topic Re: Collection removal, how many points? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Collection removal, how many points?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:11:26 GMT

Since the recipe for calculating Fico scores is top secret, how do we know what's the most effective in improving our scores? I recently paid off three collections and I wonder if it will actually make a difference in my score, or am I running myself ragged? Does score improve each year as old debt gets older?

Re: Collection removal, how many points?

MidnightVoice — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:20:49 GMT

soulglo31 wrote:
Since the recipe for calculating Fico scores is top secret, how do we know what's the most effective in improving our scores? I recently paid off three collections and I wonder if it will actually make a difference in my score, or am I running myself ragged? Does score improve each year as old debt gets older?

For DW and I, dropping a collection (nearly 7 years old) was an increse of 50 points. But this was the only baddie left on our reports. EQ went up to 735 for me, 758 for DW, and EQ went up to 776 for DW. Each one was an increase of 45-55 points

Re: Collection removal, how many points?

fused — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:24:20 GMT

Welcome to myFICO forums! Please read the credit scoring 101 thread in my sig line if you haven't already. Moving to Understanding FICO Scoring Forum.

Re: Collection removal, how many points?

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:36:05 GMT

paying off an old collection is not going to necessarily help you all that much. You need to get that collection deleted from your report to realize a bump..

Generally speaking, the older a debt gets, the less influence it has.

Re: Collection removal, how many points?

MidnightVoice — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:42:20 GMT

You are right. I looked at the title of the thread and thought it had been deleted not paid off

Re: Collection removal, how many points?

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:46:09 GMT

I am still trying to figure out that 50 point bump for an almost-7-year-old collection.

Re: Collection removal, how many points?

MidnightVoice — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:52:30 GMT

cobra19 wrote:
I am still trying to figure out that 50 point bump for an almost-7-year-old collection.

So am I. It occurred on my EX, DW's EX and EQ, averaging 50 points. The only thing I can figure is that it was the only derog of any sort on any of the reports so it was weighing heavily on us. So we now are all green for 7 years and in the high 700s (780 plus) on EQ and TU, and 730-750 on EX (HELOC=CC).

I have no explanation other than that, but it is 3 events, not just one.