Hey guys,
To start off I'll admit this is more of a vent for me to blow off some steam than a specific question, but I also thought there might be some folks on here who could relate. And of course if you just want to reply to blow off some of your own steam, feel free!
I've been working seriously on improving my credit for almost exactly one year now, and on the one hand I've seen some real success - going from a 571 to a 660 average across all 3 bureaus, and going from 7 accounts showing as negative to 4. So that's great, and I'm grateful to have a score that lets me get some things done like a real grown-up.
On the other hand, as I've been more directly communicating with bureaus and creditors, it's also felt sometimes like "two steps forward, one step back." For example yesterday I finally got Experian to more fairly report a really old medical account (pushing the DOFD back by 2 years - still not correct, but better than it was) - and then today I saw that EQ was now reporting that account negatively when they had been reporting it positively - and they're also reporting it as much more recently than EXP (which dropped my EQ score from 668 to 647). So, now I need to call that creditor again and possibly EQ as well.
All that to say, has anyone else had that experience too? Go from one day where you get an account updated and gain 20-30 points, and then a few days later something else gets updated and knocks the score back down? I know that overall the trend is positive, but it also feels a bit like I'm playing whack-a-mole with my financial status. It's particularly stressful because my girlfriend and I are trying to get a new apartment together in May or June, and I really want to be able to apply without any sort of cosigner this time.
Thanks for reading, thanks in advance for any replies, and I'll make sure all my other postings are more specific and actionable.
Starting score 3/30/13: 570s across the board
Been there done that more times than you want to know. Best bet is to file a complaint(s) with the CFPB if they are not reporting correctly after you have spoken to them about it. Once you realize that you are a number to them it becomes very easy to use major hammers over their heads.
