Can Someone Explain This Scoring @$%&@

[lazerz69]

I disputed a CA with a small balance under $300.00.

At the time I disputed the CA I received a Score Watch Alert.

The Score Watch Alert reflected the dispute with the CA, but there was no decrease in my score.

The CRA, (Equifax), just completed the investigation and it came back verified.

I received another Score Watch Alert after the investigation was complete.  This time my score went down 23 points.

I reviewed the old and the new CA reporting and the only difference was the term "disputed" was removed.

Can someone explain why, when I first disputed the item there was no change in my score, but when the dispute was removed there was a 23 point decrease.

[Walt_K]

Are you sure there was no change when you first disputed the account.  A dispute causes certain items to be ignored for scoring, so you may have seen an increase when you disputed the account, and then once the dispute was resolved, the negative account was scored again, causing you to lose the points you gained.

Also, are you sure nothing else has changed like utilization on your cards, new accounts, etc.

[lazerz69]

Walt - Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question.

I went back and reviewed my CR and my Score Watch Alerts.

At the time I disputed this CA, no other item/information was processing or being disputed.  My Score Watch Alert show this particular CA as being disputed, but there was no increase in my credit score.  Score Watch showed my score as unchanged.

I went back and reviewed this CA as it showed on my CR before the dispute and after the dispute.  The CA, as reported, is identical both before and after the dispute, including all information in the "comments'" section of the report.

That is why I am aggravated.  It was my understanding that, as you point out, at the time of dispute, certain items will be ignored for scoring purposes, but as stated, I never received a bump, even though it would have been temporary during the dispute.

I did not receive a bump, but I sure received a drop in score.

[Walt_K]

Some CA accounts don't report monthly.  New activity can cause the account to update, which sometimes causes FICO score to drop.  I'm a little hazy on how this part works, but I think I've read of people seeing drops because the DOLA changed.  Maybe someone else can elaborate on that point.

[llecs]

OP, don't assume the TL on the alert is the cause for the score drop. Your EQ report changes all the time and it could be that something else changed like a balance increase, an added baddie, or other changes resulted in the net loss of 23 (or whatever it was). For example, I had a 20 gain due to adding an inquiry. The inquiry didn't add 20 to EQ FICO, but it was other items happening in the background that caused the net score change (dropped baddie in my case). I'd review every TL in your before and after reports to look for any changes.

[DaveSignal]

Personally, I don't think that FICO is a reasonable scoring system for credit.  I think it makes mistakes all the time and isn't perfect at all.  But it is what it is and this is what lenders use to base their credit decisions.

[britishexpat]

I have just had a big problem with transunion.... cap1 had not updated my info and stated I had 2 months late payments when this was not true, made a complaint into TU before any info was updated my score was (718) next  month it dropped to (708)  - 10 points due to this, after the complaint was resolved and updated it dropped another 23 points to 685 wth is going on with this club of scoring bull(*879ters?

[marty56]

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@britishexpat wrote:

I have just had a big problem with transunion.... cap1 had not updated my info and stated I had 2 months late payments when this was not true, made a complaint into TU before any info was updated my score was (718) next  month it dropped to (708)  - 10 points due to this, after the complaint was resolved and updated it dropped another 23 points to 685 wth is going on with this club of scoring bull(*879ters?

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When you say updated, what did they exactly do?  Also we are talking about your TU FICO score gotten from here I will assume.

I would look at other changes in your TU report and also make sure they just didn't delete the TL or mark the account as closed if it was listed as open.

[marty56]

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@DaveSignal wrote:

Personally, I don't think that FICO is a reasonable scoring system for credit.  I think it makes mistakes all the time and isn't perfect at all.  But it is what it is and this is what lenders use to base their credit decisions.

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As a formula, it just crunches data so I would look at the input data.  Since it's based on probability and statistics, it's output may not predict the correct result but it is consistent.

There never could be a perfect scoring formula.  Someone will always be given too much credit so to speak or not enough.

[DaveSignal]

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@marty56 wrote:

As a formula, it just crunches data so I would look at the input data.  Since it's based on probability and statistics, it's output may not predict the correct result but it is consistent.

There never could be a perfect scoring formula.  Someone will always be given too much credit so to speak or not enough.

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FICO doesn't always correctly interpret the input data.  Slight changes that result from disputes (such as date reported on a charge-off) that would have no effect on the decision of a human reading the report can cause drastic fluctuations in a FICO score.