Paying off CA and impact on scores

Anonymous · ‎07-30-2009

If you pay a CA and it's marked as PIF and the DOLA is updated, does your score take a hit?

I have two CA's from Unique National Collections, both originating from around 2003-2005, and I just paid them off. I read somewhere that the formula has been changed so that paying a collection does not cause your score to drop, but I haven't been able to corroborate that on any other website.

I really hope that's true because it seems really unfair to penalize someone for doing the responsible thing, just because an older CA now shows recent activity. My EQ is clean and now at 772, but my TU and EXP are still down at 675 and ???, respectively, due to these CA's. One will expire in Dec, but the other will hang around for another year or so.

llecs · ‎07-31-2009

Please, please, please, if it updates to $0 let us know your results.

I argue that paying a CA can drop your score if the DOLA and/or the reporting date change from an older date to a newer date. Paying a CA will change these dates. However, come lately I have been challenged from a creditble source that this may not be true.

I haven't any personal experience on paying a CA, but I have had CAs update resulting in a score drop....still need to go through those records though.

guiness56 · ‎07-31-2009

I recently paid a collection that was 4 years old. It updated to 0 and my score actually went up 2 points.

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Anonymous · ‎07-31-2009

I DV a CA and it came back verified. It was updated and reported activity this month on TU (July 09) I did not see a score change. Also I DV 2 other collections while the investigation was in process the one CA updated on EQ and EX. I also did not see a change. not even on the FAKO score. I watch my reports carefully, every day. I order a new score any time I see even the slightest diference except for utilization, I update that every 10% drop.

Anonymous · ‎08-02-2009

I'll definately report the outcome.

I settled the matter directly with the library rather than with Unique Nat'l Collections and according to them, it can take 4 weeks before Unique submits to the CRA's. As I said, there are two collections showing (two different library accts) and the oldest was set to expire in August, so it may expire before it would even post as paid (I had to get it closed due to possibly buying a house via FHA), so that may taint the results. The other will still remain for another year, so I'll have to judge what happens when the results come out.

I'll post myself a reminder to share the results.

Anonymous · ‎09-05-2009

@llecs wrote:
Please, please, please, if it updates to $0 let us know your results.

I argue that paying a CA can drop your score if the DOLA and/or the reporting date change from an older date to a newer date. Paying a CA will change these dates. However, come lately I have been challenged from a creditble source that this may not be true.

I haven't any personal experience on paying a CA, but I have had CAs update resulting in a score drop....still need to go through those records though.

Ilecs, getting back to you on whether paying a CA impacts the FICO.

I just ran my TU after allowing 4-6 weeks for the paid CA's to show up (didn't appear on EQ). The current balance is now $0 and my scores are unchanged! The real DOLA entry doesn't show anything ("Date Last Active: Not Reported") but Date Paid, Date Closed and Date Reported all show the recent PIF.

One thing I'm unsure of. For instance, one debt was listed as $280 owed to a local library, assigned to Unique Nat'l Collections, but after I located the materials and brought them back, I only owed the library $40 (late fees), which I paid them directly, not to the CA. However, the CA entry still shows the full $280, which was late fees + lost materials. Shouldn't they be required to update that since the OC no longer considerd $240 of that $280 to be owed to them? The final amt due wasn't $280 nor was $40 a "settle" amount.

I recently read somewhere that if you have a CA and you pay the OC directly, the CA can no longer report thier entry to the CRA's. Any truth to that?

Message Edited by jle4044 on 09-05-2009 04:45 PM

llecs · ‎09-05-2009

Thanks for posting back. Good to know. I still would argue that a DOLA change would impact the score negatively. But at least we can X-out the reported date. Thanks.

Maybe the library is slow in getting the CA to update the balance on EQ and EX. I'd give it a little more time to shake out.

Not true on paying the OC to get the CA to delete. I've heard that too but never experienced that with my past and have read many posts where paying the OC resulted in the CA updating to $0.

Anonymous · ‎09-05-2009

@llecs wrote:

Maybe the library is slow in getting the CA to update the balance on EQ and EX. I'd give it a little more time to shake out.

No the whole system with Unique is automated. The library branch manager I spoke with said that their system automatically updates Unique's system about every 48 hours. The 4-6 week lag was for Unique posting to the CRA's.

In general, if an OC changes the amount due, shouldn't the CA have to change their entry? I'm unsure because the $280 due included lost material charges. Could be argued that returning the books was just a substitue for cash (i.e., $240 worth of books + $40 cash late fees = $280 PIF)