phone collection removed and fico dropped!!

[nothingman02]

I dont understand this. A landline phone a/c for $300 that went to a CA was removed from my transunion report. My FICO dropped from 576 to 569! Incidentally my FAKOS soared. 580 to 588 on truecredit and 582 to 721 (ridicuous i know!) on creditchecktotal.

How can the scoe drop when a Collection drops off a report? Not a revolving account with a payment history but just a phone bill!

[llecs]

If point loss was tied to this account alone, then you could lose points with its removal. All OC accounts, good or bad, are factored into your AAoA. If your phone bill was older than your AAoA, then its removal would drop your avg. age and your score too. DW lost FICO points when a Verizon CO was removed. It was one of her oldest TLs.

[Red1Blue]

Congrats on getting the collection off your CR. Though you lost few points, you'll gain them back very quickly and it is very good to get the baddie off your credit report.

[smallfry]

I think it is just lame that FICO includes negative lines in AAofA. The fact you could lose points for a drop in your age in this circumstance is insane. 

[nothingman02]

Thanks for the info guys. Learnt another new thing ..Incidentally, the baddie did fall off but is not paid yet. It was from Nov 2008 with franklin collection services. In february 2009, I disputed with CRAs and sent a strongly worded DV asking for stuff I knew they could not provide. A little after they picked it up, I called them and made it clear that I would do a PFD right away or I am gonna hold out forever and explained how I could counter every step they could possibly take.

I suppose the the debt was too small for them to fight it perhaps? Cause they have returned it to ATT who now have sent it to ERC (Enhanced Recovery Corp) from whom I got the mail today. 

It is not on my credit reports yet and I am trying to think. Should I just call ATT in this time when its not on my report and pay it off or should I jsut call ERC and pay them off? I mean just cause I am paying it before they have put it on my credit file, does it mean they will not, or can not, put it on my file??

Please help me with this. I would like it to stay off of my report, obviously, but more so since it would mess my AAoA further dropping my score.

Thanks again for the help.

Message Edited by nothingman02 on 03-10-2009 08:09 PM

[Junejer]

I would see if ATT could pull it back and accept payment from you directly. If not, then ERC would need to agree to a PFNR (pay for not reporting) in writing and on their letterhead. It's always best to work with the OC if you at all are able.

[nothingman02]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. Never heard of PFNR! Great to learn another important method!....BTW, How would I know that ATT will or has pulled back the account from the CA (ERC)? I mean if I take their word and pay them ove the phone and then suddenly find ERC listing the account on my credit file? 

[Junejer]

If you pay AT&T directly, you will have proof of the same. If a collection agency suddenly shows up on your CRs, you can DV them. Since the CAs have nothing to do with your account, you can just DV them and/or send ITS letters if the DV doesn't move them, though it should.

[llecs]

And another thing I failed to mention, OP, is that if you are lacking other baddies, especially other charge-offs, then you could have been rebucketed. However, I bet the point loss would have been more. I'm betting on the loss in history.

[nothingman02]

Thanks everybody. I will call the OC today. I hope the payment receipt will be enough proof to fight off the CA. I dont trust ATT enough that they'd pull back the CA account. I am thinking I will first dispute and then DV if the CA does still report.

One last question on this thread. What is rebucketing? replacing a full bucket? with an empty, cleaner report with a lower score?