Why did my removal progress go down?

Your percentage can fall. Three reasons, in order of likelihood.

1. A listing came back

The most common cause. You removed a record, the broker’s next data refresh rebuilt it from the same upstream source, and our re-scan found it again. It returns to your worklist and the denominator grows.

This is expected, not a malfunction — see are removals permanent?. Bighound counts these re-listings specifically, because that count is the honest measure of which brokers actually respect an opt-out and which just wait you out.

2. A new scan found more

Coverage grows. When we add a broker to the registry, or you add an email address or a username, the next scan searches somewhere it hasn’t before. More found means a bigger denominator and a lower percentage — while you are, in fact, better off than you were.

3. You added someone

Adding a family member adds their exposure to the household total.

Why we don’t smooth this out

We could hold the number steady by not counting re-listings, or by quietly dropping findings that reappear. Plenty of dashboards do exactly that, and it’s why removal services look more effective than they are. A number that only goes up isn’t measuring anything.