credit repair Archives - Page 2 of 7

Why Did My Credit Score Drop After a Dispute?

You dispute an error on your credit report expecting your score to go up — and instead it drops. It’s one of those moments where the credit system feels genuinely backwards. I’ve heard this from buyers who were in the middle of rebuilding and got blindsided by it. The short explanation is that what looks like a drop is often a correction revealing the true picture, but the real reasons are worth understanding.

Here’s what’s actually happening, and what to do about it.

why did my credit score drop after dispute

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Does a Collection Agency Report to Credit Bureaus?

The short answer is yes — most collection agencies do report to the credit bureaus. But “most” does real work in that sentence. How quickly they report, whether they report at all, and what actually happens to your score when they do are all things worth understanding before you decide how to respond to a collection notice.

I deal with buyers who are trying to rebuild credit after collections all the time. The collection itself is often the least urgent problem — what matters more is what you do about your credit profile while you’re dealing with it. More on that below.

does collection agency report to credit bureau

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Do Collection Agencies Report to Credit Bureaus?

Buyers ask me about collections more than almost any other topic. Usually it goes something like this: they’ve got a collection on their report, they want to buy a tradeline to boost their score, and they want to know if it’ll work. The honest answer starts with understanding what a collection actually does to a report — and yes, collection agencies do report to credit bureaus. That’s the short answer. The longer one matters more.

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Does Credit Strong Give You a Loan?

The short answer is no — Credit Strong doesn’t hand you money. If you’re searching “does credit strong give you a loan” hoping to cover an expense, you need to look elsewhere. But if you’re trying to build credit history and you just want to understand what Credit Strong actually does, the longer answer is worth reading. Related: do joint credit cards build credit — worth reading if this applies to you.

Does Divorce Affect Your Credit?

Divorce doesn’t show up on a credit report. There’s no field for “marital status,” no divorce flag that dinges your score. But the financial fallout from a divorce absolutely can damage your credit — and for some people it does serious, lasting harm. The question “does divorce affect your credit” has a technically-no-but-practically-yes answer, and the difference matters.