Reporting as collection vs CO & score increase

[iamdetermined]

Hi everyone. I reviewed my EQ cr & I have 60, 90, 120, 2- 150 & 2- 180 day lates on my First Premier account. I sent GW letters & they shot me down as they have done to many.

I did notice that on my previous cr that there was only 1- 180 day late then the following month was CO. On the updated cr it's now 2- 180's (1 -180 is in place of the CO that was previously there) & no CO & they changed the Comments from "account closed @ consumers request, charged off account" to "account closed @ consumers request, collection account."

I know when I pay this it will not have any (positive) affect on my score, besides showing its paid, so I'm not expecting a jump but could this change have been the reason I got a SW alert last week & my score went up 15 points?

Not that 1 is much better than the other but is a collection reflecting "better" than a charge off? FPB are so tough to work with but I want it to reflect the "best" that it can on my cr, although collections & CO's are both bad :-(

Also, I've been GW'ing Macy's to death & received a letter that they won't update/remove my account but per my updated cr, 7 negative marks (2 were CO & the rest were 30 & 60's) have been removed with 6 left! I just sent a letter to 1 of the higher ups so hopefully he'll remove the rest otherwise in going to keep trying b/c I'm doing something right :-). Could this have been the SW increase?

[llecs]

SW alerts don't show the full picture. It'll grab your latest score whenever you have a credit alert. Whenever you have a score change like that, the credit alert (e.g. that CC changing) isn't always the reason behind the score change. That +15 is only a net change and could have been due to other factors on your CR like dropped baddies or improved util. Macys could have been the cause.

If this CC is reporting a CL, you could see apositive impact if paid, assuming this CC is factored into CC util right now. This is assuming that the CC hurts your overall util and/or is maxed out.

[iamdetermined]

Thanks for replying. I'm assuming it's probably the Macy's account that raised it b/c of the derog's falling off. I didn't notice any other changes besides the FPB & that still carries a balance. I will handling that account before month's end so hopefully that'll help my utilization. I'm still trying to understand the whole utilization thing...lol. The lower the balances the better the utilization, right?

[llecs]

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@iamdetermined wrote:
 I'm still trying to understand the whole utilization thing...lol. The lower the balances the better the utilization, right?

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Right. Most all CCs report the balance you had on the statement date and will report that typically 2-3-4 days following the statement date. The key is to time your payment to get the balance to show what you want it to show. For best results, get all CCs to $0, except one, and get that remaining one to report a balance under 9% of the CL. To calculate util, just divide the reported balance into the reported CL, and express that as a percentage. FICO looks at individual and overall util. Also note that util is just a snapshot in time. If you max out all of your CCs tomorrow, and they report that way, your scores will tumble. However, if you bring balances back down the following month, and they report that way, your score will bounce back to where it was before with no memory of them being maxed out....however creditors might remember. Something to think about.

[iamdetermined]

Thanks for explaining that to me, I understand it better now. I'll be zeroing 1 card out this week & it's going to take me a couple of weeks to get the other 1 below 9% (higher balance) but it'll definitely be done. I don't need my score lower @ all. I want to apply for a mortgage early next year so I'm doing all I can to repair my credit & keep a clean credit history. Thanks again!

[RobertEG]

An actual collection is reported by the debt collector.  Removal of the CO relates to reporting done by the OC.

It is not a matter of one vs the other.  Having the CO removed is clearly a plus, particularly if you can get a PFD from the debt collector.

You would then not have to separately pursue a GW deletion of the CO by the OC.

[iamdetermined]

Thanks RobertEG. I have a better chance @ hitting the lotto then I do @ having my First Premier account updated/deleted. Hahaha! Apparently they don't like to GW @ all. I actually received a denial email from them today. I am going to continue to get on their nerves though..lol!