wildcat, I've only disputed something 1 time in my life, and it was online when I pulled from annualcreditreport.com. Oh boy, is there a story behind that! lol. 
Ohhhhh yes! Not super bad, just a big, big disappointment. It occured before I knew of this forum. Had I known then what I know now, I would have never done it.
In late July, 2007(last summer) I thought that I would be rewarded for getting out of the debt we owed on 2 auto loans. The loans were nearing the end of the terms.
So we paid them off 4 months early. I was so proud of myself! Out of debt. Surely that must be a good thing in FICO's mind.
Wrong! My scores dropped 22 points because I exercised good financial responsibility. Or so I thought. I went from 681 down to 659.
The reason? The accounts were still showing as open, and paying as agreed(installment loans). I disputed the fact that the loans were indeed paid in full. They investigated and put paid on the CR. This in turn caused the scores to drop, because no longer did I have the benefit of installment accounts on my CR. Installment accounts make up for 10% of your FICO score. So I lost that favorable mix.
In late July, 2007(last summer) I thought that I would be rewarded for getting out of the debt we owed on 2 auto loans. The loans were nearing the end of the terms.
So we paid them off 4 months early. I was so proud of myself!
Out of debt. Surely that must be a good thing in FICO's mind.Wrong! My scores dropped 22 points because I exercised good financial responsibility. Or so I thought. I went from 681 down to 659.
The reason? The accounts were still showing as open, and paying as agreed(installment loans). I disputed the fact that the loans were indeed paid in full. They investigated and put paid on the CR. This in turn caused the scores to drop, because no longer did I have the benefit of installment accounts on my CR. Installment accounts make up for 10% of your FICO score. So I lost that favorable mix.