Argh! Do CCCs report to all 3 CRAs at once?

[Anonymous]

We're really, REALLY hoping/trying to get mine and my husband's FICOs up into the 680s+ (the plan being that we need at least 2 each in the 680s to get a decent mortgage rate) - we've paid off a ton of credit card debt in the last few weeks, and also disputed a collection that was reported as unpaid by Transunion (even though it was paid a few months ago), and were planning on only checking our scores once we knew everything had reported, hoping to see maximum score benefits.

Today I saw on the FAKO Experian subscription that we've had for ages that the second of my husband's three credit cards had reported a zero balance, bringing his overall utilization down from 21% to around 16% (it will be below 15% when the only card to still carry a balance reports next week) - I couldn't resist checking his scores, hoping to see something beneficial occurring as a result of only one out of three cards now carrying a balance, as well as from the reduced utilization (the card that just reported its zero balance was previously at 33%).

So! What I found was that:

His Experian score hadn't changed at all - despite the above-mentioned card showing a $0 balance.
His Equifax score hadn't changed at all - and not only that, but Equifax is NOT showing the now-zero balance on this particular card.
His Transunion score has actually gone DOWN three points, and is also still showing an $868 balance on that card, as opposed to the $0 Experian is showing.

Guess which card I paid for the FICO scores on? Yup, the one that just reported (to Experian, at least) itself with a zero balance - thinking myself safe in the knowledge that I could pay it back to zero within days, no harm done.

If Equifax & Transunion are still showing that card with the $868 balance that was previously sitting on there, is there any danger that when they *do* update, they will show the now-balance that has resulted from my using the card to buy my husband's FICO scores??

I'm also very surprised that his Experian score remains unchanged despite the reduced utilization (overall from 21% to 16%, and on that card from 33% to 0%) reflected in his credit report with them. I'm now worrying that he's hit some kind of 'peak' with Experian (and the others?) due to having three past (but now paid) collections on his file. All three resulted from utilities/cable/internet bills that he didn't settle properly when moving from a previous address in late 2006 - as soon as we found them on his credit report in December/January this year, we paid them in full. All are now shown as paid with all three bureaux (as I've mentioned, TU was showing one as unpaid, but see below...).

One final thing, I can see on the Transunion report that TU is now showing the 'unpaid' collection account with a zero balance, at last - I suspect this is not so much a result of the dispute we filed with them as of my nicely asking the collection agency to re-report (previously, although this particular account was showing as paid with EX and EQ, TU were showing an inquiry from the collection agency instead!)... I'm guessing that he's losing points because of the dispute. Should this rectify itself once the dispute is 'resolved', even though there is apparently nothing more to resolve as TU is now reporting correctly?

(edited to fix some typos and hopefully make a bit more sense!)

Message Edited by fevmlo on 04-21-2008 06:34 PM

Message Edited by fevmlo on 04-21-2008 06:35 PM

Message Edited by fevmlo on 04-21-2008 06:41 PM

[haulingthescoreup]

If it's a normal card, it reports to all three CRA's, and it does so on the same day. The problem that you are hitting is that the CRA's are not updating promptly.

It seems to vary by geographical location. My experience is that usually EX (Experian) updates first, and TU and EQ (Equifax) take turns being the lollygagger. It frequently takes a week or more for all three reports to finally show the updated balance. But others find that EX is the pokey one.

When someone is hitting a credit deadline, such as a mortgage closing, it is possible to make all reports update. This is called Rapid Rescore, and I think it costs $20 per account, per CRA. So you're looking at potentially $60 per account to get them updated.

IMO, this is an area where the gummint needs to step in. I can assure you that if a derogatory is reported, it slams on to your reports in no time. But the CRA's seem pretty cheerful about delaying routine reporting that would help your accounts and scores. TU recently was in a two-month-long coma, came out of it, and went right back into another one. During the very brief interval that it was doing its job, Equifax zoned out.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for the (very very fast & very very helpful!) reply!

Sooooo... even though I've just spent $$ to get all these scores, two out of which are entirely unchanged, and one out of which is actually WORSE, does this mean that I should - in theory - have no worries that when EQ and TU *do* update the balance on this card, they will show $0 just like EX? The card is a Target visa, and we need that one to show a zero balance so that my husband will only have one (out of three) credit cards carrying a balance - from what I've read here, that will be better than one at $0, one with a 'proper' balance, and the stupid Target card with a 1% balance...?

As I said, I'm surprised that a drop from 21% to 16% overall utilization didn't seem to matter to Experian - desperately crossing my fingers that when TU & EQ register that drop in util, they will respond with a score increase! In about 10 days from now, the last of my husband's cards (a BoA Visa, the only one of the three now carrying a balance*) should report at about $3010 as opposed to the $3670 it's currently showing... that will mean overall utilization goes from 16% (the current util reflected by EX but not EQ or TU) to 13% - utilization on that card will have gone from 22% to 18%... SURELY all of that should result in some kind of score improvement... shouldn't it? I'm feeling a bit disheartened by Experian's refusal to budge from 676 despite showing that new zero balance today - now freaking out that the other two will be just as indifferent!


(*if you ignore the fact that the Target Visa now has $20-something on it because we just paid for all 3 FICOs. That will be paid off as soon as my Online banking allows, though!)

Message Edited by fevmlo on 04-21-2008 07:00 PM

[smallfry]

I don't have that many accounts but Experian has the updates within two days from statement cuts at the very most sometimes the next morning. EQ and TU up to a week in some cases.