Help score dropped 19 points in one day just because I paid off debt

[Anonymous]

I used the fico simulator and it said my score would increase if I paid off some debt. I paid off $3000 in debt, sent letters to the bureaus to update my records and my fico score dropped 19 points in one day.  After the files were updated, the score increased 16 points but never back to the original amount. My score should be the original amount plus the 16 point improvement because of the pay off of debt.  How do I get fico to re-evaluate my score?  I was going to purchase a house but I can't because of the lower score. I'm homeless and frustrated!! What can I do?

[rckstrscott]

What kind of debt did you pay off? It matters...

[Anonymous]

Hey Max!

Welcome!  Glad you're here!

First, are you pulling your FICO scores here?

If so, are you comparing Equifax FICO before and after / or TransUnion FICO before and after?

And then, give us more info on what's on your reports.  If they're from here, what shows up on your scales "What's Helping Your FICO Score" and "What's Hurting Your FICO Score"?  What were the scales before the paydown and after the paydown?

And lastly, what were the CL's and balances on each of your open accounts before and after?

You'll get some good feedback with that info.

[daylove]

Paying off collection is a bad move in the short term as it changes the collection date making them recent and that what caused your score to drop.

[MarineVietVet]

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@daylove wrote:

Paying off collection is a bad move in the short term as it changes the collection date making them recent and that what caused your score to drop.

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This doesn't apply to collections. I have been guilty in the past of spreading this in error. Since HTSU explains things MUCH better than I can I will C&P this from one of her posts:

Collections are scored off the date of assignment, not the DOLA. A change in DOLA shouldn't affect the score. .

This is such a common belief that we're trying to find examples with before-and-after reports where it happened, in order to see what's going on. If either the CA or the CRA is handling the data incorrectly, it needs to be corrected.

Here's a thread discussing this: Settle or Pay in Full?

Again, I'm not saying that it doesn't happen, but it's not supposed to, if the CA is reporting correctly and if the CRA is putting the info into the correct data fields.

BTW all this comes from the administrator of this site.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802, EQ - 10/10-813, TU - 10/10-774

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".