Re: FICO Score

Anonymous · ‎05-20-2008

Hi, I hope anyone can answer my question.

I have 10 accounts on my credit report, 2 were paid of completly.

The other 8 showed a combined debt of $ 7,969. All accounts are in good standing, "pays as agreed" No negatives at all on my account, I pay my bills on time each and every month, Last month, a collection agency named Afni Inc placed a collection on my Report for a phone account that I never had. I did not even receive a collection notice, nothing. I saw on the soft inquiries that they looked at my report in March, but never bothered to even contact me about this alleged account.

Before this account was placed on my file, I was in the mid 600's. My goal was the 700's.

After they placed this account on there, it dropped my score to 593. Of course I immediatly disputed this account with the credit bureaus, but it came back verified. Then I send a DV letter (thanks to this forum and people's knowledge) to Afni and disputed with the CRA again. They verified a second time, but never validated.

The remaining $7969 was paid off completly last month, I wanted to be completly debt free. Now all my creditors reported a 0 balance, but it barely raised my score. I am sitting at 614 now, after paying of $7969 I know I will get this collection of my report,because I know it is not mine, I was not even in the USA when this all happend.

My wife and I have been working very hard toward our credit for the past 2 1/2 years, since we been back in the US, we had to start all over again, since we were to long out of country. Afni ruined everything. My wife has now a credit score of 727 where I am left behind with 614.

My question is, when this collection finally comes off, will my score jump a to the point where it would of been if this collection never came on? or do I have to start all over again? My wife and I have the same accounts, have been in the same range of score for the past 2 1/2 years, so I think I should be over the 700 also now. I think, if a account was falsely reported to a CRA and it keeps down your score and it turns out that this account is not yours, the score should be recalculated from the time, before the collection went on and everything change, that happend should be taking under consideration. I just payt $7969 for a only 21 point jump :-(

edited to add paragraphs for clarity

--hauling

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 05-20-2008 09:51 AM

haulingthescoreup · ‎05-20-2008

Hi, welcome to the forums!

When this thing gets removed from your reports, you should be able to expect your score to be back where it was, plus some improvement for lowered util. There isn't any "memory" for scoring. A score doesn't exist until your report is pulled, and it is based solely on what shows on your report at that moment.

It sounds like you've been doing your clean-up work, so you might not have read that scores are usually a bit better if one or maybe two CC's actually report a tiny balance. This seems very weird, but it seems that $0 across the board might indicate that a consumer is simply too frightened to use credit. If you allow a tiny balance to report on one or two cards, ideally in the 1-9% of your credit limit range, it will probably help. This indicates that you are control of your credit, and it isn't in control of you.

I once had $7 report out of 5 cards, with a total CL of $72K, I think it was, resulting in a total util of less than 1/100th of 1%, which was fun!

Good luck on the AFNI thing. They truly are scum.

* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007

Anonymous · ‎05-20-2008

Thank you for your answer.

I plan on still using my credit cards in a rotating schedule, but very limited. Amounts that I can pay off in full each month. I just wanted to be clear and have a fresh start

It feels great to be debt free again, even tho I wish I could of spend my money on other things

I hope my fico score does increase as it would of, before AFNI placed that entry

marty56 · ‎05-21-2008

haulingthescoreup wrote:
Good luck on the AFNI thing. They truly are scum.

I live right down the street from them. I wasnt sure what they did. For some stipid reason I thought they had somrthing to do with Air Force Credit Union and thought I might work there part time when I retire. Now that I know what they do, I will pass on the job.

Unless of course I could be a FICO forum mole there.

1/25/2021: FICO 850 EQ 848 TU 847 EX

Junejer · ‎05-21-2008

Guest, when you disputed with the CRAs the second time, did you send copies of the GCs, CM receipts and the DV? Make sure you do that and dispute as not mine. If it comes back verified a third time, jump all over the CRAs with a MOV. Be a bulldog about it, b/c otherwise, they will try to shoot some bull at you about it. "When a dispute is filed, we verify using one of the following methods..." That's not what you want, escalate it up the chain if necessary.