I just checked my score with equifax and after months of being stuck, my score jumped 51 points. I did have a couple of charge offs deleted last month and I had a few accounts hit the 6 month mark. But, in looking at my online report, it shows 4 items in dispute. Is it the items in dispute raising my score, or is it the deletions and aging of acct's. or a combination of both?
I aint sayin yes, and I aint a'sayin no. I'm just sayin maybe! (or is in mehbee?) -Dave (and the debate continues)
disputed items are not counting into equifax scoring. you can apply, and be approved for cards with your artificially high score. I tested this theory with target. I had a 565 , disputed all negs, raised to 610 or so, and target approved. After the disputes ended, my score came back down again. I disputed again (and got the items finally removed). It does work. This same method works for experian as well! chew on that.
How do you know when they are being held in dispute? Does it basically "erase" the items temporarily? I don't know how to get set up to check my scores online yet. We are mailing our first dispute letters today, and we disputed with TU on 7-3.
When items are in dispute, it does not erase them, but under the item it says "consumer disputes - reverification in progress". That is on the equifax site. I'm not sure how experian or creditexpert shows disputed items.
So if you were going to mail dispute letters, then apply for cards to take advantage of the artificially high score, when would you figure your "window of opportunity" would be?
My latest round of disputes was sent out on 6/26. I just ordered my report a couple of days ago, so I'm not sure how long it took for equifax to update my report to show the items in dispute. It looks like it took about 2 weeks to show up, but don't quote me. My best suggestion would be, if you file a dispute with equifax, in about 10 - 14 days order your online report to verify that the items are showing as disputed. When they do show up, then you can apply. Remember, this has only happened on equifax for me, so I don't know how it will work with the other cra's.
