Rescore when the creditor agrees. Dispute when it doesn't. That's the whole column, but you'll want the rest.
A rapid rescore is your credit vendor asking the bureaus to update a tradeline from documentation the creditor has already issued — a paid-in-full letter, a statement showing the balance went from $9,000 to $900 on the statement date, a closed-account confirmation. It takes days. It costs you money. It only works because nobody is arguing.
A dispute is the buyer telling a bureau the item is wrong and the bureau having thirty days to prove otherwise. It's free. It works when the creditor's own file disagrees with the bureau's. It doesn't rescore anything; it fixes the file the rescore would have read.
Order a rescore for utilization paydowns and paid balances the creditor will confirm on letterhead. Order nothing, and send the buyer here, for anything the creditor won't confirm: the collection that says open when it's paid, the duplicate servicer, the address that isn't theirs, the stranger's account.
Ordering a rescore on a disputed item is paying to have the bureau re-read the same wrong line.
Ask one question before you spend: will the creditor put it in writing? Yes — rescore. No — letters. Then the rescore, after.
Sources
- Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681i — reinvestigation
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide, B3-5.2-01 — Requirements for Credit Reports
Every statutory citation in this article was checked against the source listed before publication. Nothing here is legal advice; if your situation has legal consequences, talk to a licensed attorney in your state.