Does the score vary with what status or descriptio... - myFICO® Forums

Anonymous · ‎01-04-2009

I have tried to research this and answer it by myself but it has been rather inconsistent and was hoping that the community can help me better understand it.

This question pertains to loans that have been paid in full, in good standing, no lates, no baddies, perfect payment history. I have noticed that on some it says: "Paid and Closed" and on some it says "Closed" and on some it says "Transferred". Do these different notations matter in the scoring or just the payment history and standing is considered?

It should be noted on the Transferred that it was paid as part of a consolidation but not actually transferred and still open. Shoudln't this read Paid and Closed instead? Either way, does it make a difference in the scoring, if not then I don't care but if it does then I need to get on their asses about it.

Thank you in advance.

SCF · ‎01-04-2009

Heya Guardian,

These notations (to my knowledge) have no effect on your FICO score. They vary from bureau to bureau, so you won't see complete consistency across your reports. With consolidation loans (at least with SLs), the original loan is generally paid off and closed and then a new account for the consolidated amount appears on your report, so it looks like your reports are correct.

llecs · ‎01-05-2009

Ditto to SCF. The only thing to watch out for is "settled" as any settled TL is read as a CO by FICO as an OC or will continued to be read as a CA if a CA.

Anonymous · ‎01-05-2009

Thank you both for the responses. You have been very helpful in easing my mind. So I am to understand that if they say paid and closed or just say closed or transferred to another lender or just transferred, it makes no difference in how it is scored, its just aesthetically different, right?

One of these was a personal loan and it says "Closed" which has always bothered me because it was paid not closed, I know I know spliting hairs but you can understand the feeling.

The others were student loans that were consolidated, they paid a check to each one and the combined balance was created into a new loan which shows up just fine and is deferred. I thoguth the ones that were PAID as part of the consolidation would reflect that but instead they say closed, transferred and only a couple of them say paid and closed. I just wanted to make sure that it doesn't affect the scroing, otherwise I don't care and they are in good standing and I am not going to dispute them.

SCF · ‎01-05-2009

Yup, you got it Guardian, it's all just aesthetics and some combination of slight differences between how the different bureaus categorize things and probably which paper-pusher submitted the updated info the CRA that day.

RobertEG · ‎01-05-2009

I am not so sure it is just cosmetic. Here is what I suspect happens.

Current account status is reported in many different fields in your credit file, as summarized below from the reporting manual used by the CRAs.

There are “sticky” reportings that are initially reported, and retained from month to month until later updated. The most important of these are the “Payment History Profile,” stored in Field Code 18, and the “Compliance Condition Code,” stored in Field 20 of the base segment of the consumer file. I suspect these are what is used for FICO scoring purposes to pick up closed accounts, and determine how to use that in scoring. It includes the following codes:

Payment History Profile in Field 18 permits the reporting of a string of 24 consecutive codes that summarize payment history over the most recent 24 months of reporting, and provides for the input of separate codes for each of those months that include account current, 30-59 days past due, 60-89 days past due, 90-119 past due, 120-149 past due, 150-179 past due, 180 plus past due, in collection that month, if foreclosure that month, under charge off that month.

Once an account is closed, the creditor should then update the “Compliance Condition Code” in Field 20, which has ten different closed account codes.

OK, here is where a problem can occur. Each month, when a creditor reports to the CRA, they must report under Fields 17A (account status) and 17B (payment rating). Each provide for reporting of various codes to report whether the account was current or closed during that current reporting month only, and if a delinquency occurred during that month, its extent. But these are not stored, and are overwritten upon the next month of reporting.

If a creditor reports non-sticky data under Field 17A or 17B, and does not also update the sticky data in Fields 18 and/or 20, then it wont be historically accurate. Data reporting to a CRA is complex, and requires a lot of knowledge by the one reporting to do it fully.

If FICO relies on Field Codes 18 and 20, discrepancies will clearly be signifcant in scoring.

Anonymous · ‎01-10-2009

Thank you for that. How can you be sure that fully correct information is being posted? I mean I noticed that I had some historical date missing from some of my accounts but when i asked them to update all that, I was ROYALLY screwed by both the credit reporting agency and the credit provider when they changed my status to "Account in Dispute" and then added "Dispute sent to creditor/customer disagrees" which are both bull since all I asked was for them to report complete history and now I have to get jerked around for the last 3 months trying to get that cleared and they WILL NOT remove this. Discover denied me credit because in the comments they saw this, which blows because I had 730 FICO score and that rubbed me so wrong. The consistency is missing and when you try to update, the above happens and in the meantime we are being "scored" incorrectly based on missing, incomplete and bull**bleep** reports. This should be illegal and the bureaus should be required to MANDATE complete and accurate reporting rather than just take whatever is sent to them and if it is incomplete then score the customer wrong.

Junejer · ‎01-10-2009

Guardian wrote:
Thank you for that. How can you be sure that fully correct information is being posted? I mean I noticed that I had some historical date missing from some of my accounts but when i asked them to update all that, I was ROYALLY screwed by both the credit reporting agency and the credit provider when they changed my status to "Account in Dispute" and then added "Dispute sent to creditor/customer disagrees" which are both bull since all I asked was for them to report complete history and now I have to get jerked around for the last 3 months trying to get that cleared and they WILL NOT remove this. Discover denied me credit because in the comments they saw this, which blows because I had 730 FICO score and that rubbed me so wrong. The consistency is missing and when you try to update, the above happens and in the meantime we are being "scored" incorrectly based on missing, incomplete and bull**bleep** reports. This should be illegal and the bureaus should be required to MANDATE complete and accurate reporting rather than just take whatever is sent to them and if it is incomplete then score the customer wrong.

+1, except for the profanity of course.