Below is the email I sent Christine at Bayhouse earlier... I thought everyone might like to know................................ I just got some information that I thought was HIGHLY interesting and wanted to pass it along to you. I've read your website including the forum and several others, but NEVER heard this before now. I just got off the telephone with a FICO supervisor. I've been asking why my score can jump 100 points in one month without any negative information being added to my file. I got him to make two amazing confessions&& AGING I was floored when he told me this. Fair Isaac uses the date reported to age an account, not the date of any activity. Example& Let's say that we're looking an individual's credit report. We have copies from two months. Copy A shows a charge-off on an account on 8/1997, with the last reported date of 12/1997. Copy B shows the same account charged-off in 8/1997 but because it was investigated an updated in 4/01, Fair Isaac's formula uses April 2001 as the aging date for the account, making it a recent charge off, not several years old and will significantly drop your FICO score. The supervisor said they will be changing this in the next few months, but that is the way it is handled now. Personally, I doubt if they will ever change it. UNDER INVESTIGATION He also told me that while an account is under investigation Fair Isaac applies a different weight to the account so that it will cause a significant increase in your score. If the account is dropped, your score will improve, but now we know if it is updated, your score will actually DROP without any negative information being added! Thought you would like to know (and maybe share the info!)
I believe this to be absolutely true. When I got a copy of my merged reports, I about hit the floor. The last date updated is the date of history and last delinquent in their respective columns. And when I signed up for Equifax's service 2 RECENT charge-offs (they were 6 years old) was listed as the number 1 reason for a low score.
I also agree that this is true. I realized this in January. I had a Citibank CO that had incorrect information on my Experian report. I disputed with Experian to have it corrected, but Citibank verified, not only to Experian but to all three CRAs. All three of my credit scores plummetted, even with no changed information, other than the last date reported.
