Hi all. Just thought some of you would find this interesting. I just requested my Scorepower FICO score from Equifax again. Earlier this month I had a 599. Today I have a 659. I have three items under dispute and they were noted as such on my new report. 1. An collection from 1999 for $59.00 for an old electric bill. I tried to get it removed but they wouldn't budge for $59.00. I paid it last month. 2. A loan from Beneficial Finance with late payments: 1x30, 1x60, 1x90. All in 1997. I never paid this late so I expect these negative entries to be removed. 3. A small credit card from a furniture store with late payments: 1x30, 1x60. All in 1994. I also have an old Student loan that defaulted and I paid back in 1999. It has tons of late payments back in 1996. I would dispute this one but the bank that serviced the loan had pretty good records when I called. Also, this loan is not on my Experian report. So I'd rather not do anything to screw that report up. Having one good report one beats having none at all. And I also have another small charge card that was charged of in 1996 and paid in 99. It also has lots of late payments. I am waiting for the results of my first three disputes before I start working on this one. So by my calculation that ChargeOff for $59.00 from the electric company(I never had a "credit" account with these people) that never sent me the bill is dinging my credit score by 40-50 points. Sure I should have followed up and made sure the bill was paid, but is it really that indicitave of the excellent payment history I have established in the past 5 years. I don't think so!!!! So if you have any recent Chargeoffs, regardless of the source, it looks like it doesn't matter if it is a $59 utility bill or a $5,000 credit card. A chargeoff is a charge off and it will seriously hurt your score even if it was an honest mistake. Just though you all might find this interesting. Let me know if you have any comments. Thanks, John.
Very interesting. Thanks for the report. I wish you had less variables, but I suspect you're right -- the chargeoff was worth 2/3 - 3/4 of the difference between 599 and 659. Congratulations, that's a huge jump from definite sub-prime to the doorstep of prime. I'll see if I find similar results with my gf's score, if I can convince her to just pay the 2 <$200 medical collection accounts she has. (So what if her insurance should have paid them -- they've already cost her more than they're worth by jacking up the interest on her recent car loan!)
