My husband and I recently paid off three IRS liens on our house which were also showing up on our credit reports. Instead of our scores going up, they dropped slightly. Can anyone tell me what happened or how to question this to the appropriate people? Thanks. Kat

There is not enough information in your question to answer it in a correct manor. There are many things that affect credit scores and just because you do one good thing doesn't mean there isn't something else that is adversely affecting it. Some families having credit problems will close credit cards thinking it will help them when it actually hurts. Credit companies will look at how much credit you have available to you and how much you're using. So if you have a $1000 credit card maxed out and you cancel a $5000 limit card then you're credit usage goes from 1000/6000 to 1000/1000. This may or may not be your case but is just one of many examples.

As for who to talk to. Where are you getting your score from? If you are applying for credit and are rejected they must provide you with a copy of your report. If you are just checking with free credit report then you need to see the full report to find exactly what the deal is in your case.

When a lender pulls your credit and gets the scores. The four factors that kept the score from being higher are disclosed in order of decreasing importance. I would hope that your report shows the same items. When you pay off a judgment, collection, or tax lien, that brings the last activity on the delinquent account from the past to the present. That could trigger Code 13: Time since delinquency too recent or unknown; or Code 20: Time since derogatory public record or collection. I agree it's not fair for your score to be lowered when you pay off an old bad debt, but it's their ball game, and they make the rules.