DOES OPEN OR CLOSED MATTER FOR DEROGS?

[rom828]

Byrdman,

On my FICO reports, on the list of accounts,EQ and TU show status as paid as agreed, EX shows paid as agree/was 60 days past due.

When I pull up the account individually, TU shows it closed and reports closed date as 11-03. This is correct.   EX show the acct as closed, with closed date not reported.   EQ though shows it as open.

All three show worst delinquency 60 days past due 11-03.  They also are showing 30 days past due 6 times, with one of those times shown as 11-03.

So the errors are that EQ is showing the acct as open, EX is showing as closed with out the closed date reporting, and all 3 are showing a 60 day late that I did not have.

I had been 30 days late 09-03, caught up in Oct and contacted the CCC to close in Nov, so the Nov pyt was definitely not 60 days past due.  The acct was current 10-03, but I was having difficulties and thought the best thing to do was close it while it was current and just pay it off.  I set up the agreement with Cross Country (they set a minimum for me to pay each month and closed the acct, locking in the interest rate, etc).  

The 30 days late in Nov would also be wrong, but my main concern now after Robt's advices is to get that 60 day off.  I obviously couldnt be 30 days late and 60 days late on the same month! 

My original question on this had been whether the account being shown as open on EQ made any difference...but now I think I understand that the really big deal is the 60 day late, not so much the account showing open.  Am I right?!?!

I have a similar situation on another acct, a PAID Providian charge off that only on EQ shows status as "bad debt/collection rather than "paid charge off" etc as it does on TU and EX.  The acct description shows it as paid with 0 balance, but the status shows 'bad debt/collection'.  Since EQ score is much lower than others (FICO TU 696  EQ 657  EX 687) and all else is pretty equal, I'm thinking that the incorrect status must be hurting my score.  I've disputed several times and it always comes back verified. I've read on the forum about the 2 digit code that has to come from the OC to get this corrected (or something like that).  Do you think the wrong status is costing me points?!?!

Thanks for your advices!

[marty56]

When was the accont paid off.  Also did you pay the full amount due in 09/03 - 11/03?

[rom828]

The final payment was made 05-06.

I contacted the CCC in October after I got account current and advised I needed to close the card and get it paid off.

Their rep did try to talk me out of closing it since I had just got it current.  But I explained that I just wanted to be done with the card in light of all my other financial woes.

They allowed me to close it on some sort of 'hardship' basis, giving me set monthly payments and interest rate.  I actually paid it off early (originally set up as 36 mo. program) as I increased my payments when I was able.

I made the October payment on time and the November payment was made on time, then they closed the acct for me,  and the first payment made under the pyt arrangement was the Dec 03 pyt.    That's why I'm saying the 60 days is incorrect for Nov 03.  3 of the  6   30 day lates they show occurred in 2002.   And 1 of the 30 days is shown 11-03 and the 60 day late is shown as 11-03.

Had I realized this was such a big deal I would have disputed when I first saw this on an 05 report.  I had so much else going on it seemed the least of my worries. 

I'm sure I still have paperwork on this acct,  but getting my hands on it might be tricky as we moved in Oct and I put a lot of old records in the basement, which currently looks like the black hole of Calcutta!

I'm sure this is just a reporting error and I hope I'll be able to dispute w/o too much trouble.  I'm worried, though, since the agreement and originally pyts were  to Cross Country  before they became Applied.  Dont remember exact date of change but just remember the website name being changed when I went  in to make pyt on line.

AND  AGAIN, DOES IT  MATTER THAT EQ SHOWS " ACCOUNT IS OPEN"?!?!

Message Edited by rom828 on 04-25-2008 01:46 PM

[haulingthescoreup]

Just a small note on the scoring: I have seen on many people's reports that their EQ scores are generally lower than the others if they had lates. In other words, EQ penalizes lates more harshly than do the other two, all else being equal.

edit to add: so the displayed "open" status in itself does not affect your score.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 04-25-2008 02:48 PM

[rom828]

Hauling, thanks for explaining this!

Now I'm more convinced than ever, tho, that I have GOT to get EQ (and EX) to correct their scoring with all the Providian 90 day lates that were NOT on my 05 reports as well as this erroneous 60 day on the Applied acct.

Boy, I love this forum!! I've learned so much and I'm thrilled to say that my scores..and now those of my DH (His FICO TU 726 EQ 691 EX 692) ...reflect some of this newly acquired knowledge.

Our scores still arent where we want them, but they are a far cry from where we started!

Thanks!!

Message Edited by rom828 on 04-25-2008 08:03 PM

[RobertEG]

I concur with Hauling.  Remember that, even though you get "FICO" scores from each of the three CRAs, each bureau buys and uses their own version of the FICO algorithm from FairIsaac.  So some emphasize different factors at different levels. Even with identical CRs at each of the three bureaus, the scoing will thus be different.  FairIsaac states that this variation can be as much as 20 points between the bureaus even if true FICO scores.