how long until EXP, EQ, TU recognize balances?

[Anonymous]

say i get my credit statement on 9/15 and i owe $500 on that statement, when will it show up on your credit report?

reason being, i'm planning to take out a car loan soon.  i have heard that if your cards report a 0 balance the month before you apply for a car loan can help your rate.  is this true?  i may reset all my cards to 0 if the credit agencies will recognize the 9/15 balance as $0 within a week or so.  TIA.

[suzook1]

statement date for all plus an extra day or two. Some like hsbc have been said to report at the end of the month but mine reported on the statement date

[thom02099]

HSBC does report at the end of the month, doesn't seem to correlate with your statement date.  Others seem to be shortly after the statement date, but that can also be delayed a month.  I recently got a CLI from 1st Command Visa, went from $2500 to $7500, this was just before the statement cut off for August, so was hoping that would show on my CR for September, but it's not yet showing up; will likely have to wait til after next statement date.  Other balances that I paid off in August, showed on the credit reports within 4-7 days of the statement date.

[Anonymous]

thanks.  so is it a true statement that if i pay my bills so that they report to the credit agencies with a $0 balance on 9/15, that (assuming they do report within a day or two) it would help me get a better auto loan rate if i apply for that loan after 9/15?

[HoldingOntoHope]

Total and individual CC utilization accounts for 30% of your credit score, so if your CC utilization was high on the previous statements then paying your CC's down to $0 should (could, might YMMV) give you a boost in your credit score.

As to whether this would give you a better rate on your auto loan nobody could say without a lot more info. Auto loan rates differ for new cars vs. used cars. They tend to run in credit score tiers so if you were already in the qualifying tiers it may have no effect. If it moved you from non-qualifying to qualifying it could have a significant effect. If your credit scores are already good (mid 700's or higher) the change in score from utilization would probably not change your rate.

I know there are several other factors which would come into play, but most importantly you would see no effect until your CC statements cut and reported to the bureaus so it would take more than a few days unless all your CC statement dates are 09/15. And just to further complicate things, most folks see a maximum score when they pay all but ONE revolving account to $0 and leave a small (1-9%) balance on the single CC account.

[Anonymous]

thanks for the response.  i'll tell you this much: i have a 748 EQ that i pulled a few weeks ago, my credit history is only 3 years, and unfortunately i had one corporate amex INQ in the last year (though it didn't show up on EQ, probably will on Experian).  i would hope i can get a great low rate from BofA, but i haven't started checking yet.  i just closed out my old auto loan and so figure anything that i can do to boost the score before applying for a loan couldn't hurt.  so, i'll pay one to $0 and leave the other at <9%.  are there any other suggestions or advice for how to increase my upcoming auto loan rate?  thanks.

[HoldingOntoHope]

If your score is a FICO Score and there were no problems with your previous auto loan you will be golden with any lender. Remember that most dealerships use an auto-enhanced Fico score which generally adds points for a previous good auto loan. Stop sweating and start shopping.

You may want to compare BofA's BEST auto rate against some other institutions before you apply with them. A quick Google search should find you the best available rates out there and you would probably qualify if you are eligible for a loan. Credit Unions will require you to be a member, but membership qualification can be easy in a lot of cases. Only a select few (NFCU, PSECU) come to mind with limited membership criteria and no back door way to join. Good Luck and post your results for other members education.