I recently started paying off all of my old collection accounts from 5 years ago and instead of my credit score going up it has gone to a 578 from a 604. If I am paying my bills why is my score going down instead of up? Please help!
Hello Purplecat, When you are paying off these old collections are you asking for the collections to be removed from your credit completely? Or is the CA just changing the status of your collections accounts to paid or satisfied? If you pay old collections without getting them completely removed off of your credit, you are just refreshing a negative item on your credit report, this will lower your credit score. Have you paid off all of your old collections already? If not, make sure you get the CA to agree in writing to remove the collections accounts before you pay anything else off. Thanks! Heather with BoostMyScore.NET
Yes, once anything changes on that accounts it will refresh the active date for that account. Once you paid the collection off it was like you just like a new collections just reported on your credit report instead of being from 5 years ago. Therefore lowering your credit score. Thanks! Heather with BoostMyScore.NET
Where did you get your credit scores from? Make sure you're looking at your real FICO scores first. Also, it's important to remember that paying off old collections won't improve your scores. Paid collections are just as damaging to your FICO scores as unpaid collections. That's why it's always a good idea to negotiate PFDs. The DOLA was probably updated as well, which can also hurt your scores.
