| By Greg Fisher, creditscoring.com

"Our partnership with the Falcons will create meaningful opportunities for engagement with our clients and partners, while also supporting a great football franchise and Atlanta institution in the Falcons." - Rick Smith, Equifax chairman and CEO

Equifax Inc. made this false statement:

Closing credit accounts can sometimes actually hurt your credit score. The length of your credit history is a factor in determining credit score[SIC],and[SIC] closing accounts will remove them from your credit history. This action may also increase your overall credit utilization since you lose the credit line from the closed account.

That myth (on a myths list, itself and, indeed, written by a national consumer reporting agency) is false because a closed account is not eliminated (at least immediately) from a consumer's file. The account remains in the credit history, and the history's length is not changed. According to Equifax itself, in other documents, "Accounts paid as agreed remain on file for up to 10 years from the date of last activity," and "Depending on the manner in which they were paid, closed or inactive accounts stay on your report for 7 to 11 years from the date of their last activity."

While those two statements contradict each other, they are, at least, closer to the truth. Think of it this way: If eliminating an account's history were as easy as closing the account, it would be a very simple task to get rid of those pesky late payments dragging down your credit score.

The efficacy of a social media message

Equifax changed its statement to

Closing credit accounts can sometimes actually hurt your credit score. The length of your credit history is a factor in determining credit score[SIC]. This action may also increase your overall credit utilization since you lose the credit line from the closed account.

And so, castigated in front of its big-league sports partner, the sleeping giant woke from its 8-month social media account slumber.

Now, this refers to another issue:

@EFXFinanceBlog did not explain where to get the thing they call a "blended credit score." Meanwhile, @Equifax still "follows" @creditscoring.