"Account updated" notification

[Anonymous]

I received a notification from my fico that an account on my credit report had updated.  When I reviewed the alert, I noticed it was for a really old account from 2003, that wasn't even on my Experian credit report.  The only CB it was listed on was Equifax, the account was closed by myself and was always in good standing.  It was a Walmart card, the update showed "paid loan".  How can an account "update" on my experian report that never even on the report to begin with and was closed in 2003? It raised my score but my concern is, where on earth did this come from?

[RobertEG]

"Update" is a general term used to indicate any change in reported information.

Adding an old, dead account clearly makes little practical sense, and could have occured for numerous administrative reasons.

A likely cause is that most large credtiors have automated systems that churn out monthly updates based on programming decisions that often are not based on any manual review or decision to report.  Some creditors have regular accounts in the millions that update.  Strange stuff will naturally happen.

I kinda doubt that someone looked at the account and said "This needs to now report to a CRA for some reason."