I finally paid off a collections account from 2019 and my score dropped 40 points

Last month I settled a $350 medical bill from a hospital in Phoenix that went to collections in 2019, and my credit score dropped from 680 to 640 now how long does this kind of hit usually last?

3 comments

3 Comments

hall.joel1mo ago

Oh man that sucks. I had a buddy who paid off a $400 cable bill from like 2018 and his score dropped 30 points too, he was so mad. What @victor779 said sounds about right though, his took almost 8 months to really bounce back but it did eventually.

victor7791mo ago

Honestly that sucks man, I feel your pain. Ngl, that 40 point drop after paying off a bill is rough, it happened to me too with a $200 cell phone bill from 2020. From what I've read, the hit usually lasts around 6 to 12 months after the account is closed, but your score will start climbing back up slowly as the account ages off. Just keep paying everything else on time and it'll recover, it's super frustrating but it won't stick forever.

angela5871mo ago

Settle down a bit. 40 points isn't nothing but it's not the end of the world either. I paid a $250 utility bill from 2018 two months ago and I'm already up 25 of the 35 points I lost. It's just the system treating a closed collection as "recent activity" for a few months, same thing @hall.joel's buddy probably saw. Credit scores are dumb like that, but it'll even out faster than you think if you don't obsess over it.