Question about Equifax Report/Score

[rolltide1701]

I understand that Equifax uses a different formula than the other two credit reporting agencies which can result in a lower score. However, I was still suprised to find my Equifax score was lower by 120 points than the other 2 (which drags my average from the 3 to under 620). So I took a look and couldn't find any accounts to dispute. But I did notice some differences.

Equifax is listing an old collection and a couple of old charge offs from OC as "open" in account status while listing them as "paid" in the comments box of my credit reports. The other two credit reporting agencies list them as "closed" in the account status.

Could this be affecting my Equifax score negatively? If yes, any suggestiongs on how to correct?

[Lian]

Once a debt is paid, the debt collector is required to report their collection account as closed, with $0 debt under collection. However, this is probably not affecting your score, in that status of a collection does not affect its scoring as a collection. However, it looks bad on a manual review, and should be corrected. I would pick up the phone, call them, and ask them to report the closing of the collection.

An OC account that has been charged-off must be a closed OC account, regardless of payment status. Once again, just a simple failure of the OC to complete the account reporting that is not affecting your score, but looks inconsistent in a manual review. Make an informal request that they update the account status to closed.