DOES OPEN OR CLOSED MATTER FOR DEROGS?

[rom828]

I closed a Cross Country (now shown as Applied) acct back in 11-03. 

I've been working on credit repair last several months and hadnt got to this one yet cuz I had bigger fish to fry.  Now that I've done a lot of repair/rebuild, I'm thinking this one could be hurting more than I thought.  It has a red flag by it on my FICO reports.

It's reporting  6  30 days lates and 1  60 day late (Nov 03).  I know the 60 day is in error.  That same date is  showing as a 30 day also, so again, error.    I contacted them, closed the acct and paid it off, never had a 60 day late.  Sadly, I think 5 30 day lates is correct.

But my main issue:  it's shown as an open account on EQ, and closed on TU and EX.  both of those scores BTW, are higher than EQ.

Does the status of the acct affect how much the derogs count?  Is it worth disputing to get the 60 day late off, and/or the status corrected,  or will I be shooting myself in the foot because of updated scoring? 

FICOS  TU  696   EX  687   EQ 657

Message Edited by rom828 on 04-24-2008 05:23 PM

[RobertEG]

Nope.  You cannot negate a derog by siimply closing the account.  The account remains on the CR,  Derogs drop only after the 7 years limit imposed in the FCRA.

Message Edited by RobertEG on 04-24-2008 05:29 PM

[rom828]

Robert,

Thanks for the prompt reply, but I think you're misunderstanding my question.  I didn't pose it very clearly.

The account in question is already closed.  I closed it 11-03.  However, it does have  1  60 day late that is in error, and in addition, it is not shown as a closed account on EQ.

My question is,  do the points for these derogs count more on EQ because the acct is erroneously still shown as open, or does status matter? 

I'm just wondering it it's even worth the dispute point-wise to try to get the 60 day removed and to correct the status to "closed"?   My understanding that even if a dispute corrects something on a dergo, when the status date is updated to a current date, it's scored as though it's current.

So that's why I'm not sure if I should even try to get these issues corrected.

[RobertEG]

The status of the account as open or closed has no affect upon the scoring of the derog.  A 60-day derog is a major delinquency, and is scored from the time of the delinquency. It pushes your file from a clean to a dirty bucket.   I would not be concerned about the account status.  What is of concern is whether you can get the 60 derog removed from your CR because it is in error.  30 lates are not very serious, but 60/90 lates are major derogs.  Get the 60 derog off, and it will matter a lot.

Message Edited by RobertEG on 04-24-2008 06:09 PM

[marty56]

I wish it did but time is the only factor.  Open or closed affect util

[RobertEG]

Yes, Marty, I agree.  FICO is a multi-category game.  But I was only addressing the effect of the derog on payment history, not on %util.

Since Rom has already closed the account, the affect on lenght of credit history and lowering of CL is now meaningless, for it is gone.

Message Edited by RobertEG on 04-24-2008 06:16 PM

Message Edited by RobertEG on 04-24-2008 06:17 PM

[rom828]

Thanks for the clarification, Robert.

I didn't realize the 60 was really all that serious.  I just know  it's   wrong, so I  want to remove it. 

If I can get it removed,  do you think it will have any positive affect on my score?  Hopefully, since as you say, it's a 'major', I could get a few points with that correction.

Since it sounds like open or closed doesn't really matter, I will dispute the status just to have it shown correctly on all reports. 

[RobertEG]

Rom, it will clearly have a major effect if you can get it removed.  Once you go over 30 late, it becomes a major derog.  It hurts a lot.  If it is a not legit, derog,  then I would fight it to my credit death!  It is costing you 20-50 FICO pts.

GL Bud!

[rom828]

BTW,  replied to your last message  under the 'does it make a difference in scoring thread'....

I will most certainly dispute this, hopefully successfully, as I was never 60 days past due  on this account.

And it's being shown erroneously as a 30 day also (same date).  I contacted the creditor and closed the card before it could get to a 60 day situation.  As I advised, I was not credit savvy in the least at the time, and thought the thing to do when  I found myself in bad financial straits was to contact my CCCs and close accts and make pyt arrangements for balances.

I just didnt pay much attention to this particular account, even with the red flag, as I had those other bigger errors I was (and am )dealing with.

But now that I know it can have that much of an effect on my score, I will go after this one.  I hope it wont be too difficult since it was Cross Country at the time and now it's reporting as Applied, but I've got my old stmts if it comes to that, but what a nightmare that could be!!

[Junejer]

Rom, just to add to the convo a bit. If the current status shows 60 days past due, this is a killer. If you closed it without bringing it current, this could be costing you big points. I had a current status of 30 days past due on a mortgage (closed) that was 2.5+ years old being reported in error. When I noticed it, I disputed it and poof...gone. EQ +26, TU+43.