When Will New CC Start Reporting???

Anonymous · ‎04-25-2008

DH received a home depot card with a 3,000 cl two weeks ago. His first card with a good cl.

It has not shown up on his cr yet. Is this because he has not used it yet??

I expect this cl would raise his score some since his only other cc has only a 700 limit.

Any thoughts?

Anonymous · ‎04-25-2008

Different issuers take longer to show up than others. You don't have to use a HD card in order for it to report. It will report eventually. Two weeks is not a long time to wait for a new card to report.

Most cards report monthly on their statement dates, so most new cards won't report at all until the first statement is generated, which could be a month or so after the account is opened. Then, even after the card reports, the CRAs have to update the CRs, which could take another 7-10 days.

There are exceptions, too. BofA reported my new account in about 2 days, while Amex usually takes about 2 months to show up.

Message Edited by cheddar on 04-25-2008 08:43 AM

Anonymous · ‎04-25-2008

Congrats to DH k!

I have the store card, and it took about 3 weeks to start reporting. I'm still looking for my first statement, and I was approved on 3/23.

For what it's worth, after I got the accept message(I applied online, instant approval), the next day I called up their CSR and told them we were wanting to redo our bathroom, and I thought the opening cl of $3,000 wasn't enough. I told her I'd like to be raised to a cl of $5,000. She hit a button and said "congrats! your cl is now $5,000".

Anonymous · ‎04-25-2008

Cheddar,

Thanks for the info. I thought maybe it was not going to report until he used it, which we won't because we are getting ready next week to close on a house.

Am I right in assuming he can expect some kind of score increase with the new $3000 cl and a zero balance?

Every little bit helps! He is at 684 and trying to break 700.

Anonymous · ‎04-25-2008

kmcmillan wrote:

Cheddar,

Thanks for the info. I thought maybe it was not going to report until he used it, which we won't because we are getting ready next week to close on a house.

Am I right in assuming he can expect some kind of score increase with the new $3000 cl and a zero balance?

Every little bit helps! He is at 684 and trying to break 700.

Happy to help. The new $3K CL may help his scores, or it may not. It depends on what his current revolving utilization is, and how significantly the $3K CL affect it. If his utilization is already very low, the additional $3K probably won't do anything to help. If his utilization is very high, it may help some, depending on how high it will be after the $3K reports. How much it will help depends on the before and after util percentages.

Also, a new account sometimes hurts more than it helps. If he already has several new accounts in the last 12 months, or if adding this new account brings down his average age significantly, then it will cost some points.

Whether a new account helps or hurts overall depends on whether the util benefit outweighs the damage done by the new account, including the inquiry and reaging.

Anonymous · ‎04-25-2008

Cheddar,

Could you explain the reaging you are talking about? You lost me there.

He only has two other cards total. One JC penney with a cl of 200, zero balance opened in May of 2007 and one Orchard card with a cl of 700 and 93 balance opened in 2005.

My Fico suggested that he needed more credit and to open a new account. After reading the boards (and building our new house) we decided to go for home depot.

Now you have scared me and it looks like we made a mistake, which we don't need right now.

Anonymous · ‎04-25-2008

I didn't mean to scare you. If the myFICO simulator said he needed new credit, then that is probably true.

By reaging, I am referring to average age of accounts, which is a component in FICO scoring. The longer one's average age of accounts, the better (all else equal).

Utilization

Before getting the new card, his utilization is 10%. That's actually very good, although not quite ideal. (1-9% is best.)

Once the new card reports, his utilization will be 2%. Going from 10% util to 2% should be worth a nice little boost.

Average age

Before the new card, his average age was 2 years. (3 years on one account + 1 year on another account) / 2 accounts = 2 years

When the new card reports, his average age will be 1 year and 4 months. (3 years + 1 year + 0 years) / 3 accounts = 1 year and 4 months

Going from 2 years average age to an average age of 1 year and 4 months will cost a few points.

The inquiry to get the new card may have also cost a few points on the report where the inquiry was pulled.

What I was getting at in my post above is that the overall effect of opening a new credit card account will depend on whether the benefit from the improved utilization outweighs the damage from the decrease in average age and the inquiry.

(The average age calculation I did above assumes that these two credit cards are the only accounts on his reports. If he has other accounts, whether open or closed, the ages of those accounts would need to be part of the calculation as well.)

Make sense?

Anonymous · ‎04-25-2008

Thanks for the explanation, it makes sense now.

There are other accounts on his cr. His average age for accounts is 9 years on myfico.

Maybe that will help, when combined with the lower utilization.

Again, thanks for the info.