Someone Please Help

[ficonightmare]

Just got a Scorewatch alert.

Said that there were changes to my target score of 713.

I log in and see it's now 736. WOW great.. so happy.

Check to see what changed.. well, I sent a goodwill letter to GemB/GAP. They contacted me last week and said it would take up to 30 days to make their decision.

So I check my credit alerts and see this:

GEMB/GAP  (XXXXXXXXXXXX3508)

Show/Hide Details

Account opened: 5/2004
Description: Consumer disputes this account information
Closed or Paid Account/Zero Balance
Account closed by credit grantor
Amount in H/C column is credit limit

	Previously reported	Newly reported
Balance:	$0	$0
Past due:	$0	$0
Status:	Pays account as agreed	Pays account as agreed
Last activity:	11/1/2004	11/1/2004
Description:	Closed or Paid Account/Zero Balance Account closed by credit grantor Amount in H/C column is credit limit	Consumer disputes this account information Closed or Paid Account/Zero Balance Account closed by credit grantor Amount in H/C column is credit limit

It says dispute!! I never disputed this account. I made that clear in the letter.

So my score went up because the account is now in dispute??

I then purchased another EQ report and checked. This account is still showing a negative indicator but does not say dispute. It's also still showing my late payments back in 2005.

Why did my score go up? In fact, can anyone shed some light on what's going on??

Also, in the Credit Alerts i hit "View Details" on my "most recent alert for 11/11/2010 and I get this:

1 of your accounts reported changes

GEMB/GAP  (XXXXXXXXXXXX3508) Show/Hide Details Account opened: 5/2004 Description: Consumer disputes this account information Closed or Paid Account/Zero Balance Account closed by credit grantor Amount in H/C column is credit limit   Previously reported Newly reported Balance: $0 $0 Past due: $0 $0 Status: Pays account as agreed Pays account as agreed Last activity: 11/1/2004 11/1/2004 Description: Closed or Paid Account/Zero Balance Account closed by credit grantor Amount in H/C column is credit limit Consumer disputes this account information Closed or Paid Account/Zero Balance Account closed by credit grantor Amount in H/C column is credit limit Contact: GEMB/GAP, PO Box 981400, C1OT, El Paso, TX, 799981400   •   (800) 887-1198

How account changes impact your score: The following are reasons why a change to an account can cause your FICO® score to go up. (A change to an account in the opposite direction can cause your score to go down.) The status of the account improved. For example, the status went from "60 days past due" to "currently paid as agreed". An improvement in account status demonstrates an ability to pay debts. The balance on the account decreased. Generally, less debt is better for your FICO® score. The amount past due on the account decreased. This demonstrates your ability to meet your financial obligations. The credit limit on the account was raised while the balance stayed the same. Since carrying a balance too close to the credit limit is a sign of a consumer who needs credit and cannot pay it back, a higher credit limit actually helps your FICO® score. The history of late payments or description for this account is revised to be less derogatory. For example, if a late payment on your account was mistakenly reported, correcting this on your credit report may help your score.

The only thing that could have changed was the last option. History of late payments or descriptions revised. But none of that happened according to my EQ report.

[ficonightmare]

Looked over my EQ report again. I see under "Understanding Your Score" the "Bad payment History" is no longer there (it was on my last EQ report from last week).

So why haven't they taken the the negative indicator off that account?

[llecs]

It's not uncommon to send a GW and have the creditor mark your CR as being in dispute. When they do that, and FICO sees the comment, the payment history is removed from scoring. In other words, it is hurting you by 23 points. Now the dispute comment may be temporary and they may deny the GW and the score drops back down, but at least you have an idea of how much it hurts. I hope they extend the GW for you.

[llecs]

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@ficonightmare wrote:

Looked over my EQ report again. I see under "Understanding Your Score" the "Bad payment History" is no longer there (it was on my last EQ report from last week).

So why haven't they taken the the negative indicator off that account?

---

When listed in dispute, the flag on the Accounts page stays, but everything else will appear OK.

[ficonightmare]

Thanks so much for explaining, llecs.

I thought I was losing my mind. Score goes up but nothing really changed... But yea, at least now I know it's worth 23 points. That's alot for me

[haulingthescoreup]

Not all disputes remove an account from scoring. There seems to be a way of reporting them to the CRA's that tells the formula how to handle them.

Same thing happened with me. I GW'd Sears/ Citi 3 years ago, and even specifically said that I wasn't disputing. Next thing I knew, it was showing as "consumer disputes" and my score jumped. Three years later, the "dispute" is still there. On negative factors, it doesn't show up, but it continues to be listed with a flag on the accounts page, and the late is still there (so lenders will see it.)

My guess is that this is how some lenders decide to treat GW's. They don't remove the late, but they do report it in a way that helps your score. Weird, but I'll take it, I guess.

[llecs]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

Same thing happened with me. I GW'd Sears/ Citi 3 years ago, and even specifically said that I wasn't disputing. Next thing I knew, it was showing as "consumer disputes" and my score jumped. Three years later, the "dispute" is still there. On negative factors, it doesn't show up, but it continues to be listed with a flag on the accounts page, and the late is still there (so lenders will see it.)

---

My redeemed repo is like that. I'll send a new GW every 6 months just to keep the comment going. Though by now, with 3 30s and 3 60s left at 6 yrs, it probably isn't doing too much.

[ficonightmare]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

Not all disputes remove an account from scoring. There seems to be a way of reporting them to the CRA's that tells the formula how to handle them.

Same thing happened with me. I GW'd Sears/ Citi 3 years ago, and even specifically said that I wasn't disputing. Next thing I knew, it was showing as "consumer disputes" and my score jumped. Three years later, the "dispute" is still there. On negative factors, it doesn't show up, but it continues to be listed with a flag on the accounts page, and the late is still there (so lenders will see it.)

My guess is that this is how some lenders decide to treat GW's. They don't remove the late, but they do report it in a way that helps your score. Weird, but I'll take it, I guess.

---

It's funny you should say this. In my GW letter, I had mentioned how my husband I will be looking for a mortgage and this late is huring my FICO score hence, higher rates.

But if they don't take the neg off., and they continue reporting the late, the score won't make a difference when someone manually reviews it

Guess I'll have to wait and see.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@ficonightmare wrote:

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

Not all disputes remove an account from scoring. There seems to be a way of reporting them to the CRA's that tells the formula how to handle them.

Same thing happened with me. I GW'd Sears/ Citi 3 years ago, and even specifically said that I wasn't disputing. Next thing I knew, it was showing as "consumer disputes" and my score jumped. Three years later, the "dispute" is still there. On negative factors, it doesn't show up, but it continues to be listed with a flag on the accounts page, and the late is still there (so lenders will see it.)

My guess is that this is how some lenders decide to treat GW's. They don't remove the late, but they do report it in a way that helps your score. Weird, but I'll take it, I guess.

---

It's funny you should say this. In my GW letter, I had mentioned how my husband I will be looking for a mortgage and this late is huring my FICO score hence, higher rates.

But if they don't take the neg off., and they continue reporting the late, the score won't make a difference when someone manually reviews it

Guess I'll have to wait and see.

---

My thinking is that anyone with a past negative who then has clean history can do some sweet-talking and persuading with the lender. We're all human, and lenders are worried about patterns of poor use of credit. These lates were back in 2005, right? or late 2004? An explanation of how it happened and evidence that it hasn't happened again can be very helpful. So that's the approval end of it.

But if APR is driven by scores, this might help you in getting a better rate. Fingers crossed, anyway!

[ficonightmare]

Yep, the lates were in late 2004.

Went I sent my GW letter, i mentioned how I even have another account with them, my GEMB/PAYPAL  MC. I also thanked them over and over for allowing me another chance, and helping me rebuild my credit.

According to FICO, my last  baddie happened 4 years 6 months ago. It looks like it's calcualting from my last  payment on as opposed to the first reported late, which I count closer to 6 years.

.