Balance not updating with creditor on credit report

[MTSN]

I have had a personal line of credit at a credit union for 7 years with a limit of $3,500. I noticed over the years it never showed up once on any of my three credit reports, so I used it, kept a balance for a while, paid it off, used it again, etc. I applied for a mortgage earlier this year, and much to my surprise, it finally posted on my credit report for the very first time in 7 years about 2 weeks before I applied for the mortgage (of course!) in April. The balance on it was $3,300 at the time, and although it didn't cause any issues with my mortgage, it dropped my credit score now that it shows a high balance compared with the limit ~94% utilization.

I immediately paid it off since the interest was high and the effect it had on my FICO score. Well I just refreshed my report for the first time in a couple of months, and low and behold it's still showing up as a $3,300 balance!!! It shows that it first reported 4/2013 and last updated 4/2013. I am so frustrated that I dug into savings to wipe that balance out, and yet it's still dragging my score down because they won't update the balance now that it's at zero. How can I get them to send in the new balances to the credit bureaus? I've tried calling them, and they are so difficult to talk to and act like they don't even understand what I'm talking about. I've had 6 statements generate since they reported the balance, so I'm sure that there has been ample time to reflect the new balance. I'm afraid that it's causing my score to be probably 10 points lower than it would be otherwise!

[cookiebird]

I am havng the same issue with some credit cards and it is only happening on EQ report (pulled from here).  I am leaving mine alone until I close on my house at my LO's suggestion.

[MTSN]

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@cookiebird wrote:

I am havng the same issue with some credit cards and it is only happening on EQ report (pulled from here).  I am leaving mine alone until I close on my house at my LO's suggestion.

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That's intreresting as I just pulled EQ as well. Fortunately I just closed on my place a couple weeks ago, so now I'm going through each of those surprises I found on my journey to clean them up and maximize my score. The good news is that you'll likely get a nice bump in score from your mortgage if you currently don't have one on your report. It's my first place and it was nice to see about a 10 point jump when the new note was added

[cookiebird]

I don't have a mortgage so the bump will be nice but I want to see the bump from paying down my uti!!  Since the last time EQ showed payments to my cc's one of them has come down 46%.  The other 3 have come down about 28%, 38% and 15%.  I want to see some points for that!

[MTSN]

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@cookiebird wrote:

I don't have a mortgage so the bump will be nice but I want to see the bump from paying down my uti!!  Since the last time EQ showed payments to my cc's one of them has come down 46%.  The other 3 have come down about 28%, 38% and 15%.  I want to see some points for that!

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Oh yes you definitely will! I went from 95% util to 2% over the course of a very challenging year of spending next to nothing, and that combined with getting my limits raised on all my cards and cleaning up everything I increased my score by about 130 points! It's pretty exciting to see those bumps, and it's even better to be able to get a prime rate on a mortgage. Congrats on the hard work!

[-Wade-]

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@MTSN wrote:

I have had a personal line of credit at a credit union for 7 years with a limit of $3,500. I noticed over the years it never showed up once on any of my three credit reports, so I used it, kept a balance for a while, paid it off, used it again, etc. I applied for a mortgage earlier this year, and much to my surprise, it finally posted on my credit report for the very first time in 7 years about 2 weeks before I applied for the mortgage (of course!) in April. The balance on it was $3,300 at the time, and although it didn't cause any issues with my mortgage, it dropped my credit score now that it shows a high balance compared with the limit ~94% utilization.

I immediately paid it off since the interest was high and the effect it had on my FICO score. Well I just refreshed my report for the first time in a couple of months, and low and behold it's still showing up as a $3,300 balance!!! It shows that it first reported 4/2013 and last updated 4/2013. I am so frustrated that I dug into savings to wipe that balance out, and yet it's still dragging my score down because they won't update the balance now that it's at zero. How can I get them to send in the new balances to the credit bureaus? I've tried calling them, and they are so difficult to talk to and act like they don't even understand what I'm talking about. I've had 6 statements generate since they reported the balance, so I'm sure that there has been ample time to reflect the new balance. I'm afraid that it's causing my score to be probably 10 points lower than it would be otherwise!

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The best way to correct this is dispute the bal. on each of the CB's. I had the same thing happen to me !!!

[MTSN]

So I spent some more time on the phone with the CU about the LOC, and they said that I need to call the credit bureaus and have them send a letter to the CU to request the new balance. That seems totally absurd to me that they just wouldn't report to the bureaus on their own! The consumer shouldn't have to police them and contact credit bureaus..so frustrating.

[Crashem]

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@MTSN wrote:

So I spent some more time on the phone with the CU about the LOC, and they said that I need to call the credit bureaus and have them send a letter to the CU to request the new balance. That seems totally absurd to me that they just wouldn't report to the bureaus on their own! The consumer shouldn't have to police them and contact credit bureaus..so frustrating.

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Not surprising with small organizations.  Basically they are asking for you to dispute it and they will correct it.  I would dispute that balance is wrong.

[MTSN]

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@Crashem wrote:

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@MTSN wrote:

So I spent some more time on the phone with the CU about the LOC, and they said that I need to call the credit bureaus and have them send a letter to the CU to request the new balance. That seems totally absurd to me that they just wouldn't report to the bureaus on their own! The consumer shouldn't have to police them and contact credit bureaus..so frustrating.

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Not surprising with small organizations.  Basically they are asking for you to dispute it and they will correct it.  I would dispute that balance is wrong.

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It does appear that way. Fortunately TransUnion does show a $0 balance but EX and EQ still show the balance from April. I'll go ahead and submit the disputes since I have no need to apply for credit for a while!

[lifeinbeats]

I'm new to the credit score game, but I have read from several sources that cc companies have a vested interest in keeping your credit score down. They report your balances to your credit score right after your payment is due, so that each month you show a higher uti. So I would not be surprised in the least if they just left some information off when reporting to EQ all together. Such a sheisty business with no checks and balances. It's really a shame, considering it can be the difference between getting a mortgage and not.