Well, my minimal effort paid off. Well, sort of. My minimal effort didn't do much and the fact that it didn't made me want to do more. It's better if I show you with words.
The Timeline of Events:
April 2, 2018: Email Alert. Received an email alert from Credit Karma (no-affiliate) that my credit score dropped.
April 4, 2018: Called Transunion. They could discuss nothing over the phone they told me, but they could send a free credit report. I also called one of my former student loan companies because they had recently sent me an erroneous letter that my $0 balance was getting reported to the Dept of Education for non-payment and wage garnishment. Ludicrous. The lady I spoke with said, when I get the credit report to send it to them and they'd take a look at it. I thought maybe they were the ones behind this decrease.
April 11, 2018: Received credit report. The printed report from Transunion (no-affiliate) was exactly the same as what was online at Credit Karma.
April 28, 2018: Submitted dispute with Transunion. Went to Transunion online to dispute credit history. Found a copy of my college transcript as a pdf and uploaded it to the site as evidence that my loans could not have been due and then overdue as I was still in the grace period following graduation. I triple checked that the grace period following graduation was 6 months. I graduated in Aug 2015 and they were saying my loans were 90 to 180 days overdue in Oct 2015 and Nov 2015. A six month grace period would have covered me until Feb 2016, so they were clearly mistaken.
May 21, 2018: Transunion responds. Transunion sends me a letter via mail that they've updated the credit rating on the disputed accounts. I compared the letter to the credit report they previously sent and it looked the same to me. I compared those two documents with what I saw online and they all looked the same.
May 29, 2018: Submitted dispute on Credit Karma. Ugh. I hate disputes. At this point, I'm just annoyed. I didn't even really want to do this. Stupid, blog! But at least I don't have to do anything over the phone. I'm so annoyed. Fortunately, Credit Karma had a 1-click dispute button so that made it easier. This time I just sent them a one sentence note explaining the grace period. There was no option to upload anything.
Jun 3, 2018: Credit Karma responds. I get an email notification that my dispute has been resolved, but I have to log-in to see results. No thanks. There was nothing else I could or desired to do at this point, so the results really didn't matter. And I hate log-ins!
Jun 5, 2018: My credit score went up! Credit Karma sends me an email notification that my credit score went up. I was a little intrigued. Recall, up until this point I had kind of given up on the situation as again I don't really need credit for anything. I don't have plans to mortgage a home in the near future and I have no desire to open any credit cards so I was willing to just wait my turn on this one. Anyway, a few days later, my curiosity got the best of me and I was pleasantly surprised!
You'll notice a subtle theme with me and these disputes. Check my related content for more!
Update (17Jul2018)
Realized after I posted this...
28Apr2018 Transunion score: 668
05Jun2018 Transunion score: 720
Difference: 52 points!
I think Credit Karma had just calculated the net difference (35 pts) because score had fluctuated a bit over the time period above.
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I'm with you on hating disputes, especially if it involves multiple telephone calls. Give me internet every time. I have found the same with writing a blog, it makes you accountable and you feel you have to explore further or act in a certain way to ensure you write the right thing. But this had a positive outcome for you so +1 for the blog!
ReplyDeleteTuppeny! Hey, there. Yes +1 for the blog. OMG, about a few times a year, I have to dispute something. I can get it done, but it's usually not at first. I mean my credit score first tanked in 2015 because of the erroneous loan report and it took me this long to do anything about it. And actually, now that I re-read this...my score actually went up more than 50 points since I wrote the first post. I think credit karma just did the net gain.To update or not to update? :)
ReplyDeleteNo harm in adding a little footnote to this post with this further update. Proves your point more so about disputing credit scores and wrong info.
ReplyDeleteTrue...
ReplyDelete