OK..I have 2 more questions. I did my first round of disputes, I want to make sure that I know what I am doing and know how to do it right before I proceed.Your answers are GREATLY apperciated. First, my credit expert score is far different from my FICA(ABOUT 50 POINTS). My question is, for the items I am disputing, are those included in my score? Or will it get EVEN worse if some are "verified"? Also, where is the best (and cheapest way} to keep up with my scores?
Ok... it's not as simple as it sounds.... There are three credit reporting agencies nationally (you may have to work with a local affiliate of one or more of these three in your area) Trans Union, Equifax and Experian. At this time the only FICO score a consumer can view is based on their Equifax report. Credit Expert score is NOT a FICO score, but based off the information in your Experian file. True FICO scores ignore any account that is listed "under investigation". The model, per a manager at Fair Isaac, treats the account as if it not there, so it neither adds to or deletes from your score. Investigations have no impact on your Credit Expert score... their model considers the account listing as correct while under investigation. Now, the little know thing about FICO scores, again per a Fair Isaac manager, is that the model uses the last updated column for history activity. What does that mean? It's not really Fair, but if you have an account that was charged off in 1996 listed on your file and you have it investigated and the status is confirmed in 2001, the FICO scoring model uses 2001 as the activity date, NOT the true 1996 date when the chargeoff may have occured. So, disputing CAN hurt your scores.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Whoa----Thanks Bkev, I did not know this information. I just tried the "inflated score" theory, one account I applied for was approved, one was not because of the negs. They had already "investigated" 3 days from my onlind dispute. I thought I needed to wait a few days to make sure the items were in dispute. I waited too long--- 6 days. The Cra's are tricky about this too --my reports do not all show the date of last activity.
Bkev, You provide some great info..... Thanks for your input. I have a question about Credit Scores being affected by disputes. I recently pulled my FICO/Beacon score from Equifax and it was 624. I pulled it 10 days later because I had gotten my last collection item removed and to my disbelief my score fell to 554. The only thing that changed was one inquiry was added, I got a collection deleted, and I had about 12 Student Loans entries that are listed as Paid Collection 0 balance that were in dispute on the 624 report and they came back verified on the 554 report, so I really believe that disputes have a major effect on scores. My question is that if you were to dispute every derog on your account and then go apply for a loan or CC, wouldn't you expect to have a great score if it didn't count anything in dispute. Skynet83
It would totally depend upon the other information in your report... I would not expect a "great score" if you had tons of inquiries, maxed out accounts that kill your credit ratios, too many new accounts, not a good mix of credit, etc... Don't get me wrong.... I don't believe in the value of scores... Once you know what they're based on, you can setup your profile to make sure you score high... It's like those corporate personality profiles... If you know what they're looking for, you don't answer honestly to score high, you setup your answers to match what they're looking for... NOW... you mentioned student loans... do a search here for the HIGHER EDUCATION ACT and look for information about REHABing the loans... That should help you clear it up, but you'll have to stay on top of it...
