Help - Why did my score go down?

[Anonymous]

I disputed several old items from my credit report and it cause my score to go down. Why would that happen? All the items have zero balances and were included in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy from 2010. My score went down 10 points

[js0319]

Were any of the items disputed actual credit tradelines? If so, you may have disputed an item that, while it was a negative item, was postively affecting your credit score. This could have been due to the age of the account affecting your AAoA, utilization, etc.

[tooleman694]

Yup if the bad account is old enough, it might actually be helping your score.

[Anonymous]

Should I not try and get negative items off my credit? All my other accounts are current for over 24 months. Student Loans through Sallie Mae $20K, Chase Auto loan $8K, Capital One $400 O/S and Credit Bank One $175 O/S.

[js0319]

There's no harm in getting the baddies off of your CR, but sometimes the items you're trying to get off actually have a positive side to them - especially when it's an older OC reporting and the age is affecting your AAoA. Depending on how new your positive tradelines are - it could take some time to get the AAoA back up once the baddies are removed.