Understanding FICO® Scoring

[Whereis750]

What is the difference between these two terms:  Serious Delinquency or a Derogatory Description?  

[RobertEG]

Any adverse item in payment history, be it a monthly delinquency, a CO, collection, PR, BK, etc., is a "derogatory adverse item."

The term derog is a generic term that has no specific credit reporting code attached to it.  Similary, the generic term "negative account" has no specific credit reporting definition, and is simply a "derogatory description" of an account as having an adverse item reported.

A "serious" or "major" derog is also a subjective term.  Only one classification of derogs seems to be consistent.... that 30-lates are, in all cases I am aware of, referred to as "minor delinquencies."  Above that level, some scoring systems also consider 60-lates as minor, while others may not.  It is semantics.

It seems to be fairly consistent terminology that anything above 60-late is referred to as a major or serious derog.  One could, I suppose, reserve the term "serious derog" to refer only to derogs other than monthly delinquencies, which would be only collections, charge-offs, PRs and a BK.

I would not get hung up on the terminology.