credit reporting question

[Anonymous]

Hello there

I opened and account with tidewater finance company for a bed in early feb. I have made every payment either on time or early and for double the amount. Atleast 3 months now. My credit report shows and opening balance of what the account was opened at. Nothing has decreased. I opened this credit line as my highest credit line (1250).

Soooo..... i assume this is affecting my credit as the 1250 balance isnt decreasing month by month as i planned. Also i wondering if i should call 1 or all 3 bureaus and ask them why its not reporting. What options do i have guys??? Lol

[Anonymous]

If the current balance is still the full amount of the CL it will show 100% Util which is really hard on a score (assumming a revolving CL not installment loan?). I would contact the lender and ask if they are doing montly updates, and if not what their reporting policy is. If they state they have been reporting then a follow up with the CRA might help.

[Momof5]

Installment loans don't affect your util like CC's do.  Is this a revolving acct?

Anyway, some creditors only report to the CRAs quarterly.  If you haven't seen the payments indicated by month 4, I would call the OC and ask them what's up!

[Anonymous]

The OC states they report to all 3 bureaus every 30 days....

So whats my quickest/best option to getting in contact with the bureaus phone/mail/online???

[Anonymous]

It sounds like you have an official copy of your credit report, yes?  One that was pulled in the last few days?  (That's why you know that the balance isn't going down.)  On the credit report it should give you instructions on how to dispute with that CRA: by phone and by mail and via the web.

That said, however, the advice that the other folks on the thread are giving is worth considering.  Some installment loans only report quarterly, and it's conceivable that the "reports every 30 days" might have just been a mistake on the OC's part.  My student loan company only updates their balance every 90 days.  So it might be worth considering just giving it another 60 days and see what happens.  (People here are also saying that getting this installment loan to report with up to the month accuracy isn't terribly important with respect to score impact.)

You sound like somebody who is trying to learn a lot about how credit scores work and how to be hyperattentive to improving yours.  Good for you!  Since that is your frame of mind, you may want to rethink getting any more loans from finance companies.  In the long run having those FC accounts may hurt your credit more than it helps it.   There's a lot of info about that issue on the web, easy to google it and find out more.

Good luck!

[RobertEG]

I see no advantage to filing a dispute until you reach the point where you believe the CRA, and not the creditor, is clearly at fault.

If you dispute, the CRA will forward to the creditor and rely totally upon the creditor response for their determination.

As such, I would continue to handle informally by calls and questions to the creditor,.

they surely recognize their duty to report payments and reducing balances as they occur, and I would presume that whatever the problem, it can be resolved directly with them.  When resolved, you will arrive at the same scoring as if they had complied from the git-go, so it does not appear to have immediate criticality.

[Anonymous]

I appreciate the responses guys!!! Thanks

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Also i wondering if i should call 1 or all 3 bureaus and ask them why its not reporting.

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The CRA's don't pull updates.  The creditors report to the CRA's.  You'd need to start with the creditor to confirm that they're properly reporting the data to the CRA.