how the heck does this happen?

[Anonymous]

im a victim of one major identity theft.  i am getting used to being victimized by absolutely everyone i come into financial contact with even tho I am not the culprit.  this is the latest thing and i have to admit it really bout pushed me over the freaking edge.
i had a new collection account pop up on all the bureaus.  my equifax fico score dropped an immediate 36 points in one day because of it.  two weeks later the score was removed becuase it was fraud and should never have been there in the first place but of course, my buddy unfair isaac hasnt seen fit to raise my score even one dang point.  why am i penalized for something that was removed and shouldnt have been there in the first place?

[Anonymous]

whoops i meant that the collection item was removed two weeks later not the score.  sorry..

[haulingthescoreup]

Is the collection gone from the newest report, where the score hasn't recovered? Or have you just not yet gotten a Score Watch alert for the newest score? (there's a delay)

If you could clarify a bit with dates as to when it hit your reports, when it was removed from your reports, and when you pulled your scores, it would help a lot.

[Anonymous]

the original collection was posted to equifax on feb 2.  the fico dropped on feb 5.  i subscribe to equifax monitoring and myfico and it dropped on both on the same day.  two weeks on feb 16  the listing was completely removed. as it stands gtoday the score has still not gained a point since feb 5.  this pisses me off to no end.

[llecs]

Did you puchase a new EQ FICO report since Feb. 16?

[Anonymous]

does anyopne even read what i post?  dealing with this is just another added dimension to the drama that i dont think i need.   i had equifax score monitoring subscription until yesterday.  i was able to pull my fico score and report 4 times.  last time i pulled it was last friday and the score hadnt changed since feb 5.  i dont know how much more clear i can be.  i now think this whole credit scoring thing is just completely bogus.  why >>>I<<< am penalized for fraudulent activity that is removed i am not sure.  why arent the people who list these items on my credit report required to prove anything to the bureaus?  why isnt there a penalty for them?  FairIsaacCOrp (FICO) should be called Arbitrary and UNfaIR Isaac COrp.  I now think there is no rhyme or reason to this process in the least and I canceled my monitoring subscription to everything.  Ill just now accept the fact i got screwed over beyond all comprehension by identity theives and move on .  I dobnt even hate the guy who stole my wallet anymore.  that is by far the nicest part of what has happened.  i just get so pissed off by the continued daily victimization by banks, credit bureaus and Fair Isaac himself that im gonna put myself into an early grave.  That makes a difference to me even if it doesnt to the faceless impersonal mob that chases and terrorizes me every day.  Im done.

[haulingthescoreup]

Yes, we do read what you post.

At the risk of having my head torn off and handed to me on a plate, I will mention that the reason llecs asked if you had purchased a new score was because he was trying to clarify if the new report came with a refreshed score, or if it was the old score displaying.

You have both EQ credit monitoring service and SW, if I understood your post correctly. (Quite possibly I didn't.) I have Equifax Credit Watch Gold (not sure if that's what you have), and although I can pull a new full report daily, it does not come with a new score daily. So it would be easy to pull a new report, but have the old score displaying.

However, if you bought a new score report since the erroneous info was removed, then it should have come with a score that was up at or near your original score, unless something else popped on there. The scores are created by a formula that analyzes the contents of your credit report. If a collection isn't on there, then you aren't penalized for a collection.

[smallfry]

To satisfy your curiousity you might try calling customer service and explaining the situation concerning the now gone collection. See if they will furnish you with a new free FICO report and score. You never know what might happen if you ask real nice. Good luck I feel your frustration.

[Anonymous]

IFirst of all I apologize for my bad behavior of last week.  This whole ordeal has really turned my view of the world upside down.  I used to be the glass is always full to the brim kinda guy.  Not much bothered me...maybe because nothing bad really ever happened mostly because I am careful with my activities.  This identity theft coupled by being victimized almost daily in terms of the endless amount of time I spend on this, the endless frustration of dealing with every idiot with an IQ of 2 and a half with a more than condescending attitude that does actually have something to hold over my head...which makes it worse.  Not too mention even my own bank that I have been with for years with a great record, not listening to the story and not beingso dang black and white that they arent able too see past the few negative items remaining on my credit report.  I can only imagine what they would have said when there were 40 collections like there were when I found out about this.  So this does at times make homocide seem like a very viable option.(grin)

OK i had that kind of Eqwuifax monitoring that I could check my equifax report every day but somehow I got switched to the plan where you get to pull your report and score 4 times a quarter.  I used three in the first week and saved the last one for when that dang collection was removed.  So I did get a new score.  The score did finally go back up on the 14th of March.  Do you know that when I started this in July with almost 40 negative listings on my report my score was only 28 points lowwer than it is today when I only have 4 negative listings.  How the heck can that be?  If items that have been removed dont count against you why doesnt the score move more?  Last night I was messing around with the score simulator and I simulated the score with the last 4 negative listings removed.  I almost fell off my chair when gthe score came back a whole >>>>5<<<< points higher.  Then I did it with just paying off one $433 charged off First Premier card (those people seriously have a collective IQ of negative 36000.  Whop made the rule the dumber you are the bigger the chip on your shoulder has to be?) and the score went up 65 points.  This is where I think this whole mess is just some big scam that hasd no bearing in reality...at least not mine anyway.

[haulingthescoreup]

lol, I'm glad you came back. And I can understand your frustration. I haven't been the victim of ID theft, thank God, but I've had other situations that made me want to go out and bark at the moon. * grins *

Yes, it's incredibly exasperating when you don't see bang for the buck as negatives are finally removed. The problem is that the existence of just one major derog drives your scores. The others are icing on the cake. So what you're seeing now is the icing being removed, bit by bit, but the (negative) cake is still there. Once it's gone, then you will see change.

I wouldn't put a whole lot of faith in the sim. Sometimes it predicts pretty well, other times it's completely ludicrous. Another option is to play with the FICO Score Estimator (linked in my siggy below.) With this one, it's not accessing your actual credit report. You get to build an imaginary credit report by answering the questions. (When it asks you how many times you've applied for credit, i.e. how many inqs, just enter the number on your EQ report. Same for any other question.) Try going through the Estimator entering only the legit stuff that's on your Equifax report. It might give you a different range. The Estimator is more broad in its predictions than the Simulator, but you can control the variables better. And again, it's an estimator. It may or may not hit what your final score will be.

btw, you did file a police report, didn't you? I know that even with a report, lenders will still look at you like you're a sticky brown substance on the sole of your shoe, but without a police report, they'll laugh you out of the building.

And again, I don't know why you didn't see an immediate score change, unless it was because there was still crap on there holding it down. The score formula is pretty bizarre in some areas, but it's just a formula. It takes what it's given (the data on the report), and it spits out an answer. Like any formula/ algorithm, it's definitely a case of garbage in, garbage out. As long as there's false info on your reports, your score is going to be affected.