Hi~I am new to the boards as in my first post but I've been following all the good advice so far in an effort to rebuild my credit. I had an old collection account for a $99 medical bill in 2006. DOFD was 2007. I paid the collection item in full in 2008 and the collection agency marked it "paid" and reported it with a zero balance. I sent a goodwill letter which explained why I couldn't pay at the time and hoped for removal thru goodwill adjustment. Sent the letter on 10/3. Today I check my report and saw that my score dropped 41 points on equifax!!!! What!!! Turns out they weren't initially listed on equifax so instead of them removing from my report they added it there which dropped me! Talk about discouraged!!! Now I'm scared to continue the goodwill process on the rest of my accounts. I could really use some advice and for someone to talk me off the ledge 
(not literally but you know). I just don't know where to go from here. Sheesh!
(not literally but you know). I just don't know where to go from here. Sheesh!
Starting Score: EQ-485 TU-558 EX-576 AUG2012
Send them 2 more GWs, if that doesn't work, send them 4 more. They've done the damage, now what can they do? Go ahead and send it. As far as the GW process goes, that's not the norm, some will just delete the TL so they don't have to mess with the validations and the GWs and the correspondence that goes with it. It takes manpower and money to do all that. So don't get discouraged.
July 2013 score: EQ FICO 819, TU08 778, EX "806 lender pull 07/26/2013
Goal Score: All Scores 760+, Newest goal 800+
Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Current scores after adding $81K in CLs and 2 new cars since July 2013
EQ:809 TU 777 EX 790 Now it's just garden time!
June 2017 update: All scores over 820, just pure gardening now.
@favored12 wrote:
Hi~I am new to the boards as in my first post but I've been following all the good advice so far in an effort to rebuild my credit. I had an old collection account for a $99 medical bill in 2006. DOFD was 2007. I paid the collection item in full in 2008 and the collection agency marked it "paid" and reported it with a zero balance. I sent a goodwill letter which explained why I couldn't pay at the time and hoped for removal thru goodwill adjustment. Sent the letter on 10/3. Today I check my report and saw that my score dropped 41 points on equifax!!!! What!!! Turns out they weren't initially listed on equifax so instead of them removing from my report they added it there which dropped me! Talk about discouraged!!! Now I'm scared to continue the goodwill process on the rest of my accounts. I could really use some advice and for someone to talk me off the ledge
I think, if you are working on GW and removal of accounts, if an account only shows on one report, you run that risk of them reporting to all three..
If you are successful, it won't matter.. The end goal is removal, so a temporary point drop on one score isn't the end of the world.
I was able to remove over 10+ collections with GW after payment, it definitely works.
-scott