Did a chargeoff do this damage? Score dropped big time!

[carajul]

I had a property I stopped paying on 14 months ago. I had an 80/20 loan. The first mortgage company (countrywide) still has not done a foreclosure. It's just showing 30 days late for the past 14 months. My FICO went from 790 to 500 the first month I stopped paying.

All my other accts (car, house) are all paid on time. No new credit. No collections. There are only 2 negatives showing on my credit...the 80 and 20. No new debt either.

When I checked my FICO score on Equifax's web site in Jan my score had gone back up to 670. The second mortgage company gave up and did a "chargeoff" on my account in March. The account now shows up as "closed" with a $0 balance. But it also shows "CO" for chargeoff.
I *thought* my FICO score would be better. However, I checked today (June) and is has dropped to 590!!!

Did going from fourteen 30-day lates to "CO" status cause this? Should I dispute the ending chargeoff or the individual 30 day lates?

[Trish]

Yes, this is most definitely what lowered your score.
A late payment on a mortgage/installment loan and/or a charge off are one of the worst things to have on your CRs.

Having both of those combined is going to tank your score big time.
You can try disputing it......either for the lates or the CO status.......but just to warn you, this one will probably be tough if, in fact, it is being reported correctly.

Another thing you may try is a goodwill letter to the OC asking for forgiveness and maybe to at least remove the lates.. It would be ideal if they would somehow change it to a positive TL with no mention of lates or charge off but if this is a foreclosure......like I said, it's going to be tough.

Sorry.......probably not what you wanted to hear......but hopefully that helps answer your question.