Hi and welcome to the forums!!
I first want to confirm you are viewing FICO scores and not another scoring model like Vantage 3 (Credit Karma)?
A chunk of that score drop seems to be due to no revolving credit usage (as the primary account holder - AUs are a different metric) since you paid all revolving balances to zero (even charge off balances and closed cc balances count).
I don't think removing him as an AU will help, but when his secured card reports, he should gain points for having an open revolver. Let it report with a balance and he'll also gain points for having revolving usage. One of the two AU accounts also needs to report a balance so he doesn't get penalized for all AUs at zero.
You did the right thing paying off the charge-off- now that it will no longer update monthly, the derog will be allowed to age and his scores will be able to recover. See where he stands when the secured card reports. Make sure each month his secured card and one of the AUs report small balances. As his new accounts and the paid derogatory ages, his scores will tick up. My guess is, after the initial boost from his secured card reporting, the next noticeable increase may be when the card ages to 3 months.
+1 to what @thornback said.
Paying the charge-off was a good decision. And could have even been required by the mortgage company, as many don't like to lend when there are delinquent debts floating around out there. But you're playing with fire making so many changes to his credit file so close to trying to obtain a mortgage. The general rule of thumb is to not acquire any new credit within a year of obtaining a mortgage (although, some people have more room for error than others). My advice is to resist the urge to make even more changes to his credit and allow the score to find a landing spot once everything settles.
@mycreditscoreisfair wrote:+1 to what @thornback said.
Paying the charge-off was a good decision. And could have even been required by the mortgage company, as many don't like to lend when there are delinquent debts floating around out there. But you're playing with fire making so many changes to his credit file so close to trying to obtain a mortgage. The general rule of thumb is to not acquire any new credit within a year of obtaining a mortgage (although, some people have more room for error than others). My advice is to resist the urge to make even more changes to his credit and allow the score to find a landing spot once everything settles.
+1 Glad you mentioned this, @mycreditscoreisfair
@Anonymous wrote:
Is there any risk to disputing this tradeline with the CRAs?
Alternatively, has anyone had any luck with goodwills to NFCU?
What would be the basis for dispute? If the account is accurate, the dispute will only come back verified.
I'm not sure about Goodwills with nfcu - but you can search using the forum search bar and see if anyone has shared their experience.
@Anonymous wrote:There are a couple of errors in the reporting. The payment history is incorrect. The high balance is incorrect. The payment terms are incorrect. I was thinking about getting a correct accounting of his payment history and comparing that to the credit report because it looks like they're claiming he was late 120 days at two different times, which isn't accurate. His only 120 day late came right before the CO. Only one report has him 120 day late twice (TU) and that first 120 day late is almost 7 years old, but I'm not sure if that matters. The whole tradeline is not going to drop off his report until August 2022.
Those are minor issues in the grand scheme of things. This is for the CO account, right? If so, the CO status supersedes all other negatives, such as the 120 day lates. Disputing would only cause another update to the account and possibly ding his scores further. Sure the inconsistencies may get corrected (the whole account wouldn't get deleted by the way; they would just correct the inaccuracies), but at what cost?
