I would never fret about a FAKO score going down; nor would I celebrate a FAKO going up. So don't worry about your FAKO score change - in fact I would highly recommend forgetting about all FAKO's. They cause people stress and grief. Post your FICO scores in your siggy and let go of those FAKO's. R-e-l-e-a-s-e them - they are called FAKO's because they are fake FICO's - and they do not correlate.
Now, for your real issue, That stinks - your bill was over double what it should have been? I understand about your frustrations and concerns with the bill. Over time, we've learned that no matter how a bill is paid - whether it's on auto-pay or paying "manually" - that it's best to pay bills like this in full by due date while disputing them. Situations vary, and sometimes the bill is so outrageous that you just will not want to pay it, but on utility bills we've found it best to pay and actively work with them to correct. It prevents us from having late charges and fees or anything else that stresses us out while everything is put back in order. That's one of the reasons why I like auto pay on a credit card. It's easier to float a creditor's billing error on a cc than float it from a checking account or cash out of pocket. And on those occasions when it's my own oversight or misunderstanding that causes a billing issue, it keeps me from paying dearly while I recover.
This is a real problem when budgets are tight, and it takes some time to recover. I hope your phone bill is corrected quickly so things on the financial front will be back to normal.
And I hope your friends/family in Japan are doing well. My best wishes to them.
And congrats on your excellent EQ FICO score - it will pop up and down a few points here and there. Calling a CC about disputing a charge will not affect your FICO score ever. (Disputing an account or some information on it with the CRA may temporarily impact a FICO during the time the dispute is underway, but that's not what you did).
