topic Re: TransUnion corrected typo, but Lowered 3-Bureau Score! in Understanding FICO® Scoring

TransUnion corrected typo, but Lowered 3-Bureau Score!

Anonymous — Thu, 24 May 2018 20:40:33 GMT

A few weeks ago I called all three credit bureaus on their hotlines to have a typo removed in the "Comments" area of my credit reports. All were corrected within 48 hours, which RAISED my credit score on all three bureaus. It appears that anything listed in the "Comments" area of my report has been costing me points. But I was glad to make the discovery and see all my scores shoot over the border into the Excellent grade.

Then 8 days later TransUnion places back into the Comments Area that I have disputed one of my "accounts", and all three bureaus picked up on it . . . and lowered my score! What's worse is finding out today from TransUnion that my earlier phone call to correct a typo that TransUnion had . . . was tagged that I was disputing a credit card (which has a perfect payment record). But the mere mention of a corrective typo in the "file" led them to embellish the comment area with "Account information disputed by consumer, meets FCRA requirements" which was false.

In other words, it will take two (2) separate phone calls to fix a typo:

a) First phone call to fix or remove the remark in the Comment Area. Removal takes 48 hours, scores go up.

b) Wait ten days and watch TransUnion place another remark in the same Comment Area - only this time as a summary of the earlier phone call claiming the account information was disputed by consumer (on the phone call date).

c) Call TransUnion back and ask them to "remove" the comment.

Silly?

Yep. I'm just glad I got my two credit card applications approved before the game started.

Re: TransUnion corrected typo, but Lowered 3-Bureau Score!

Anonymous — Fri, 25 May 2018 01:57:28 GMT

Comments do not impact scores.

If you have a comment that says an account is in dispute, the account may be removed from consideration by the FICO algorithm; it's as if the account doesn't exist during the dispute. It's not comment(s) though that impact score.

Re: TransUnion corrected typo, but Lowered 3-Bureau Score!

Anonymous — Fri, 25 May 2018 14:47:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Comments do not impact scores.

If you have a comment that says an account is in dispute, the account may be removed from consideration by the FICO algorithm; it's as if the account doesn't exist during the dispute. It's not comment(s) though that impact score.

Yes, "comments do not impact scores" has been an old school thought for several years. But I know for a fact that comments now do affect scores. The only way to see them is to have the 3-bureau report in myfico and compare the alerts that come in. To verify, simply call TransUnion when you do have a comment and have them remove it. Then watch the score go up. Besides . . . why would anyone want a comment to remain on their credit report that raises doubt?

Re: TransUnion corrected typo, but Lowered 3-Bureau Score!

Anonymous — Fri, 25 May 2018 16:30:52 GMT

BrutalBodyShots is correct, it's the dispute status that is affecting scores not the comment. Until a dispute is resolved the disputed account is ignored for scoring purposes, both positive and negative.
This is exactly the reason why mortgage lenders will often require the removal if disputes. This has been verified.

Re: TransUnion corrected typo, but Lowered 3-Bureau Score!

Anonymous — Fri, 25 May 2018 18:58:07 GMT

@Anonymous
Yes, "comments do not impact scores" has been an old school thought for several years. But I know for a fact that comments now do affect scores. The only way to see them is to have the 3-bureau report in myfico and compare the alerts that come in. To verify, simply call TransUnion when you do have a comment and have them remove it. Then watch the score go up. Besides . . . why would anyone want a comment to remain on their credit report that raises doubt?

You are confusing a "comment" with a "dispute." Comments are not seen by the FICO algorithm, so it's not possible for comments to impact score. If the comment is "customer disputes account" or something of the like, that can impact score, but it's not the comment it's the fact that the account is being "ignored" by the algorithm due to the dispute status.

Re: TransUnion corrected typo, but Lowered 3-Bureau Score!

Anonymous — Fri, 25 May 2018 21:10:04 GMT

Thanks for all of your helpful feedback.

Clearing and cleaning out any customer generated disputes would be key to keeping the score from dropping as a result of the dispute. If I have a dispute with a creditor, it seems best to just deal directly with the creditor.

What other types of comments can there be which are not a reflection of a dispute or anything creditors would deem as negative? (I am wondering if I see a comment again in the future, would that be an indicator to check out?)

Re: TransUnion corrected typo, but Lowered 3-Bureau Score!

Anonymous — Sat, 26 May 2018 00:25:24 GMT

It's also worth mentioning that a disputed account can significantly raise a score as well. For example, if someone has only one dirty account with a 90 day late payment from a few years ago, that 90 day late payment could be holding back FICO scores 70-80 points or so. If that account is under dispute and is "ignored" by the algorithm, scores could temporarily jump 70-80 points as a result. Of course if the dispute ends and the delinquency remains, scores then drop those 70-80 points back to where they were.

Re: TransUnion corrected typo, but Lowered 3-Bureau Score!

Anonymous — Sat, 26 May 2018 17:39:58 GMT

True to form . . . my score just jumped up again because I called in to dispute a dispute. I looked over all of my 3-Bureau Reports and the mistaken dispute that was costing me some score points was not anywhere in view. I guess the only avenue to knowing for sure is to make a phone call to each bureau's hotline and ask them directly if there are any outstanding disputes hiding in the cobwebs.

And I would still like to know the answer to my other question, "What other types of comments (on the actual credit report) can there be which are not a reflection of a dispute or anything creditors would deem as negative? "

Re: TransUnion corrected typo, but Lowered 3-Bureau Score!

iv — Sat, 26 May 2018 18:48:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
And I would still like to know the answer to my other question, "What other types of comments (on the actual credit report) can there be which are not a reflection of a dispute or anything creditors would deem as negative? "

Err... any relevant comments about the account? The comment field isn't dedicated to disputes, if that's what you're asking.

For instance, I have as comments on various accounts:

Fixed rate (mortgages and car loans)

Freddie Mac account (mortgages)

Account closed by consumer (HELOC)

Account closed at consumer's request (HELOC)

Closed (mortgages, HELOC, and car loan)

Account closed by credit grantor (old furniture store account, used once for a discount and closed automatically two years later)

All of those are in the comments field. None are related to disputes, and none of them count as a negative of any sort.

Re: TransUnion corrected typo, but Lowered 3-Bureau Score!

Anonymous — Sat, 26 May 2018 22:33:59 GMT

@iv wrote:
@Anonymous

Fixed rate (mortgages and car loans)
Freddie Mac account (mortgages)
Account closed by consumer (HELOC)
Account closed at consumer's request (HELOC)
Closed (mortgages, HELOC, and car loan)
Account closed by credit grantor (old furniture store account, used once for a discount and closed automatically two years later)

All of those are in the comments field. None are related to disputes, and none of them count as a negative of any sort.

This is exactly what I was looking for.

@iv wrote:

Account closed by credit grantor (old furniture store account, used once for a discount and closed automatically two years later)

The "Account closed by credit grantor" is what I called the bureaus two weeks ago, citing that the account was closed by me years ago and not by the grantor. They removed it on the phone. Two days later my scores magically jumped up. Not knowing why, I just assumed it had to do with the comments and not anything else.

Re: TransUnion corrected typo, but Lowered 3-Bureau Score!

Anonymous — Sat, 26 May 2018 23:46:40 GMT

Another odd one that has recently come up is "affected by natural disaster".

In addition I believe the CB allow consumers to add personal notes to the comments section as well.

Re: TransUnion corrected typo, but Lowered 3-Bureau Score!

Bees18 — Wed, 30 May 2018 03:05:09 GMT

Was it because there was an activity on an old account though...that caused it to update

Re: TransUnion corrected typo, but Lowered 3-Bureau Score!

RobertEG — Thu, 31 May 2018 05:24:24 GMT

Common codes provided for reporting special comments to a CRA, of which the following is only a small summary, and many are not by nature derogatory, includes:

Code H Loan assumed by another party

Code M Account closed by credit grantor

Code O Account transferred to another lendor

Code AB Debt paid via insurance

Code AL Student loan assigned to government

Code AO Voluntary surrender

Code AS Account closed due to refinance

Code AW Account affected by natural or declared disaster

Code BL Credit card lost or stolen

Code CI Account closed due to inactivity

Code CP Account in forebearance

See the common credit reporting manual used by the big-3 CRAs, titled the Credit Reporting Resource Guide for a full listing of current special comment codes and their definitions.

Re: TransUnion corrected typo, but Lowered 3-Bureau Score!

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 00:52:26 GMT

@Bees18 wrote:
Was it because there was an activity on an old account though...that caused it to update

For me, I just asked them to remove an old comment (which they agreed to do over the phone without any fuss). At the time I had no idea it may have been connected to a dispute or anything else. But whatever it was, the score jumped up. Then after they "settled" the cleanup job" - I am guessing it triggered something else because of my phone call. That is when I called back a second time and removed the trigger.

Honestly, I don't understand all of it. It seems there are codes and under-current disputes that never appear on the 3-Bureau Reports - and yet are costing score points. I just happened to call them . . . and in the end my scores settled in at a very nice level.