Sudden horrible drop in credit score: need advice!

Anonymous · ‎04-25-2009

Hi,

I spent a few months trying to increase my fico score. I've been looke at equifax mostly since I was able to get it through another service. I paid something off, though not completely (e.g. decreasing the per centage of my credit card balance). My score went up from about 580 to about 640.

I have been very careful not to rock the boat hopeing the scores would at least remain stable. Then myfico reported three precipitous drops in a few weeks. The first was 98 points. The second I third, I'm not sure about, but it ended up with my score dropping from 640 to 491. I think it's down to about 472 now though in reality it can vary.

I contacted equifax, bought a report and found out that within those few weeks they had added collection debt that had already been resolved; the company went out of business and when I called the company that bought their debts, I was told no debts were being collected. That was years ago. When this "debt" come up again, myfico reported it as as a possible duplicate because it was in the report twice.

The other debt that seemed to have brought this on was credit hassle that my wife had with a dentist. There was no credit card involved, the debt had been paid of at least a year and half earlier and, at the risk of being morbid, I'll report that the dentist passed away at least a year ago.

Now on the alerts:The credit alerts I have are almost all my wife's. I didn't co-sign any of her cards yet these are seen as my debts. In addition there are many of the alerts against my wife's card that are not valid. Finally equifax has gone so far as to bring up a purchase that we made three years ago, paid off on time; the record for this on my report actually says "Paid as agreed, balance O". Yet this is still on my report.

I do have some 30-90 day dings form three years ago but they've been there for a while. This new situation seems to be a concerted effort on the part of equifax to dig up dirt. I have heard rumours that all the credit agencies are trying their best to do what they can to deny people credit though it's hard ot accept.

I did dispute this with equifax and after about a month I was told that most or all (I am still reeling so I haven't digested all of it) of my disputes were reject. Basically Equifax is either using faulty computer programs to do their research or someone really wants my score to be low. I can't figure it out.

I read an earlier post and it implied the best way to improve your score is to wait (time). I can see that even the silliest of their claims (most of which are my wife's debts) will eventually fall off my report. However can anyone recommend anything to improve this situation? When I set up the disputes by phone the poor customer service person was clearly embarrassed. When we got to the one alert where we'd "paid as agreed, balance is zero" he sort of stammered, saying that there was a balance figure in the report item. That was true but clearly innaccurate and even he knew it. I am beginning to guess that complaining and strongarming them is not the answer. And that the disputes are worthless.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Fig000

Anonymous · ‎04-25-2009

fig000 wrote:
Hi,

   I spent a few months trying to increase my fico score. I've been looke at equifax mostly since I was able to get it through another service. I paid something off, though not completely (e.g. decreasing the per centage of my credit card balance). My score went up from about 580 to about 640.

Where did you getting these scores?

   I have been very careful not to rock the boat hopeing the scores would at least remain stable. Then myfico reported three precipitous drops in a few weeks. The first was 98 points. The second I third, I'm not sure about, but it ended up with my score dropping from 640 to 491. I think it's down to about 472 now though in reality it can vary.

   I contacted equifax, bought a report and found out that within those few weeks they had added collection debt that had already been resolved; the company went out of business and when I called the company that bought their debts, I was told no debts were being collected. That was years ago. When this "debt" come up again, myfico reported it as as a possible duplicate because it was in the report twice.

When you say the debt was resolved, what do you mean? Who is reporting, the OC or CA? When you say years ago, how many years are we talking? What is the DOFD being reported and what should the DOFD being reported be?

The other debt that seemed to have brought this on was credit hassle that my wife had with a dentist. There was no credit card involved, the debt had been paid of at least a year and half earlier and, at the risk of being morbid, I'll report that the dentist passed away at least a year ago.

Who is reporting the dental debt? You'll need to read about the HIPAA process for this one. See link below.

   Now on the alerts:The credit alerts I have are almost all my wife's. I didn't co-sign any of her cards yet these are seen as my debts. In addition there are many of the alerts against my wife's card that are not valid. Finally equifax has gone so far as to bring up a purchase that we made three years ago, paid off on time; the record for this on my report actually says "Paid as agreed, balance O". Yet this is still on my report.

Accounts will remain on your report, even when paid in full and closed. Positive closed accounts remain for 10 years from date closed. From what you state, this should be on your report.

I do have some 30-90 day dings form three years ago but they've been there for a while. This new situation seems to be a concerted effort on the part of equifax to dig up dirt. I have heard rumours that all the credit agencies are trying their best to do what they can to deny people credit though it's hard ot accept.

Not sure what rumors you've heard, but the CRA can't report anything that isn't reported to them.

I did dispute this with equifax and after about a month I was told that most or all (I am still reeling so I haven't digested all of it) of my disputes were reject. Basically Equifax is either using faulty computer programs to do their research or someone really wants my score to be low. I can't figure it out.

   I read an earlier post and it implied the best way to improve your score is to wait (time). I can see that even the silliest of their claims (most of which are my wife's debts) will eventually fall off my report. However can anyone recommend anything to improve this situation? When I set up the disputes by phone the poor customer service person was clearly embarrassed. When we got to the one alert where we'd "paid as agreed, balance is zero" he sort of stammered, saying that there was a balance figure in the report item. That was true but clearly innaccurate and even he knew it. I am beginning to guess that complaining and strongarming them is not the answer. And that the disputes are worthless.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Fig000

Are you saying you pulled one report and none of these items were there and pulled another and all these items were?

Do you have a monitoring service and pull your EQ report a lot?

llecs · ‎04-25-2009

Welcome to the forums!

I'd suggest reading the following:

Common Abbreviations

Credit Scoring 101 - great for knowing what is in your credit score and to see how your score is impacted.

and What Steps Do I Take - great for learning the repair process.

Your score is very important. Make sure you are not comparing apples with oranges. The only place to get your EQ FICO score is either via here or through equifax.com. The only place to get your TU FICO score is via here or transunioncs.com (note the -cs). The only place you can get both your EQ and TU FICO scores together on the web is via myFICO. Sadly, you cannot pull your EX FICO from anywhere by yourself. If you ever pulled your scores from anywhere else other than what I mentioned above, then IGNORE those scores. They are not FICO scores. I don't know if this would apply to your or not, but some have posted score changes but they were comparing their FICO score with a non-FICO score (we call them FAKOs).

If you haven't done so, pull a more recent report via myFICO. Based on what you mentioned, you were alerted via a score change, possible through ScoreWatch if I assume correctly. That's a big drop. Look for the exact changes within the report itself.

Any CAs on your report, whether paid or unpaid, are seriously damaging your score. Post back what is listed and someone will help. You'd need to list the CA's name, the DOFD, and the debt-type (e.g. medical CAs are handled differently from the rest).

Per the CCs, if you didn't open them, and you are listed as an AU, you can get them removed. You really won't want to do that if they are helping you via the history, AAoA, mix of credit, and util.

A paid as agreed $0 balance on your CR isn't hurting you at all. It could be helping depending on the age.

You'd want to go after the lates. If the accounts are or have been brought current, send the creditor a GW asking for help in removing them.

Disputing is the last thing you'd ever want to do, and only if it is inaccurate.

Time can help your score, but doing the above is a whole lot faster.

ETA...foiled once again by the sheer typing speed of Sidewinder.

Message Edited by llecs on 04-25-2009 01:57 PM