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Score dropped 5 pts because of a 181 balance on my BoA card that HASN'T reported a statement

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Settemio
Regular Contributor

Score dropped 5 pts because of a 181 balance on my BoA card that HASN'T reported a statement

I am very confused. I keep small balances on ONLY two cards I have when the statements post each month. I have a BoA card that I pay in full by the 5th each month because the statement is the 7th. Today I received a notice from MyFico of a score change. I logged on and I got a 5 point drop stating "New balance: $181 on my BoA card

 
 

A balance increase on an account may lower your FICO® score.

 

The issue is, the statement hasn't posted, it will after the 7th. I even went online and checked. I am assuming the drop in score isn't related to the amount of balance, but because of too many balances on many accounts, which is why I only let two post... So how can I have this post a balance, if the statement hasn't even happened for another 7 days? The whole point in managing this is to know when to pay in full...

Message 1 of 15
14 REPLIES 14
gdale6
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Score dropped 5 pts because of a 181 balance on my BoA card that HASN'T reported a statement

BofA is known to possibly report mid cycle and at end of month irregardless of stmt date. Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches.

Message 2 of 15
AndySoCal
Valued Contributor

Re: Score dropped 5 pts because of a 181 balance on my BoA card that HASN'T reported a statement

How much did that change your credit utilization?

FICO Scores XPN v8 802 V2 831 (SDFCU) TUC 803 v8 EFX 807 (10/2023)
Discover 09/90 19,000, JCPenney 10/2008 4,700 US Bank Cash+ 12,000 Citibank Custom Cash 5/2015 11,100 C State Dept. FCU 15,000 06/2023 , 02/2024 Redstone FCU Signature VISA 10,000 Banking: Ally Bank Credit Unions: Lafayette FCU Quorum FCU State Department FCU State Department FCU Pelican State CU Redstone FCU

Message 3 of 15
jimmycreates
Member

Re: Score dropped 5 pts because of a 181 balance on my BoA card that HASN'T reported a statement

UPDATE: I should clarify, when I contact BOA, I merely told them that they update the balance at an inopportune time, and requested that they update my credit report with the up to date balance, which was $0 for me.  BOA chose to initiate a dispute on my behalf to correct the information.   Hope this clarifies things.   

 

Call BOA and dispute the balance. This happened to me and it caused my score to drop drastically. They ran a dispute and updated the balance. Just make sure you pay the balance before you call, so the update all reflect 0, or whatever your preferred balance is. Also, you might need to call back and request that they close the dispute. I was shopping for mortgage and couldn't get approved with an open dispute.

 

They were very understanding, and this whole process might have taken a week, or so...  

Message 4 of 15
Shogun
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Score dropped 5 pts because of a 181 balance on my BoA card that HASN'T reported a statement


@jimmycreates wrote:
Call BOA and dispute the balance. This happened to me and cause my score to drop drastically. They ran a dispute and updated the balance. Just make sure you pay the balance before you call, so the update all reflect 0. Also, you need to call back and request the close the dispute. I was shopping for mortgage and couldn't get approved with an open dispute. Hope this helps.

This would not be a valid dispute.  A dispute is only warranted when there is incorrect information on your CR.  This is not the case here.  It's just the OP got caught with a mid cycle update apparently,  and sometimes these happen.  When it updates again, your util on that will go down and your score will go back up.  

Starting Score: 504
July 2013 score:
EQ FICO 819, TU08 778, EX "806 lender pull 07/26/2013
Goal Score: All Scores 760+, Newest goal 800+
Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge

Current scores after adding $81K in CLs and 2 new cars since July 2013
EQ:809 TU 777 EX 790 Now it's just garden time!

June 2017 update: All scores over 820, just pure gardening now.
Message 5 of 15
Settemio
Regular Contributor

Re: Score dropped 5 pts because of a 181 balance on my BoA card that HASN'T reported a statement


@Shogun wrote:

@jimmycreates wrote:
Call BOA and dispute the balance. This happened to me and cause my score to drop drastically. They ran a dispute and updated the balance. Just make sure you pay the balance before you call, so the update all reflect 0. Also, you need to call back and request the close the dispute. I was shopping for mortgage and couldn't get approved with an open dispute. Hope this helps.

This would not be a valid dispute.  A dispute is only warranted when there is incorrect information on your CR.  This is not the case here.  It's just the OP got caught with a mid cycle update apparently,  and sometimes these happen.  When it updates again, your util on that will go down and your score will go back up.  


This isn't affecting my utility like I said in the original message. The balance it is reporting is $187... My current Total Credit Limit is $180,000 and I am using 0% because I am using less than 1%. This score drop is because instead of three cards reporting with balances, I now have 3 cards... This may not seem like a big deal dropping from 780 to 775, but I am in the middle of buying a new home and I cannot have it go down... I will pay in full in the next couple days and when the statement reports after the 7th of Feb, it should bounce back... It just aggravates me because I was handling this the way I am supposed to and still get a hit.

Message 6 of 15
Shogun
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Score dropped 5 pts because of a 181 balance on my BoA card that HASN'T reported a statement

I know, and it doesn't make sense to me.  You could have thousands on one card and it not affect you, but have a couple dollars across a few cards and you take a hit.  But like I said, it was probably a midcycle update.

Starting Score: 504
July 2013 score:
EQ FICO 819, TU08 778, EX "806 lender pull 07/26/2013
Goal Score: All Scores 760+, Newest goal 800+
Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge

Current scores after adding $81K in CLs and 2 new cars since July 2013
EQ:809 TU 777 EX 790 Now it's just garden time!

June 2017 update: All scores over 820, just pure gardening now.
Message 7 of 15
jimmycreates
Member

Re: Score dropped 5 pts because of a 181 balance on my BoA card that HASN'T reported a statement

Valid dispute, or not, this is exactly what happened to me.  Mid-cycles BOA reported a very high balance for me that affected my score.  I called them and explained this after I had already paid the balance down, and BOA updated my account through their dispute process.  

 

I'm sharing what worked for me, since we are experiencing similar situations here. I just did this in January, and now my balance is reported as 0, and my score is back to the level I was looking at previously. So, valid dispute is just a technicality - I'm posting about what got me results.  Thx. 

 

 

Message 8 of 15
09Lexie
Moderator Emerita

Re: Score dropped 5 pts because of a 181 balance on my BoA card that HASN'T reported a statement


@jimmycreates wrote:

Valid dispute, or not, this is exactly what happened to me.  Mid-cycles BOA reported a very high balance for me that affected my score.  I called them and explained this after I had already paid the balance down, and BOA updated my account through their dispute process.  

 

I'm sharing what worked for me, since we are experiencing similar situations here. I just did this in January, and now my balance is reported as 0, and my score is back to the level I was looking at previously. So, valid dispute is just a technicality - I'm posting about what got me results.  Thx. 

 

 


The point Sogun was making is that your dispute was invalid.  Lenders may, at their discretion report your balance at any time.  FCRA states that the information reported must be accurate; at the time BOA did a mid-cycle report the balance was correct.

 

Further, the advising of fiing invalid disputes are a violation of User Guidelines and myfico's TOS.

Message 9 of 15
jimmycreates
Member

Re: Score dropped 5 pts because of a 181 balance on my BoA card that HASN'T reported a statement

I'm advising of my personal  experience with BOA.  And, I didn't request your so-called invalid dispute with BOA - I merely called them and stated BOA reported my balance at an unusual time, and this adversely affected my credit score. I explained I was shopping for a mortgage and asked whether they would update my balance with the three credit agencies. BOA chose to initiate the dispute based upon this request.

 

Furthermore, at the timeI contacted them, the balance was reporting inaccurately, and was showing an account that is normally paid in full, as almost maxed out. As you can imagine, that was causing a horrible 30+ point drop on my FICO score. I see absolutely nothing wrong with this scenario, and hope my experience helps someone else. You do not have to sit and passively wait until your credit card company reports the balance during the next month, as a paying customer they are often willing to help you.  

 

I think that reporting this experience is within the fair use parameters of this community board, and hope explaining my experience can help others.  

Message 10 of 15
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