@jdxprs1 wrote:Thanks to this foolish myfico system, I have horrible credit.
My score is currently 472. I have over 12 months of perfect payment history on a mortgage, 5 credit cards, and 1 vehicle loan. 6 MONTHS ago my score was 536. So as my delinquencies have become older, my scores have dropped. Oh, and my balances on the credit cards now show less than 10% balance to limit, and 6 months ago i was around 90%.
Meanwhile, a friend of mine lost his home to foreclosure 3 months ago, he checked his fico today and it was 624.
What a joke this system is. It makes me sick that the people who run this scam have become rich doing it, while hurting the lives of the people they **bleep** over.
Someday they will have to explain themselves to god.
Hi jdxprs! 
I've been following this thread, and your frustration is palpable. Having personally taken the rebuilding road, as a great many of us have, I understand how the lows can seem disproportionately low & punitive, while the gains are not fast enough, often enough, or big enough. Believe me... I know. That said, I never had "bad credit" because of the credit scoring system, fair or unfair. But heaven knows, I had "bad credit," LOL! The scoring methodologies only rated the contents of my credit reports. Fair Isaac didn't put any of that data there.
And, while the proprietary detail has never been revealed to me, for any of the score providers, there have been some definitive constants that seem to remain true:
- When I had high utilization, poor payment history, collection accounts, and other derogs, my scores were low (in all scoring models)
- When my utilization remained low, my payment history became stellar, AND the collections & other derogs went away, my scores rose from the ashes (in all scoring models)
That's a theme that I see repeated, over, and over again without exception. I have never seen, or heard of anyone, anywhere with a clean report (no derogs), perfect payment history, low utilization, low or no INQs, and not a bunch of new credit who has been singled-out by FICO or anyone else to have "bad credit risk" levied upon them.
One thing that sticks out in my mind, reading your OP in this thread, is your focus on the last 12 months (when scoring models weigh the full content of your credit reports, which is going to account for any negatives for *at least* the last seven years, possibly longer if PRs are involved). As much as we'd like (I sure would!) to just erase or ignore the bad that happened prior to our newer & improved credit behavior, it doesn't work like that... at least, not until it clears right off of your reports. AND, depending on how previous derogs are reported, and sometimes our own actions (e.g. disputing accurate tradelines with undesirable end results-- and I'm not saying that you've done this, I'm just giving a singular example), the pain can grow... exponentially.
You've noted that you have 12 months of *perfect* payment history. Excellent! But, as other members have asked (and you're certainly under no obligation to reveal), you don't tell us what negatives are at play. And, there would have to be negatives in play. Whether they're accurate or not, I don't know. Whether they're warranted or not... don't know (for the record, the FICO scoring model doesn't know either). I do know, however, that you've not been singled out. That people with similar credit profiles as yours (whatever it may be) are equally as penalized. And, I also know, beyond the shadow of any possible doubt, that time, and your continued dedication to paying on time will heal the wounds. It will.
I hope that you realize that there are things that you can do to improve your credit reports, which will in turn improve your scores. It's undeniable. I hope that you'll take a deep breath, and realize that you've joined a community of doers, many of whom that have done the 'one step forward, two steps back' dance from morbidly low scores, right on up to FICO High Achiever status. And, that a good many of us realized, as we make the never-ending journey, that we're not doing it for numeric bragging rights. Rather, it makes our financial lives less complicated when we want to borrow money, get insurance, get jobs, etc... And, while we tip our hats to those who may have been a little wiser (realizing the importance of credit from the beginning, never living beyond their means, striving to never, ever pay late, avoiding predatory lending traps, always reading the fine print, etc...) than we were in the past, or in some cases, just a little luckier (never suffered a job loss that outlasted savings, or reduced income (underemployment) with fixed expenses, or a lost check in the mail, or a medical emergency that was bigger that an emergency fund, or on the losing end of a legitimate contractual dispute that went to court, or the myriad of other reasons that people might have derogs that didn't necessarily result from gross irresponsibility), we soldier on with the realization that stuff happens, but we're not helpless. We analyze. We act. And we realize that we didn't get into the mess overnight, so it's not going to miraculously get fixed overnight. Then, we pay it forward. You don't even need to subscribe to, or buy into any scoring models to take advantage of the pool of knowledge that exists here. You only have to take responsibility, and wade in.
So, I guess the ball is where it started & where it stays; in your court. What are you going to do? Anger is fine, if that's what you feel, but the "system" isn't changing any time soon, it appears. And, even if it does, I'm sure that derogatory history on credit reports is going to hurt, no matter what the system is. So, what now? Is what you feel intese enough to change your circumstances? Is what you want compelling enough to move you to action?
@jdxprs1 wrote:i've been down the pay for deletes road, and the goodwill road as well. afni was the only success i had with that.
judgement was paid off in 08.
charge offs were all paid to O.C.'s. none ever went to collections.
mortgage had two over 60's and one over 90.
medical collections were paid off approx a year or so ago.
Nothing is stopping you from a new and improved, even more persistant than before goodwill campaign. And, if not, the derogs will fall off at a max of 7.5 years from the DoFD. FICO has no memory, so you could wait it out if you choose that route too. I actually had to do that with a charged-off card that wasn't even "mine". It was identity theft, and I wasn't willing (my responsibility, so I had to live with the consequences) to turn in the cousin who opened the card. But, fall off it did, and I'm no longer penalized for it.
The charge-offs are what I'm particularly interested in. You need to look closely at the dates. What closed dates are listed for those particular tradelines? What about the DoLA (date of last activity)? Can you copy and paste the tradelines (minus the account numbers), and tell us which report it's from (EQ or TU)? Here's why I'm asking... You're already in the most penalized/painful bucket. PR + Major derog. And, please... I'm not pointing that out to make your feel worse, or anything of that nature. I'm just trying to help you to figure out the 'whys' of your score drop, and suspecting that it may not be due to rebucketing, or entirely due to rebucketing. I'm suspecting that there's been a change to a reporting date that may have 'refreshed' (for lack of a better term) the pain of an otherwise aging derog. I'm wondering if you paid to zero one or more of these accounts in the last year, or possibly disputed some aspect of these tradelines, which resulted in the closed date, or DoLA getting updated.
If you don't want to c/p the tradelines (minus any personally identifying information), see if you've got an older (pre-score drop) report to compare to a newer (after your score drop) one. Reports pulled directly from either TU or EQ. Pay specific attention to the status dates, and see if they're identical. Pay extra close attention to the "date closed". Then, you can just report back to let us know if there is a difference between the reports.
I have to agree. I was working my arse off paying things off, sending GW letters, and PFD letters. While I didn't expect EVERYTHING to work, I remained vigilant and consistent every 3 months, paying and checking over and over. Without going into too much detail about the baddies and BK I had, I just decided to not concentrate so much on the score and just either pay or wait it out, depending on how old the debt is. I grew frustrated, too, because it seemed that a lot of rebucketing was going on. It has just become too crazy. It's as though you work becomes your personal life and you spend more time fighting the wrongs of events that should have never occurred and you are at the mercy of those who have WAY TOO MUCH (and SUPER EASY) ACCESS to your credit file via easily purchased, outdated debt information. It would seem to me that the CAs who purchase the debt from the original OC should NOT be able to sell off the debt to another CA since they assume the risk of collection at the time they acquire the accounts. I know this is naive business thinking (because I REALLY don't want to go into too many technical details), but it has just become much too difficult trying to maintain this stuff. It's as though you can never LIVE for working on this stuff day in and day out. They get those of us with challenged credit by rebucketing, so some of us feel as though there is NO LIGHT at the end of the tunnel, and then they get those of us who have NEVER seen a blemish on our reports because they KNOW they want to protect it and will pay in a heartbeat so that it doesn't create some crazy drop, causing increases in interest rates, decreased on credit limits (or closures altogether), and NOW decisions based upon what you view on the internet. It's just crazy, and while I am not giving up, I think (for my OWN sanity), that I have to back away a little and rethink my strategy. :-) TRUST ME...I get the frustration...but you HAVE to keep going. Some of it has paid off and I still believe in ME...NOT the system. Just change the way you attack it...the system isn't going anywhere, so you might as well try to find a way to work WITHIN
@ScoreBooster wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Rebucketing is certainly a possibility. You may now, for example, be judged more harshly for having an older credit file, with they types of derogs that you have, but you would be able to attain higher scores than before you were rebucketed.
That's a perfect example of the madness of the system. If that is indeed the case why the OP's score went down (which might be absolutely possible), You might have to think of myfico's own "advice" I could bet is currently listed as reason for the OP's lower score:
- "Your credit file shows missed payments in the passed. Their impact will be smaller over time."
it.
Starting Score: 490
I have just finished reading this entire thread, and there are a few observations I'd like to make/address.
First, we are a friendly & helpful bunch of folks here. Many of us have been here for several years both fixing our own credit messes & assisting others with repairing theirs. To see your subject line, basically calling us a bunch of scumbags...well, I take that personally.
You also say that "Thanks to this foolish myfico system, I have horrible credit." That is not true. You have horrible credit because of judgements, late mortgage payments, credit card chargeoffs and medical collections. Paid or unpaid, they are all still there hurting you.
I am not pointing a finger at you and chastising you for where you were over a year ago. That would be like the pot calling the kettle black. When I began my credit repair journey, my reports looked worse than yours & if I'd actually purchased my FICO scores that long ago, they would have been in the 400's. I had over 13 negative accounts and ONE good one.
All that being said, there is one main thing that 99% of us here have all faced....we KNEW that WE made a mess of our credit & needed to start that long haul up that steep hill. So far, all of the responses to your comments were written with understanding, compassion & a helpful attitude to try and find out what had happened to your scores. In turn, they were all met with a concrete wall and the finger pointing away from yourself, with you never really taking responsibility for why you are where you are.
Just like an addict, you cannot begin the (credit) healing process until you can admit that YOU are the cause for the content of your reports. We, including myself, are ALL here to help everyone. We do not make anyone feel bad about what is on their reports, we judge no one. All we want to do is help and advise. But to continually put the blame on another cause is what is known as denial.
I came here years ago, stood at the virtual podium, and essentially said..".Hi I'm BungalowMo, and I have totally *bleeped* up my credit & need help". Every single person here welcomed me and helped me. We will all do this for you as well. All you need to do is admit to yourself that you alone got yourself into the boat you are in.
Whether or not you choose to take responsibility doesn't matter to me....but what does get me angry is to see you call this collective group of wonderful, smart & helpful people a bunch of scumbags.
