topic Equifax score crashed after disputing w/Experian in Rebuilding Your Credit

Equifax score crashed after disputing w/Experian

Dennis885 — Sat, 25 Mar 2023 23:09:36 GMT

I have a few negatives set to fall off in June 2023 with Experian.

After having early exclusion success with TU, I disputed the accounts with Experian as too old. One account was removed. Two others I was unsuccessful and new comments were added to the account with both Experian and Equifax. The comments are essentially the same as the comments that existed before, to the extent of "paid after charge off".

My Experian score didn't change much as a result, but my Equifax dropped about 35 points as a result.

I don't anticipate needing any credit before these accounts are due to fall on their own, do I have anything to worry about? And is this normal?

Re: Equifax score crashed after disputing w/Experian

fury1995 — Sun, 26 Mar 2023 23:48:14 GMT

@Dennis885 wrote:
I have a few negatives set to fall off in June 2023 with Experian.

After having early exclusion success with TU, I disputed the accounts with Experian as too old. One account was removed. Two others I was unsuccessful and new comments were added to the account with both Experian and Equifax. The comments are essentially the same as the comments that existed before, to the extent of "paid after charge off".

My Experian score didn't change much as a result, but my Equifax dropped about 35 points as a result.

I don't anticipate needing any credit before these accounts are due to fall on their own, do I have anything to worry about? And is this normal?

@Dennis885

Remember when you file an official dispute, the disputed account may be ignored/excluded on your credit until the dispute is resolved. That could include score.

Which Equifax score are you being provided? Vantage or Fico?

If it's FICO, which version?

There must be something in the dispute result from Equifax.

Does Equifax state the account has been Verified as Reported, Deleted or Updated? If it's updated then you should see which fields on the account were modified and then a brief desription of what the results were. The modified fields should appear in bold.

Re: Equifax score crashed after disputing w/Experian

Dennis885 — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 00:21:23 GMT

Thank you.

The dispute shows final with Experian . The score I saw crash with Equifax is what I see on the free MyFICO.

Again, not worried about it as long as it's temporary until everything falls off for good this summer....

Re: Equifax score crashed after disputing w/Experian

fury1995 — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 00:47:38 GMT

@Dennis885 wrote:
Thank you.

The dispute shows final with Experian . The score I saw crash with Equifax is what I see on the free MyFICO.

Again, not worried about it as long as it's temporary until everything falls off for good this summer....

@Dennis885

Oh gotcha, your dispute with Equifax is not yet ready.

Ok, so your score drop could be a result of the account being excluding for scoring while the dispute is being investigated. That account may have had a positive influence on your score in a different way (age of accounts). Be prepared though, it's not unheard of to see a score drop after an old collection account falls from your reports.

Remember, a clean report is BETTER.

Re: Equifax score crashed after disputing w/Experian

TRC_WA — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 02:37:14 GMT

@fury1995 wrote:
Be prepared though, it's not unheard of to see a score drop after an old collection account falls from your reports.

Remember, a clean report is BETTER.

@fury1995

Speaking from experience this is true. I had some EE success a month ago with TU dropping the only collection off my reports... and my score dropped 5 points.

TU has the least number of baddies due to EE but yet it's my lowest score. Don't much care I'm counting down the months until all my reports are clean.

Re: Equifax score crashed after disputing w/Experian

Dennis885 — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 19:55:30 GMT

Right there with you, counting down the months. I figured there'd be no harm in trying a few months early. And since I won't need credit before then, I guess there really isn't. It was just odd to see.

I actually had the opposite with TU. I was able to EE all bad accounts and score went up significantly.

Re: Equifax score crashed after disputing w/Experian

Dennis885 — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 23:53:38 GMT

As an update here's what I think happened. When I did a dispute with Equifax to request an EE they had they verified information with the original creditors. Once concluded the accounts were not only removed but the "Last Activity" date was updated to the dispute date, despite the accounts being closed several years.

So I essentially disputed again and explained the accounts are closed and the "last activity" date was incorrect and negatively effecting my score. The accounts were updated again, and the date of first delinquency was restored, and my score returned to where it was.

At this point I'm just going to leave it alone as the accounts will reach 7 years from DoFD within 1-2 months. My current FICO scores with TU and EX are 807 and 796, so I'm hoping for a similar score one Equifax is clean (701 current).

Re: Equifax score crashed after disputing w/Experian

FireMedic1 — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 16:22:38 GMT

This is the reason we say dont dispute accurate info on a credit report. It comes back verified with a new date and FICO looks it as a new entry. Wont change the fall off date. EX has to be under the 3 month window to the day for EE.