Newbie to everything, a dispute dropped my score

[Anonymous]

Hi, I'm new like new to all of this, i signed up for credit karma knowing i had some debt and 2 closed cc accounts the first suggestion was to dispute these 2 closed accounts on my report because that does not affect my score , well i disputed on my Equifax and while the investigation is pending today my score dropped 45 points and I'm crushed. In the "whats changed" section it says a remark has been added and my payment section has been updated for this closed account (kohls) 

[mycreditscoreisfair]

Why did you dispute the account(s)?

What likely happened is that the account updated/verified whatever you disputed and the update caused your score to drop. It's basically like turning an aged derog into a fresh derog. Never dispute anything that is correct.

[Slabenstein]

If the closed accounts are charge-offs and they weren't updating, then disputing would have caused an update and could have lowered your score.  Regarding the EQ score that you're looking at, what is its source?  If CK, that's a Vantage score and doesn't really mean anything.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi, I'm new like new to all of this, i signed up for credit karma knowing i had some debt and 2 closed cc accounts the first suggestion was to dispute these 2 closed accounts on my report because that does not affect my score , well i disputed on my Equifax and while the investigation is pending today my score dropped 45 points and I'm crushed. In the "whats changed" section it says a remark has been added and my payment section has been updated for this closed account (kohls) 

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First off, I really wish CK would not put a banner stating "disputing doesn't hurt your score", as yes, it cerstainly can!

If the accounts are valid, but you just want them gone, there is absolutely nothing to dispute, and if they haven't updated in a while, the update will knock your scores down.

While Vantage scores "do not matter", some lenders do use VS 4.0 (not CK listed 3.0 scores) and the disputes still probably hurt your Fico scores. The only way a dispute doesn't hurt is if the accounts are deleted or update regularly.

[Anonymous]

Generally when an account is in dispute it will not be counted in the scoring algorithm. Disputes will last a few days up to a month in duration. Many people are under the impression that you can just dispute an account you don't like and it will be removed magically. While this sometimes does happen (if creditor or debt collector decides to not update) the benefits are usually temporary because they can re-update and put it back on your report at any time!

What usually will happen when you file a dispute is they will simply update the account to the correct info OR the same info with a more recent update date. This doesn't change the date of first delinquency which is the most important date for a derog as it determines when something will organically fall off your report. But the update date will affect how the algos score your report. So what all this means is when you dispute something that is accurate (meaning it belongs on your report) if this wasn't an account that already updated every single month it will tank your score. 

Only dispute accounts that do not belong on your account. For accounts that DO belong on your account work with the debt collector to negotiate a pay for delete or if you already paid / settled then try to write a goodwill letter.

[Acc-Risk]

850 is 100% correct. I think everyone's first reaction to credit rebuild is dispute anything negative and that is one of the worst things you can do, along with the misconception that an error such as a date, wrong phone number etc will somehow cause a dispute to be found in your favor. Understand that a dispute is exactly that, you are disputing something that's found inaccruate, such as a minor piece of data, etc. What will happen 99.9% of the time is they will correct the inaccurate info and come back verified and corrected and you're right back to where you were.

[OmarGB9]

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@Acc-Risk wrote:

850 is 100% correct. I think everyone's first reaction to credit rebuild is dispute anything negative and that is one of the worst things you can do, along with the misconception that an error such as a date, wrong phone number etc will somehow cause a dispute to be found in your favor. Understand that a dispute is exactly that, you are disputing something that's found inaccruate, such as a minor piece of data, etc. What will happen 99.9% of the time is they will correct the inaccurate info and come back verified and corrected and you're right back to where you were.

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+1. Also, those so-called "credit repair agencies" always advise to just dispute everything and it's also the method they use themselves. They just dispute everything and hope something sticks. This is why we strongly discourage the use of them. Plus it's against the MyFICO TOS to advocate/discuss disputing of accurate items.

[Remedios]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi, I'm new like new to all of this, i signed up for credit karma knowing i had some debt and 2 closed cc accounts the first suggestion was to dispute these 2 closed accounts on my report because that does not affect my score , well i disputed on my Equifax and while the investigation is pending today my score dropped 45 points and I'm crushed. In the "whats changed" section it says a remark has been added and my payment section has been updated for this closed account (kohls) 

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When you dispute and it comes back verified, it makes delinquency appear more recent as in date of update so you're right back where you started.

Do not dispute unless something is incorrect, regardless of what you read on the webz, regardless of what YouTubers tell you, regardless of what *credit repair* agencies advocate.

If a dispute was all it took to remove a negative, nobody would have them. 

If you had a 15 negative accounts and you disputed all of them 14 got deleted but one stayed and it updated it would cause the same damage.

Also whenever you're disputing with the original lender, removal usually is not in the differential. 

In fact,  sometimes they'll find additional delinquencies that have fallen through the cracks. 

That might work on some of the older collections but in reality, more often than not, it doesn't.

They do not want to remove their reporting because that's the only thing they have in order to attempt to make you pay, unless you are still in SOL in which case they have litigation at their disposal