Can Someone Explain Score Watch?

[Andrew22]

Again, it is reporting a new tax lien on my EQ, but when I go to the EQ web site to dispute on my report, there is NO lien listed. This lien was recently withdrawn. EQ had never reported it. Is is possible Score Watch is reading the filing of the withdrawal as the filing of a lien? What is going on here? How can Score Watch report something that isn't there? I am thinking very seriously about ditching Score Watch, as it is proven not to be very accurate, or timely. Anyone?

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Andrew22 wrote:

Again, it is reporting a new tax lien on my EQ, but when I go to the EQ web site to dispute on my report, there is NO lien listed. This lien was recently withdrawn. EQ had never reported it. Is is possible Score Watch is reading the filing of the withdrawal as the filing of a lien? What is going on here? How can Score Watch report something that isn't there? I am thinking very seriously about ditching Score Watch, as it is proven not to be very accurate, or timely. Anyone?

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Are you saying that the lien shows on the report that you pull here via Scorewatch, or are you saying that you got an alert that a lien had been posted, or something similar?

If the latter, can you copy/ paste it here?

The SW alerts are often pretty wacky, and they're often in weird double negatives, something like:

The following factor isn't hurting your scores as much:

--You have a lien.

In other words, you no longer have a lien, so your score isn't hurt as much.

It's as if Yoda wrote the SW alerts.

[Andrew22]

Sure, Hauling, and thanks for taking a look. Below is the alert. However, this lien has been withdrawn. And, when I go to equifax, it says no liens...and, this lien had never appeared on EQ before, only TU and EX...

1 new tax lien was added to your credit report

New tax lien – $5,331 –  FEDERAL TAX LIEN Filed: Jan 01, 2007 Show/Hide Details

What is a tax lien? A tax lien is a claim by a federal, state, or local government for the payment of unpaid taxes. How new tax liens impact your score: A tax lien is a claim by a federal, state, or local government for the payment of unpaid taxes. A new tax lien added to your credit report will usually cause a large drop in your FICO® score. Your FICO® scores measure the chances that you will pay back debts. A tax lien shows evidence that you did not pay past tax obligations, which is why it can cause so much harm to your score. Tax liens that occurred further in the past cause less harm to your FICO® score. So if the "Date Filed" for the tax lien is not recent, your FICO® score drop will be less severe compared to a recently filed lien. The tax lien's court, case number, and amount do not affect your FICO® score.

[haulingthescoreup]

OK, that one's bizarre. I assume that you pulled an Equifax report directly from them, right? And after this shows up here? I don't see how you can have this show up on your myFICO report when it's not on the underlying report maintained at Equifax.

Try calling myFICO customer service --they might be able to see something on their end. I can make educated guesses about SW alerts, lol, but this seems to be on your actual SW report, and of course, that's a whole 'nother thing.

myFICO CS Phone:
1-800-319-4433
Mon-Fri 6am to 6pm Pacific Time <--6 pm Pacific is 9 pm Eastern
Sat 7am to 4pm Pacific Time

[Andrew22]

Indeed, went to Equifax dispute site directly, it says "you have no liens." I also have USAA service, it is not showing the lien and my report. My guess is that this is an e-oscar code situation? That the IRS sent the withdrawal to all the major CRA's, the CRA's logged it, and Score Watch picked it up as a new lien reporting, even though it is in fact a withdrawal of a lien. After all, EQ never reported the original lien, so logging a withdrawal would be a new action, right?

[haulingthescoreup]

Well, as I understand it, SW cruises your full Equifax report, maintained at Equifax, and checks for this, that, and the other. I don't see how it could alert for this when it's not on your EQ report.

I've read about e-oscar, but what I know about it wouldn't cover the bottom of my thimble, so I can't speculate there, I'm afraid. I do agree that the timing of the withdrawal is suggestive, but I don't see how e-oscar could make this pop on your myFICO report when it's not on the real one. Not saying that it can't; I just don't understand enough about it.