Metro 2 ECOA Code Z: Delete Consumer From the Account

Specification

Code	Z
Meaning	Delete Consumer From the Account
Field	ECOA Code (Field 10)
Record	Base Segment
Length / position	1 char · 63–63
Category	Relationship Lifecycle Instructions
CRRG reference	CRRG ECOA Code table (Base Segment)

Code Z is scoped to a single consumer. The account survives, the remaining obligors keep their designators, and only the consumer carrying code Z is detached from the tradeline.
It is fundamentally different from Account Status DA, which deletes the entire account from every associated consumer's file. Confusing the two is the most consequential mistake in this set: one removes a person, the other removes a tradeline.
It is not a way to erase accurate history. Use it when the consumer genuinely should not be associated with the account, such as a wrongly attached authorized user or a legally released obligor, not to clean up a delinquency you would rather not report.
It is not the same as code T. Terminated marks an association as ended; Z instructs removal.
The metro2-guide Appendix F table in this repository labels this code "Account Designator Unavailable"; the field library and the runtime import normalizer both read it as the delete-consumer instruction, which is what ships here.

1A card issuer removes an authorized user who was added in error and never had access to the account.
2A private student lender exercises a cosigner-release provision and detaches the released cosigner while the borrower keeps reporting.
3A servicer removes a consumer who was attached to the wrong tradeline during a portfolio conversion.
4A property manager removes a co-tenant who was released from the lease by a signed amendment while the remaining tenant stays on the record.

Send code Z for the specific consumer you are removing, in that consumer's own segment, and keep the rest of the record intact.
Do not use Account Status DA to remove one person. DA deletes the whole tradeline, including the history of consumers who should keep it.
Do not simply stop sending a segment. Omitting a consumer is not the same as instructing removal, and the bureaus may keep the prior association.
Document the basis for removal. A deletion instruction is a permanent action against a real credit file and should be traceable to a release, a correction, or an identified misattachment.
Do not use code Z to make an accurate delinquency disappear from a liable consumer's file.

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

Removes one consumer only. Account Status DA is the whole-account deletion instruction, and the two are not interchangeable.
Applies per segment: the Base Segment consumer and each J1 or J2 associated consumer carry their own ECOA code, so code Z in a J1 segment removes that associated consumer and nothing else.
The account's own fields are unaffected. Current Balance, Account Status, Payment Rating, Payment History Profile and Date of First Delinquency continue to describe the surviving obligation.
If the Base Segment consumer is removed while liable co-obligors remain, the record still needs a coherent set of designators in the remaining segments. A tradeline with no liable consumer left is not a valid outcome.
Distinct from ECOA T and ECOA X. Termination and deceased status are descriptions; Z is an instruction to remove.