” on a credit report — TBOM/RETAIL, TBOM/ATLS, TBOM/CONTFIN, TBOM/MIL — confuses people because they never applied for a card from any company by that name. TBOM is The Bank of Missouri, a bank in Perryville, Missouri, and in the bank’s own words: “We work with other companies and retailers to provide credit for customers. Even though some cards may have a different brand name, tbom® is the issuer and provides credit reporting on the account.” The card in your wallet carries a partner’s brand; the entry on your report carries the bank’s.
Which cards report as TBOM
The Bank of Missouri does not market cards under its own name. It is the issuing bank behind programs run by other companies, which design the card, approve the application, service the account and answer the phone. The companies that say so on their own sites include:
- Atlanticus — “Fortiva Credit Card, Fortiva Retail Credit, Curae and Aspire Credit Cards products are issued by The Bank of Missouri, Perryville, MO.” The Aspire cardholder agreement names the creditor as “THE BANK OF MISSOURI, PERRYVILLE, MO” and the servicer as Atlanticus Services Corporation. On a report these usually appear as TBOM/ATLS or TBOM/FORTIVA; our Fortiva credit report page covers that program in detail.
- Concora Credit — “The Milestone Mastercard is issued by The Bank of Missouri and serviced by Concora Credit Inc.” The Milestone account agreement is filed in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s credit card agreement database under The Bank of Missouri as issuer. These appear as TBOM/MIL or TBOM/MILESTONE.
- Continental Finance — TBOM/CONTFIN entries trace to Continental Finance card programs, covered on our Continental Finance page.
- Retail programs — the bank describes its partner business as “store credit cards, general use credit cards, private label accounts, installment loan services and deposit accounts” across “furniture, home improvement, medical, jewelry, electronic, auto and fitness” retailers. TBOM/RETAIL and a store name after the slash point to one of these.
- Lease-to-own — an entry reading TBOM/ACIMA is the bank side of an Acima program, and what Acima puts on a credit report explains what the lease itself can and cannot do to your file.
The suffix after the slash is the first thing to write down. It tells you which servicer holds the records, which phone number to call, and whose dispute address appears next to the entry.
Why TBOM entries go wrong
Every partner card passes through at least three companies — the bank that issues it, the program manager that runs it, and the servicer that reports it — and a mistake in any one of them lands on your report under the bank’s name. The patterns we see:
An account you never opened. Subprime partner cards are a common target for identity thieves because they approve quickly and ask for little. The entry says TBOM, the card was mailed to an address that was never yours, and the first you hear of it is a collection or a denied application. Start with our account that is not yours page.
A paid or settled balance still reporting as owed. The servicer closes the account on its system; the monthly file to the bureaus keeps carrying the old balance. Our paid off but still reporting page covers that problem.
Late payments you did not make. Partner cards carry annual fees, monthly maintenance fees and, in some programs, a fee charged before the card is even used. A fee posted to a dormant account can go unpaid and be reported as a missed payment on a card the consumer thought was closed.
The same debt counted twice. A charged-off TBOM account is often sold. When the debt buyer reports it under its own name and the TBOM tradeline stays on the file with a balance, the one debt appears as two. The original creditor’s entry should show a zero balance once the account is sold.
A closed card reporting as open, or a limit reported wrongly. Both change the utilization ratio that scores depend on.
The servicer, the bank, and who is responsible
When a TBOM entry is wrong, three parties can be responsible under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The bureau that reported it must follow reasonable procedures and reinvestigate your dispute. The company that supplied the information — the furnisher — must investigate the dispute the bureau forwards and correct what it cannot verify. For TBOM programs the furnisher is the bank, which says it “provides credit reporting on the account,” acting through the servicer that holds the records. The bank’s own help page tells consumers that billing errors go to the servicer: “the use of this form does not waive your responsibility to contact your servicer directly for Billing Errors or similar disputes.” That split matters when the dispute fails, because the claim runs against whoever reported the inaccurate information after being told it was wrong. Our page on suing a creditor for false credit reporting explains how the furnisher’s duty works.
How to dispute a TBOM entry
With the credit bureaus. The bank’s own credit report help page directs consumers here: “To dispute information tbom® reported to a credit bureau, you should file a dispute with the credit bureau where you observed the information you believe is inaccurate.” Dispute in writing with each bureau showing the entry, identify the account by the name and partial number as it appears, say what is wrong and attach the proof; the bureau generally has thirty days to investigate and must forward your dispute and the documents to the furnisher. Keep copies and proof of mailing. Our credit dispute letter guide has the structure.
With the bank and the servicer. The Bank of Missouri publishes a consumer help line, 888-547-6541, and a web form that asks for the “Credit Entry Code” — the TBOM/ABC suffix — so that it can route the question to the right partner. For a formal dispute it directs cardholders to “use the mailing address shown with the entry” on the report itself. Dispute with the servicer in writing at that address as well as with the bureau; the two disputes are separate duties, and the bureau dispute is the one that starts the furnisher’s statutory clock.
If the entry is deleted and comes back. A bureau that reinserts a deleted item must tell you in writing within five business days. Our page on deleted items that reappear covers that notice.
When the dispute fails
If the entry comes back “verified” and it is still wrong — not yours, the wrong balance, the wrong status — the Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you a claim against the furnisher, the bureaus, or both. Damages can include your concrete losses, the harm to your credit, and statutory and punitive damages for willful violations. The fee provision is written into the Act: in a successful action the costs and reasonable attorney’s fees are recoverable from the defendant, as determined by the court. That is why this work is handled on a contingency basis rather than billed by the hour. The deadline is two years from when you discovered the violation and in no event more than five years after it occurred.
You pay nothing unless we win.
Where your situation fits
Our directory of furnishers and debt collectors lists the companies that report and the names they report under, and if a dispute has already failed, our FCRA lawsuit page sets out what comes next.
Have your report reviewed
The Kim Law Firm represents consumers in Fair Credit Reporting Act cases against banks, card issuers, and the credit bureaus. Send us the report page showing the TBOM entry, the suffix after the slash, and whatever the bureau or servicer sent back, and we will tell you whether we see a claim. Our FCRA attorney page covers how these cases work.
Contact us to have your credit report reviewed.
Admitted in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; available to appear pro hac vice in other federal courts.
This page is about credit reporting accuracy. The Kim Law Firm is not affiliated with The Bank of Missouri, Atlanticus, Concora Credit or Continental Finance, and this page is not a complaint about any of them. It describes how account entries can appear on credit reports and the rights consumers have when an entry is wrong.