@Felix9 wrote:So I'm looking to refinance my mortgage and I see that I have 717/717/784 for my Credit Scores. My credit is perfect except for a collection that 1) shouldn't have gone to collection and 2) I shouldn't have been nice and paid the original company the (very sketchy) $199 . Long painful story, but that's about 4.5 years old and is on the two 717's. Can a collection for 4.5 years ago for $199 lower my credit score like 70ish points? Mortgage guy said no way, he's never heard of that. Everything else being equal it's the only thing that makes sense.
Now the 717/717/784 are for Fico 8, when I look at the Mortgage Fico scores they are lower across the board, probably about 20-30 points. On there it says I have a Consumer Financial Account my credit, which is surprise surprise, Sheffield Financial for a $2,600 (was $3,700). I've read that these are bad, which is f'd up cause it's 0% but whatever, FICO is possibly the shadiest company in history and I've accepted that. The question is for this, if I pay off the $2,600 and close out the account will that help my credit score? I know these things stay on for 10 years but I'm looking to get my score up now not 5+ years from now. lol
Thanks for any insight you can give.
Paying it down to $300 will help your score in the near term.
Neither paying it down to zero nor closing it will help your score in the near term.
@Felix9 wrote:So I'm going to be heading overseas soand wanted to get a good travel card and came up with the Chase Reserve, prior to applying I thought I'd check my Credit Score to see how I was doing. Turns out that crap/shady $199 collection finally dropped off and my FICO 8 jumped to Equifax: 841, TransUnion: 835 and Experian: 843. Just goes to show you how moronic FICO is where a dumb medical bill can devastate your Credit Score like 130 odd points. :-/ Oh wells, it's fixed now. Better late than never I guess! lol
Congratulations.