topic Re: DISPUTING DROP IN EQUIFAX SCORING in Understanding FICO® Scoring

DISPUTING DROP IN EQUIFAX SCORING

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 16:56:22 GMT

I've seen posts where individuals dispute negative information on their credit report, some successful, some not. Equifax has, for the last couple of months, scored me at 759 and it has always been my lowest score of the credit bureaus. My EXP is 815 and TU is 797. Two days ago, Equifax dropped my score by 40 points. During this timeframe, I've had no derogatory information and continually paid down all my credit card accounts, only one remaining above 10%. This specific credit card account has been above 10% for months. By the end of December, payment will be made to ensure the only remaining account above 10% drops to reflect a score below 10%. Also, although Experian does reflect $1000 payments to several credit card accounts in November 2015, Equifax and TU do not. Even with my accounts reflecting a higher balance (according to Equifax and TU) and accounts higher than 10% usage, my Equifax score remained at 759 until two days ago. There is nothing I can see that would account for a 40 point drop in scoring. I had actually hoped Equifax and TU would finally recognize my $1000 payments and I would see an increase in scoring. Is it possible to dispute a drop in your score when you can't determine the reason for the score drop?

Re: DISPUTING DROP IN EQUIFAX SCORING

gdale6 — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 16:58:40 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I've seen posts where individuals dispute negative information on their credit report, some successful, some not. Equifax has, for the last couple of months, scored me at 759 and it has always been my lowest score of the credit bureaus. My EXP is 815 and TU is 797. Two days ago, Equifax dropped my score by 40 points. During this timeframe, I've had no derogatory information and continually paid down all my credit card accounts, only one remaining above 10%. This specific credit card account has been above 10% for months. By the end of December, payment will be made to ensure the only remaining account above 10% drops to reflect a score below 10%. Also, although Experian does reflect $1000 payments to several credit card accounts in November 2015, Equifax and TU do not. Even with my accounts reflecting a higher balance (according to Equifax and TU) and accounts higher than 10% usage, my Equifax score remained at 759 until two days ago. There is nothing I can see that would account for a 40 point drop in scoring. I had actually hoped Equifax and TU would finally recognize my $1000 payments and I would see an increase in scoring. Is it possible to dispute a drop in your score when you can't determine the reason for the score drop?

No, there is no such thing as disputing a Fico score calculation as its based on the info in the report at the time the score is requested.

Re: DISPUTING DROP IN EQUIFAX SCORING

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 19:07:21 GMT

@gdale6 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I've seen posts where individuals dispute negative information on their credit report, some successful, some not. Equifax has, for the last couple of months, scored me at 759 and it has always been my lowest score of the credit bureaus. My EXP is 815 and TU is 797. Two days ago, Equifax dropped my score by 40 points. During this timeframe, I've had no derogatory information and continually paid down all my credit card accounts, only one remaining above 10%. This specific credit card account has been above 10% for months. By the end of December, payment will be made to ensure the only remaining account above 10% drops to reflect a score below 10%. Also, although Experian does reflect $1000 payments to several credit card accounts in November 2015, Equifax and TU do not. Even with my accounts reflecting a higher balance (according to Equifax and TU) and accounts higher than 10% usage, my Equifax score remained at 759 until two days ago. There is nothing I can see that would account for a 40 point drop in scoring. I had actually hoped Equifax and TU would finally recognize my $1000 payments and I would see an increase in scoring. Is it possible to dispute a drop in your score when you can't determine the reason for the score drop?
No, there is no such thing as disputing a Fico score calculation as its based on the info in the report at the time the score is requested.

Ive thought the same thing for many years, but I have noticed score changes are one of the things in the myfico ultimate 3b "alerts" that have a hyperlink to "dispute this change". Fortunately, in the brief time I've had the subscription, I haven't seen a score change Ive wished to dispute. Being not everyone knows that you can't dispute a score, I am curious if any of the people who have undoubtedly done so have reported what happens when they do?(It's hard to imagine nobody clicking that dispute link after seeing a sizeable score drop). I'm not sure if this is something that has been answered many times, but being I'm relatively new in my subscription, I haven't given it much thought and figured this thread was an appropriate place to ask about it. Thanks

Re: DISPUTING DROP IN EQUIFAX SCORING

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 21:02:39 GMT

Interesting that EXPERIAN and TU increased in the last two months and EQUIFAX dropped 40 points while everything remained the same on all my reports. Oh, well, maybe once EQUIFAX and TU acknowledge my November payments, my score will return to its original score. Sad, though, that the EQUIFAX score would've been higher, if not for this 40 point drop.

Re: DISPUTING DROP IN EQUIFAX SCORING

RobertEG — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 21:33:27 GMT

609. Disclosures to consumers [15 U.S.C. § 1681g]

(a) Information on file; sources; report recipients. Every consumer reporting agency shall, upon request, and subject to 610(a)(1) [§ 1681h], clearly and accurately disclose to the consumer:

(1) All information in the consumer’s file at the time of the request except that-- ………………….

(B) nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to require a consumer reporting agency to disclose to a consumer any information concerning credit scores or any other risk scores or predictors relating to the consumer.

Re: DISPUTING DROP IN EQUIFAX SCORING

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 00:29:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Interesting thatEXPERIAN andTU increased in the last two months andEQUIFAX dropped 40 points while everything remained the same on all my reports. Oh, well, maybe onceEQUIFAX andTU acknowledge my November payments, my score will return to its original score. Sad, though, that theEQUIFAX score would've been higher, if not for this 40 point drop.

That is interesting, but as you mention some of the differences may be attributed to when things are reported/acknowledge. From my own experience, regardless of the type of monitoring one has, multiple moves may occur before we see a score change report, and possibly the bureaus are at different points in the cycle with you, although those point movements are more than I'm used to in my personal experience, which is all I speak from right now.

What kind of score monitoring do you have? On the myfico ultimate 3b, for each alert, there is a clickable option to dispute the alert, although I dont have any intention of ever using it, and have no idea how well it would work. I just figured I'd throw that out there, and let someone with actual experience using it expound further. I might be perplexed if I were in your shoes as well. I hope you find the answers you seek, my friend. You sound like youre in a better headspace already, and that might trump all other?

Re: DISPUTING DROP IN EQUIFAX SCORING

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 01:15:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@gdale6 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I've seen posts where individuals dispute negative information on their credit report, some successful, some not. Equifax has, for the last couple of months, scored me at 759 and it has always been my lowest score of the credit bureaus. My EXP is 815 and TU is 797. Two days ago, Equifax dropped my score by 40 points. During this timeframe, I've had no derogatory information and continually paid down all my credit card accounts, only one remaining above 10%. This specific credit card account has been above 10% for months. By the end of December, payment will be made to ensure the only remaining account above 10% drops to reflect a score below 10%. Also, although Experian does reflect $1000 payments to several credit card accounts in November 2015, Equifax and TU do not. Even with my accounts reflecting a higher balance (according to Equifax and TU) and accounts higher than 10% usage, my Equifax score remained at 759 until two days ago. There is nothing I can see that would account for a 40 point drop in scoring. I had actually hoped Equifax and TU would finally recognize my $1000 payments and I would see an increase in scoring. Is it possible to dispute a drop in your score when you can't determine the reason for the score drop?
No, there is no such thing as disputing a Fico score calculation as its based on the info in the report at the time the score is requested.
Ive thought the same thing for many years, but I have noticed score changes are one of the things in the myfico ultimate 3b "alerts" that have a hyperlink to "dispute this change". Fortunately, in the brief time I've had the subscription, I haven't seen a score change Ive wished to dispute. Being not everyone knows that you can't dispute a score, I am curious if any of the people who have undoubtedly done so have reported what happens when they do?(It's hard to imagine nobody clicking that dispute link after seeing a sizeable score drop). I'm not sure if this is something that has been answered many times, but being I'm relatively new in my subscription, I haven't given it much thought and figured this thread was an appropriate place to ask about it. Thanks

That link is for disputing the information that triggered the alert, not for disputing the score itself.

Re: DISPUTING DROP IN EQUIFAX SCORING

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 03:12:16 GMT

I recently paid off a card. They tripled my credit line. I decided to take advantage of there 0% interest again and charged 511.00 on the card. Card has a 1800.00 limit. This was reported to credit bureau my Equifax dropped 33 points. None of my other scores budged at all. It has taken months upon months of waiting for Equifax to remove things and report accounts properly. I feel your aggravation on this.

Re: DISPUTING DROP IN EQUIFAX SCORING

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 04:46:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@gdale6 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I've seen posts where individuals dispute negative information on their credit report, some successful, some not. Equifax has, for the last couple of months, scored me at 759 and it has always been my lowest score of the credit bureaus. My EXP is 815 and TU is 797. Two days ago, Equifax dropped my score by 40 points. During this timeframe, I've had no derogatory information and continually paid down all my credit card accounts, only one remaining above 10%. This specific credit card account has been above 10% for months. By the end of December, payment will be made to ensure the only remaining account above 10% drops to reflect a score below 10%. Also, although Experian does reflect $1000 payments to several credit card accounts in November 2015, Equifax and TU do not. Even with my accounts reflecting a higher balance (according to Equifax and TU) and accounts higher than 10% usage, my Equifax score remained at 759 until two days ago. There is nothing I can see that would account for a 40 point drop in scoring. I had actually hoped Equifax and TU would finally recognize my $1000 payments and I would see an increase in scoring. Is it possible to dispute a drop in your score when you can't determine the reason for the score drop?
No, there is no such thing as disputing a Fico score calculation as its based on the info in the report at the time the score is requested.
Ive thought the same thing for many years, but I have noticed score changes are one of the things in the myfico ultimate 3b "alerts" that have a hyperlink to "dispute this change". Fortunately, in the brief time I've had the subscription, I haven't seen a score change Ive wished to dispute. Being not everyone knows that you can't dispute a score, I am curious if any of the people who have undoubtedly done so have reported what happens when they do?(It's hard to imagine nobody clicking that dispute link after seeing a sizeable score drop). I'm not sure if this is something that has been answered many times, but being I'm relatively new in my subscription, I haven't given it much thought and figured this thread was an appropriate place to ask about it. Thanks
That link is for disputing the information that triggered the alert, not for disputing the score itself.

That makes sense. Might this help the OP or anyone with large, unexplained drops? I guess it would solve the mystery for the drop at least?