Date reported no longer updating?

[Anonymous]

I have a CO where the original creditor stopped reporting to the CRA. The account still shows a balance and there are no notes of the account being sold. The CR shows "Date reported: January 2018". I am looking at a current CR. I never noticed this until today.

What does this mean? Why would the creditor stop reporting to the CRA? I know my Util% is still getting dinged but is the lack of monthly reporting helping my FICO as opposed to it being updated monthly?

[thornback]

It's quite common for a lender to pause monthly updating of a CO even if they still own the debt. This "pause" can last a few months, a couple of years, or for the entire time the account remains on your reports.

During this time, the lack of updates allows the derogatory account to age and your scores will begin to recover. The problem is that the lender can decide to report again at any given moment... so you could see a year of no reporting, then BAM! they update... and your scores plummet because now the debt looks recent.

You can avoid all of this by paying the outstanding balance which will prevent future updating (after the final update to a zero balance).

Or, leave it as is and hope they never update again.

[Anonymous]

And the lenders do stop updating just to watch your reports and wait for the right time to tank your scores...

I actually had a collection agency remove a larger collection and leave a smaller < $100 collection reporting monthly from the same hospital when I started building my credit so that when I finally contacted them about it, they could spring the account they took down on me and demand payment for both. 

Definitely would take care of it ASAP so they don’t update it again out of the blue and tank your score. The longer they go without updating, the more it hurts when they do. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

And the lenders do stop updating just to watch your reports and wait for the right time to tank your scores...

I actually had a collection agency remove a larger collection and leave a smaller < $100 collection reporting monthly from the same hospital when I started building my credit so that when I finally contacted them about it, they could spring the account they took down on me and demand payment for both. 

Definitely would take care of it ASAP so they don’t update it again out of the blue and tank your score. The longer they go without updating, the more it hurts when they do. 

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Won't my score tank anyway as soon as I pay the baddie off? If I PIF, my Util% will improve but now I will have a recent baddie updated, correct? Even worst, let's say I get into a repayment plan. Once I submit my first payment under that plan isn't it highly likely they will update to report the new balance?

Since I have other COs for similar amounts that have been reported monthly, would it be better (FICO wise) to take care of these first before I tackle the January 2018 last reported CO?

[Anonymous]

If you have other baddies already reporting, you’re likely already hitting the maximum FICO suppression anyway so yeah I would pay those off before tackling that one. Just don’t leave it alone so it can come back and bite you further down the line is all.