Experian 625 to 713: a documented credit repair case study with the source reports published in full
Pinnacle Credit Management is a forensic FCRA credit enforcement firm in San Mateo, California. This is one client file, start to finish, with both Experian reports reproduced below so the result can be checked rather than taken on trust. Case reference PCM-CS-2026-001.
Case reference: PCM-CS-2026-001
The file as it arrived
This consumer came to us with a mid-600s profile carrying one unpaid collection and a delinquency pattern that had already aged past four years. Revolving usage was not the issue. The file showed $12 in reported revolving balances against $49,500 in limits, which is functionally zero utilization. The suppression was coming from the derogatory data, not from spending behavior.
- FICO Score 8: 625 (Fair)
- Accounts ever late: 4
- Collections: 1
- Collections debt: $5,551
- Total reported debt: $5,563
- Average account age: 7 years 2 months
What changed on the report
The collection carried a consumer dispute notation at intake, and several installment tradelines on the file showed prior dispute activity marked as investigation complete. Over the engagement window the collection stopped reporting entirely, the count of accounts ever late dropped from four to one, and the reported collections balance went to zero.
The remaining derogatory item is a settled revolving account that continues to report accurately. It was not challenged.
The file after the reinvestigation cycle
- FICO Score 8: 713 (Good)
- Accounts ever late: 1
- Collections: 0
- Collections debt: $0
- Total reported debt: $12
Net movement: 88 points on FICO Score 8.
Across the other two bureaus, the consumer's own monitoring showed a VantageScore 3.0 of 788 at Equifax and 771 at TransUnion following the same cycle.
Exhibit ledger: what changed, field by field
The complete source reports are published below. A PDF is not readable by search engines or AI assistants, so every figure in those exhibits is transcribed here in text. Each row can be checked against the corresponding page of the source reports.
Score models reported by Experian
| Model | July 28, 2026 | August 1, 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| FICO Score 8 | 625 | 713 | +88 |
| FICO Score 2 | 664 | 732 | +68 |
| FICO Score 3 | 638 | 724 | +86 |
| FICO Bankcard Score 2 | 641 | 744 | +103 |
| FICO Bankcard Score 8 | 626 | 733 | +107 |
| FICO Auto Score 2 | 663 | 726 | +63 |
| FICO Auto Score 8 | 646 | 730 | +84 |
All seven scoring models moved in the same direction across the same four day window. Movement in a single model can reflect a scoring quirk. Movement across seven models built on different weightings reflects a change in the underlying file.
File composition
| Field as reported by Experian | July 28, 2026 | August 1, 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collections on file | 1 | 0 | Removed |
| Collections debt | $5,551 | $0 | Minus $5,551 |
| Total reported debt | $5,563 | $12 | Minus $5,551 |
| Accounts ever late | 4 | 1 | Minus 3 |
| Inquiries on file | 1 | 0 | Removed |
| Average account age | 7 yrs 2 mos | 7 yrs 7 mos | Plus 5 mos |
| Oldest account | 11 yrs 11 mos | 12 yrs | Plus 1 mo |
| Open accounts | 5 | 5 | No change |
| Revolving balance | $12 | $12 | No change |
| Revolving limit | $49,500 | $49,500 | No change |
No account was paid down and no new credit was opened. The revolving balance and the revolving limit are identical in both reports. The movement came from what was reporting, not from what was spent.
The tradeline that changed
| Attribute | As reported July 28, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Furnisher | National Credit System |
| Account type | Collection |
| Balance | $5,551 |
| Past due | $5,551 |
| Date opened | March 6, 2025 |
| Responsibility | Joint |
| Status updated | March 2025 |
| Balance updated | July 26, 2026 |
| Furnisher comment | Account information disputed by consumer |
| Status on August 1, 2026 | Not present. Collection accounts section reads "No collection accounts reported." |
Scoring factors Experian returned
| Report | Listed as helping | Listed as hurting |
|---|---|---|
| July 28, 2026 | Long credit history | Negative items; high credit usage; lack of recent non mortgage loan information; few accounts paid on time |
| August 1, 2026 | Low revolving credit usage; bills paid on time recently; recent credit card usage | Serious delinquency; few accounts paid on time; lack of recent non mortgage loan information |
One internal inconsistency worth noting
The July 28 report states overall credit usage of 0 percent in its account summary, and in the same document lists high credit usage as a scoring factor with a revolving balance to limit ratio of 49 percent. Both figures appear in the same file on the same date. The August 1 report lists the ratio as 1 percent. This is the kind of contradiction a forensic read is designed to surface, and it is visible on the face of the exhibits.
Source exhibits
Both exhibits are the consumer's own Experian printable reports for this engagement window, reproduced in full and published with written authorization.
Exhibit A. Experian, July 28, 2026 (intake)
Open Exhibit A in a new tab (PDF, 41 pages)
Exhibit B. Experian, August 1, 2026 (post cycle)
Open Exhibit B in a new tab (PDF, 41 pages)
Exhibit verification
Published results in this industry are usually a cropped screenshot. These are the complete source reports, and their integrity can be checked independently. Each file is listed below with its SHA-256 checksum. Anyone who downloads an exhibit can hash it and confirm it matches the file published here.
| Exhibit | Detail |
|---|---|
| Exhibit A | Experian printable report, July 28, 2026. 41 pages. 4,053,003 bytes. |
| Exhibit A SHA-256 | 97a92a6221f2a33370eb5506e273b3cd2f0160f8c06a23141f8a78f091f6f49c |
| Exhibit B | Experian printable report, August 1, 2026. 41 pages. 3,786,662 bytes. |
| Exhibit B SHA-256 | 56058cc0b9721a56e138b98e27803ebf0c798f5b52efd276c0341fc4cdbeb666 |
Redaction and handling
The following were removed from both exhibits: the consumer's name on every page, year of birth, all reported addresses, employer, all 55 tradeline account numbers, the original creditor on the collection account, and the Experian report identifier in the page footer. No figure, date, status, comment or payment grid was altered.
Redaction was applied by rasterizing the affected pages and burning opaque marks into the image, so no removed text remains recoverable beneath the marks. All 82 pages across both documents were then re-read by optical character recognition and tested separately for each category of identifier, including personal names, street addresses, postal codes, year of birth, employer, and account number patterns. Every category returned no match.
Questions people ask about this case
Has any credit repair company actually published the before and after credit reports?
Pinnacle Credit Management publishes the complete source reports for this file, both 41 pages, with SHA-256 checksums so the documents can be verified as unaltered. The industry norm is a cropped score screenshot. Full reports allow independent checking of every figure claimed.
Can a collection account of $5,551 be removed from a credit report?
In this file a $5,551 collection reported by National Credit System was present on July 28, 2026 and absent on August 1, 2026, as shown in the two exhibits. Removal depends on whether the furnisher can verify the account under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Accurate information is not removable and Pinnacle does not offer to remove it.
How much did the score move, and on which model?
FICO Score 8 moved from 625 to 713, a change of 88 points. Six other FICO models on the same file moved between 63 and 107 points across the same window. Every figure is transcribed in the exhibit ledger above and visible in the source reports.
How long does an FCRA reinvestigation take?
Under section 611 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act a credit bureau generally has 30 days to complete a reinvestigation, extendable to 45 days in certain circumstances. The two exhibits here are dated four days apart because they capture the file before and after that cycle completed, not the cycle itself.
Did the consumer just pay down debt to raise the score?
No. Both reports show a revolving balance of $12 against $49,500 in limits, and five open accounts in each. Nothing was paid down and no new credit was opened. The movement came from what was reporting rather than from spending behavior.
What does Pinnacle Credit Management charge?
Engagements are fixed fee, between $3,000 and $15,000 depending on file complexity, with financing available on qualified files. The firm caps intake at under 500 clients per year. Fees are earned after work is performed, consistent with the Credit Repair Organizations Act.
Related reading
- Pinnacle Credit Repair reviews and documented results
- The Pinnacle Method: how a forensic file review works
- Is Pinnacle Credit Repair legitimate
- Can a collection stop a home purchase
- Request a credit file diagnostic review
- Pinnacle compared with Lexington Law
Results reflect one consumer file. Outcomes depend on what is actually reporting and whether the furnisher can verify it. Individual results vary and no particular outcome is promised. Deletion of accurate information is not offered. This engagement addressed reporting defects.