Understanding FICO® Scoring

[Missy35228]

About 4 months ago, my credit score was 685 and i was well on my way to a 700 credit score after about 4 years. My score used to be 515.

I was so excited until I received my quarterly report and it was 615. I couldn't understand what happened. I had paid off my car and didn't have any new credit so why was it so low. Well, a collection agency from AT&T reported that I hadn't paid my last phone bill of $85.00 from two years ago. This was incorrect and I disputed it and recieved a letter that it has been reported incorrectly and had been taken off of my account. So, my question is this, how long does it take for my score to go back up since this issue was reported incorrectly and has now been resolved? I used Transunion. Now, I'm going to have to check the others to make sure.

Sidenote. I think that it's ridiculous that a late payment of $85.00 could drop my credit score so low. It wasn't my fault since it was reported incorrectly, but still, really?

[lovinlifeinkc]

It should raise right after the collection drops off.  Is it possible to get a copy of your report to make sure it's been removed??

[FrugalRican]

It should go up as soon as it gets deleted since the negative tradeline will no longer be there.

And I agree, it's ridiculous that just one item absolutely tanks your score.

[pizzadude]

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FrugalRican wrote:

It should go up as soon as it gets deleted since the negative tradeline will no longer be there.

And I agree, it's ridiculous that just one item absolutely tanks your score.

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+1.  Unfortunately the amount of the collection doesn't matter.   $50 or $500 will hurt your score the same.     The only exception is the newest FICO models which exclude collections under $100.