Corrected name = EQ 30 point jump?

[Fizzled]

My girlfriend recently fixed her name on her EQ report. They had her first name as a middle (which she doens't have) and the first part of a hyphenated last name as her first name. She's never been married, just how her family handled mothers maiden and father's last.

After she faxed in the supporting docs, EQ royally messed up AGAIN (didn't get the name right) with the letter outlining EXACTLY what was wrong. Regardless, her score on MyFico/EQ jumped 30 points. She ultimately had to file a complaint with the CFPB to get EQ to fix their screw up. It's all current now and we're wondering where the 30 points came from?

The alert literally said something to the effect of a name change and indicated it caused a 30 point difference.

What gives?

[Revelate]

Odds are it's simliar procedures to identity theft and the like where while things are being resolved tradelines may not be scored.

I'd wait to see if it's permanent before jumping for joy.  Alternatively could've been a split or mixed file issue and some accounts were either added or removed; if you have a before and after report, it's worth taking a look comparing the two.

Name is irrelevant for scoring purposes.

[AndySoCal]

Are there any differences in the credit reports from before the name was fixed and afterwards. The change in and of itself does not affect the score.  If you have both reports look at the accounts to see if any additional accounts are reporting and or the reporting of an account has changed.

[CreditDunce]

It is more likely the score change is the result of a unrelated change on her credit reports.  Things are always changing, util, account age, etc. 

However, is she an AU on any of her parents CC's?  FICO is funny on which AU accounts they will use.   If her name didn't match her parents, FICO may now be counting the AU account.   If it was a really old AU account it could boost her AAoA and age of credit history.  Multiple AU's would have even a bigger effect.

[Fizzled]

She's an AU on my Amex BCP (1% balance) and Cap One (Hate Cap One, but they were nice enough to report as being opened in 2007 - 0% balance). Those were both present on her report and have been. These boosted her score almost 180 points in the last year and a half. She's basically never had any credit accounts. TU and EQ are clear of any negatives (but only those 2 accounts as positive). EX has a collection account that's 5 years old from an old cable bill. That said EQ doesn't have the collection. We'll get another MyFico report, but we didn't want to burn the remaining available until later.