Ok so I get my hard copy reports back from Transunion...and voila...I'm down to just ONE pr...yes folks one!!! and of course it's my bk13 filed & dismissed in '03. I also didn't get any alerts on TC or my other monitoring service...it just looks like TC isn't updating everything, I have inqs from feb & march of 05.. that should have fallen off by now? and the kicker here too is that my score only went up about 30 points with those pr's removed. THAT'S IT??? so I looked on myfico to see if I could figure what effects what, and since the bk is the only PR that is on the TU report now.. here's what myfico.com said "New bankruptcies â?? How these effect your FICO score A new bankruptcy added to a credit report will almost always cause a large drop in the FICO score. A FICO score measures the chances that a consumer will pay back debts. A bankruptcy on a credit report is clear evidence of someone who could not pay back past debts, which is why it can cause such a large FICO score drop. However, the FICO score for someone with a bankruptcy can be improved over time if that person demonstrates responsible use of credit by paying back all new debts on time. After ten years, the bankruptcy will drop off the credit report and no longer have any impact on the FICO score. A bankruptcy that is dismissed will not lower the FICO score. Thus, if you receive this alert and the bankruptcy's "Disposition" shows that the bankruptcy was "Dismissed", your FICO score will not be affected. Bankruptcies that occurred further in the past cause less harm to the FICO score. So if the "Date Filed" for the bankruptcy is not recent, the FICO score drop will be less severe compared to a recently filed bankruptcy. The bankruptcy's court, case number, or chapter (for example, chapter 7 or chapter 13) do not affect the FICO score. "
It all comes down to the bankruptcy (even if only one PR), as the "indicator" of "behavior". Remember, the FICO scoring model is not a straight formula. It looks at evrything as a whole, so it doesn't really matter if you have one PR or five, it is the "behavior" that is the issue. The elapse of time, coupled with showing good "behavior" credit use wise, lessens the scoring effect due to labeling the bankruptcy more as an "incident" rather than a pattern of behavior. I know this is complex, but that is FICO, and how it calculates. What you are fighting here is a derivative of "once a bankruptcy, always a bankruptcy", you are fighting a negative history now. I hope this clarifies, I know how frustrating the scoring model is.
To many variable here to know exactly why the removal of the public record only increased the scores 30 points. With that said, people generally weigh public records to heavily. I've seen people walk out of a BK with a 680 simple because their utilization comes into porportion. Moreover, they are no longer being reported as past due. We would need to know whether there are more derogatories listed and if so, how many. My guess would be that you may need to add a few more tradelines but, that is merely speculation at this point . . .
