Metro 2 Account Type Code 77: Returned Check

Specification

Code	77
Meaning	Returned Check
Field	Account Type (Field 15)
Record	Base Segment
Length / position	2 chars · 84–85
Category	Open Accounts
CRRG reference	CRRG Exhibits 1 & 2 (Account Type Codes)

The obligation is the face value of the dishonoured item, plus any contractual returned-item fee. There is no advance of credit and no repayment schedule.
Reported as Portfolio Type O because the whole amount is due, not amortized.
Does NOT mean the account the check was drawn on. A deposit account is not a tradeline. Only the resulting unpaid obligation is furnished.
Does NOT mean a collection of a returned check. When a check-recovery agency collects it under its own subscriber code, that tradeline is Account Type 48.
A returned check that is made good promptly may never be furnished at all. Furnishing decisions should follow a consistent written policy rather than being made case by case.

1A merchant reports an unpaid returned check that the consumer did not make good after notice.
2A check-recovery program operated by the payee itself reports a dishonoured item under the payee's subscriber code.
3A service provider reports a returned payment that left an unpaid balance on the account.
4A payee reports a returned check that was subsequently paid in full and closes the tradeline at zero.
5A payee reports a returned check that remains unpaid and has aged into delinquency.

Report the amount owed as the Current Balance and the highest amount owed as the Highest Credit. There is no Credit Limit.
Include a contractual returned-item fee in the balance only if you are entitled to charge it. Do not accrue open-ended fees onto the tradeline.
Set Date of First Delinquency to the date the obligation became unpaid and leave it fixed.
Do not report the same returned item both directly and through a recovery agency as two open balances.
Report the item as paid with a zero balance when it is made good.

A file can be structurally valid and still be wrong. These are the cross-field conditions Account Type Code 77 has to satisfy.

Portfolio Type must be O (Open). The full balance is due, which is precisely what Portfolio Type O expresses.
Portfolio Type O expects a Terms Duration of one period and a Terms Frequency consistent with an amount due in full; a multi-month schedule contradicts the portfolio type.
Credit Limit must be blank or zero. An Open account carries no line.
Scheduled Monthly Payment should be blank or the full amount due, not an amortized installment figure.
Date of First Delinquency is required as soon as the item is unpaid, and it anchors the FCRA purge window. A later re-presentment of the same check does not move it.
Highest Credit should carry the highest amount owed on the obligation; a zero Highest Credit on an Open account with a reported balance is a validation failure.
Date Opened is the date the item was returned unpaid, and it must not postdate the Date of Account Information the record ships with.
If the obligation is later placed with a recovery agency, the agency's Account Type 48 tradeline carries a K1 Original Creditor Name identifying you, and your tradeline should not continue reporting the same open balance.