Why do I see score drop after removal of Judgement?

[Red1Blue]

I had my TU Fico Score of 691 / 3 days ago. Yesterday a Paid Judgement public record is remove from my CR and now my score is 686. I was hoping my score would go up. Why did it go down? Any suggestions?

[Tuscani]

Because you also lost history! Don't worry. Having it gone will only help in the long run.

[Red1Blue]

Hi Tusani, I dont understand. What is meant by loosing the history?

[Tuscani]

Actually, I was wrong. Collections and Public Records are not considered in your overall account age. The addition or removal of a single Collection or Public Record can move you to a different bucket.

Age can determine the bucket which will then determine the weight of all the factors within it, which can then be different enough from the previous bucket to cause an increase or decrease in the score.

[haulingthescoreup]

Hi, concorduser, I recently wound up in a new bucket, and my scores dropped 15 points. They have already recovered and more. If having that judgment removed put you in a new bucket, you may have a temporary score drop, but you now have the opportunity for your scores to go higher than they would have before.

Was this your only (or last) judgment? Do you have any collections as well?

[Red1Blue]

Hi Hauling, as per the judgment, that is the last one. I do have 3 paid collections and few lates. I think on TU only one reporting. On ex 3 and on EQ 2 reporting. How can we tell if we are put in a new bucket? Where can we find out that information?

[haulingthescoreup]

If you get a FICO Scorewatch alert, you'll see this phrase:

Your FICO® score went down on a day when there were no credit alerts on your Equifax Credit Report™. This can happen if:

You moved from one category of credit users to another as time passed. For example, you may have transitioned from the category "consumers with a new credit history" to the category "consumers with a two- to five-year credit history". As a result, your credit report is evaluated differently, causing a slight change in your score. The good news is that moving between categories like this usually offers you the potential to reach a higher FICO® score in the future.

Not everyone seems to get one every time, and of course, if you're not in FICO Scorewatch, you won't get one anyway. I would guess that your credit report changed, of course, but I think these get sent anyway. And there tends to be a few days' delay, so if you do get one, check for that paragraph about moving from one category of credit users to another.

What makes up the various buckets is a deep, dark secret, but we all sit around the campfire and guess at it when we have strange and unexpected score drops. Mine came when I was added as AU to my husband's Discover card, and my total credit history went from 12 years to 18 years. Scores went briefly up, but a couple of weeks later, they dropped 15 points. (Ouch.) So it appears that somewhere between 12 and 18 years for oldest account, there is a new bucket.

You had a judgment removed, but you do still have collections displaying, so it appears that there is a different bucket for those with collections, but no judgments.

There have been a bunch of posts recently like yours, and it looks like this is what is going on --a baddie is removed, and it was the only or last baddie of its type, and it results in a bucket reassignment to a new credit peer group. (Scores can go up, too, when this happens.)

FWIW, my scores have really improved in the 9 weeks since this happened. I lost 15 points, but I have since regained those fifteen and another 20 points, so I'm happy with that. Hope it works out the same for you!

[fused]

You did not change buckets, you still have 3 collections on your report. Losing five points could have happened for a host of reasons.

Message Edited by fused on 12-22-2007 08:30 AM

[haulingthescoreup]

No separate bucket for judgments?

[Red1Blue]

I dont have all 3 collections on this report. There is only one paid collection on this report.