Okay and thats the other thing about myFICO alerts:
The alerts are not necessarily the reason for a score change. The alerts tell you that an alertable event has occurred and the fact that an alert was generated prompts the updating of the score. However, any change in score may have actually occurred at anytime between the last and current update and not necessarily caused by whatever event to which you were alerted.
It is highly doubtful (i dare say impossible) going from 1% to 2% util dropped your score 12 points. Something else happened since your last 3b update and now. You mentioned a collection account, did it get an update to the payment history maybe? You have to do a before and after, line-by-line review of your reports to find the culprit.
@lizmariposa wrote:Well, they are not new to my account. And I've been paying them off. The amount is going down, not up. So... paying down a collection wouldn't make a score drop 12 pts. Only recent thing I did was dispute my name on my Equifax, which said "Lizmari M. Collazo/Lizmari" as my legal name. But... they are still investigating that, and haven't even updated my name on their current report.
When my collections went from 1123 to 623, I was raised quite a few points across all my reports. That was as of a few days ago. Now today, I have that 12 point drop. So... I just don't know. I checked the Annual Credit Reports this week, too, and didn't see anything odd. I guess I'll have to wait till the new 3Bs on 2/10, to see if they shed any extra insight.
Yes - wait til you pull your 3b and then compare it to the pull from 1/10 - line by line - especially that collection account and note @Anonymous response about paying collections on a payment plan.
And I also want to add - youre not being melodramatic. Rebuilding is a freaking emotional rollercoaster and every point counts - i get it. You have to really try to understand how the FICO scoring system works so you know what to look for when you have sudden changes in score. Could be aging, a negative update to the payment history, utilization/# of cards with a balance, an old, closed account dropping off, etc.-- so many nuanced things could cause your scores to change without warning. Understanding why it happened will help you better manage your feelings and response.
Hang in there!
@lizmariposa wrote:I never said that paying down my collections would increase my score a lot (if at all); just that it wouldn't lower it 12 pts or more. There is literally NOTHING I have done on my end to lower it that much. I will know more tomorrow, potentially. But it makes no sense at this point.
Any update to a collection tradeline can result in a loss of points. Since you are making payments as opposed to paying off in one lump sump, you're guaranteeing a regular update to the tradeline to reflect each payment made. Each update makes the collection look "fresh" to the scoring algorithm and your scores will respond accordingly. Until the balance is $0 and updates cease (or the tradeline is removed), the collection can negatively affect your scores. The effect may vary between the bureaus as they each customize the FICO algorithm to vary in how they weigh such events.
So, while you're not doing anything wrong by paying off your debt, the means by which you pay it off can negatively and inadvertently affect your scores.
Yeah, I'm not sure that I agree with this. This hasn't been the case at all with ANY of my collection payments with any bureau. It often may even go up 1 point or so, perhaps due to aging of other credit lines. These collections are from 2017, so their impact is not as severe these days. Paying them has never made my score drop -- it has only dropped when I've had a credit utilization rate of more than 10% or so. I mean, I don't mean to seem a contrarian, I just don't think that's the answer right now. I could pay myFICO $20 bucks to take an early peek, but I'll just wait till tomorrw and see what happens. All my scores are now updated on myFICO as of 02/07 at the earliest. So I am suspicious of the Experian.com thing.
@lizmariposa wrote:Yeah, I'm not sure that I agree with this. This hasn't been the case at all with ANY of my collection payments with any bureau. It often may even go up 1 point or so, perhaps due to aging of other credit lines. These collections are from 2017, so their impact is not as severe these days. Paying them has never made my score drop -- it has only dropped when I've had a credit utilization rate of more than 10% or so. I mean, I don't mean to seem a contrarian, I just don't think that's the answer right now. I could pay myFICO $20 bucks to take an early peek, but I'll just wait till tomorrw and see what happens. All my scores are now updated on myFICO as of 02/07 at the earliest. So I am suspicious of the Experian.com thing.
I didnt say it was the reason for this 12 point drop. I was simply advising that updates to collection tradelines can result in a score drop so it's something to consider when you are able to review your reports. Just because you haven't experienced it doesn't mean it does not or cannot happen. It is a possibility for anyone with collection tradelines. Typically, if the tradeline is already updating monthly, you will not experience repeated or significant drops. However, if it goes a couple of months without updating and then suddenly updates, a drop can occur.
@lizmariposa wrote:It is medical debt, and it is paid monthly on a schedule -- never a missed month. They auto-deduct it.
Was not implying you missed a payment, only that a monthly update to the bureau could be skipped - for whatever reason- collector reporting mishap or bureau delay, which has nothing to do with the actual payments made.
I'm really only trying to offer possible scenarios to look for based on the info you've provided about your profile... not declaring any of them to be the actual cause of your score drop - it could very well be something completely unrelated to the collection. I'm just trying to help by flagging possibilities worth exploring further--