topic Re: Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus in Credit Cards

Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus

Anonymous — Sat, 13 May 2017 22:17:18 GMT

Hello,

I'm new to credit and wanted to know if utilization reports after the due date or after the statement cuts? I'm asking because I haven't been using my cards between the due date and when the statement cuts because I dont want the utilization to be reported.

For example I wanted to buy my friend a gift with my VS card. I PIF already and the due date was the 11th and statement cuts the 16th. If I use the card now will it report the use after statement cuts. I pay early so it normally doesn't bother me but I noticed that it can take a few days before a payment posts. My fear is that I'll end up accidentally reporting a balance if the payment doesn't post before the statement cuts.

Is it just good practice to not use cards between that time or is it unnecessary because it only reports after the due date.

My utilization is currently @ 14%

Re: Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus

HeavenOhio — Sat, 13 May 2017 22:23:19 GMT

Most of the time, you simply need to aim for under half of your cards reporting a balance and that those balances are reasonable. You'll want to optimize your score when you're applying for credit, i.e. a major card reporting a small balance with the rest of your cards reporting zero. However, if it pleases you to optimize all the time, go for it. It's good to know how to pull it off.

Most cards report the statement balance on or just after the statement cut date. US Bank is an exception; they report on the first of the month. In addition to reporting the statement balance just after the statement date, Chase will also report zero whenever you pay to zero. That means that you probably don't want to opt for a Chase card to be your only card reporting a balance.

Re: Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus

Anonymous — Sat, 13 May 2017 22:50:04 GMT

Thank You! I do have higher balances reporting because of Financing...300/5000 w/ Amazon Store Card and 520/1300 on Wayfair Card. Also 250/6000 on Walmart.

I PIF other cards...VS, Amazon Chase, Cap1 and I have 2 new AMEX cards and a Wellsfargo card that aren't reporting yet but I plan to keep paid off.

Do you know if the Chase rule applies to the dual branded Chase Amazon card?

Re: Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus

HeavenOhio — Sat, 13 May 2017 23:33:13 GMT

As far as I know, it's all Chase cards. The Amazon card is definitely included.

It's best that a major card is the one to report (Visa, MC, Discover, AMEX). But since you have some store cards that are "busy," you might be better off with the way things are. If you have no credit need cominig up, you could try letting a major card report a small balance and see if your scores are affected. As a matter of fact, the Chase card might be a good one to experiment with. If the effect is negative, you can pay it off right away.

Re: Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus

Anonymous — Sun, 14 May 2017 03:02:49 GMT

Thanks! I will experiment with Chase and leave like 10$ on it and see what happens. Thank you for the advice and great info!!

Re: Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus

HeavenOhio — Sun, 14 May 2017 10:23:15 GMT

The fun part is once we learn not to panic about a few points, we can experiment… as long as the experimentation doesn't involve anything irresponsible.

I recently brought my utilization down to a tiny balance on a single card just so I'd know how to do it. I goofed around for a little over two months to achieve that. The gurus here tell us that we can pull that off in 40 days or so. Now that I've "practiced," I should be able to do that more quickly the next time around.

My next experiment is to find out what my scores will "tolerate." So far, I've learned that one of my scores is dinged as soon as I let a second card report. The other two don't care. Now, I'm gradually increasing balances just to see what the effect might be. So far, there's been none.

The cool thing is that it's nice to find this stuff out at a time when a few points up and down don't matter. That way, we know what some of our options are. There's a lot of good general advice that's always going work. But other things can vary based on one's individual situation.

Re: Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus

MrDisco99 — Sun, 14 May 2017 14:54:06 GMT

Great info HeavenOhio!

On the cards we pay down to zero, does it make a difference if we charge something to it before paying it down or if we SD it?

Re: Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus

Aduke1122 — Sun, 14 May 2017 19:17:43 GMT

Hey HeavenOhio , I have been playing around with my scores also to see the diff affects of diff balances and such , like you stated two of my reports don't really care too much about more than one card reporting. But my EQ drops a good bit ? Is your EQ the one that got dinged ?

Re: Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus

HeavenOhio — Mon, 15 May 2017 03:10:25 GMT

@MrDisco99 wrote:
Great info HeavenOhio!

On the cards we pay down to zero, does it make a difference if we charge something to it before paying it down or if we SD it?

As long as the current balance on the card is at zero when it's time for it to report to the credit bureaus, you can charge mostly as you please. The thing you need to avoid is having a pending charge sneaking through at the last minute before your balance is reported.

If there are places where you charge routinely, you can go through past statements to get an idea of how quickly their pending payments post. That'll give you an idea of how close you can cut it with certain merchants. Many merchants only take a day to claim their pending money. Some take five. One place where I charge usually takes about two days for the pending to clear. But if I happen to charge on a Friday or Saturday, the payment won't clear until Tuesday. If you don't know what a particular merchant is going to do, I'd allow five days.

Re: Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus

HeavenOhio — Mon, 15 May 2017 03:13:17 GMT

@Aduke1122 wrote:
Hey HeavenOhio , I have been playing around with my scores also to see the diff affects of diff balances and such , like you stated two of my reports don't really care too much about more than one card reporting. But my EQ drops a good bit ? Is your EQ the one that got dinged ?

Yes, it's Equifax. My ding is about five points. I've seen it happen with two of seven and two of eight cards reporting a balance, with the ding being the same. The other two bureaus will allow up to three of my cards to report balances without a ding.

People here should keep in mind that when it comes to how many cards report a balance, different people can see different results. The general advice is that less than half should have balances. When you're about to apply for credit and want to get the most out of your score, the safest bet is to let only one card report a balance.

Re: Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus

Aduke1122 — Mon, 15 May 2017 05:08:05 GMT

Thanks for the info HeavenOhio , for some reason my EQ is lagging behind my other two scores I'm trying to figure out what to do to get it up there wth the others

Re: Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus

ChargedUp — Mon, 15 May 2017 05:38:24 GMT

@Aduke1122 wrote:
Thanks for the info HeavenOhio , for some reason my EQ is lagging behind my other two scores I'm trying to figure out what to do to get it up there wth the others

My EQ does the same thing. TU is my highest. Strangely my EQ has gotten the most HP's from the cards I have in my signature. I only have 2 HP's on TU (Chase and Elan).

Re: Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus

Anonymous — Mon, 15 May 2017 13:53:28 GMT

Awesome! Thanks for all the information!! Also love the follow up questions because I learned even more because of it. Thanks for asking everyone. I hadnt even thought of those things. Even though I'm new to credit I'm currently in the garden so it'll be great to experiment with different credit scenarios.

I charged a little over 5$ to my Chase Amazon yesterday but it's still pending and statement cuts tomorrow so hopefully it posts and reports. I might have to wait until next month for the Chase experiment but I'll see what happens this time around.

My EQ is currently my lowest score. I doubt it's the utilization thing because I'm not under 9% and 3 of my 7 cards currently are reporting higher dollar balances. Its interesting though.

Scores Ex- 690 (AMEX Site/Ex App) / TU- 710 (Amazon Sync) 698 (Credit Karma) /EQ - 686 (Credit Karma)

Re: Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus

HeavenOhio — Mon, 15 May 2017 18:05:14 GMT

@Aduke1122 wrote:
Thanks for the info HeavenOhio , for some reason my EQ is lagging behind my other two scores I'm trying to figure out what to do to get it up there wth the others

In my case, my Equifax score is the highest by eight points despite the ding for reporting two balances. Where Equifax one-ups the other reports is that I have a that I have the least number of inquiries (one) and my highest AAoA (average age of accounts) by a slight amount.

But inquiries and AAoA don't follow through to my other reports. My TransUnion score is three points higher than my Experian Score. TU has three inquires vs. two on Experian. And TU has a slightly younger AAoA.

I think it boils down to how I'm handled by the customization of FICO8 for each bureau.

Re: Question concerning CC Utilization reporting to Credit Bureaus

HeavenOhio — Mon, 15 May 2017 18:29:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I charged a little over 5$ to my Chase Amazon yesterday but it's still pending and statement cuts tomorrow so hopefully it posts and reports. I might have to wait until next month for the Chase experiment but I'll see what happens this time around.

If you want to see the effect of leaving the Chase balance, wait until you see it on your report before paying it. I let my Chase statement cut a balance this month, then I paid it in full the next business day. I think Chase skipped over reporting the statement balance and went straight to reporting zero. But a little more time should elapse for me to know this for sure.

For me, this was a good thing because I was hoping that would happen. For someone else who wants the reported the balance to stick, not giving it time to report before paying would be a negative.

If one wants a Chase balance to stick on the reports for an entire month, this would be the plan.

Let the statement cut with a small balance.
Charge something and let it post.
Pay the statement balance in full, but don't fully pay the current balance (which includes new charges)
Bring the balance down to the desired amount (either zero or a small amount) before the next statement cuts.

@Anonymous wrote:
My EQ is currently my lowest score. I doubt it's the utilization thing because I'm not under 9% and 3 of my 7 cards currently are reporting higher dollar balances. Its interesting though.

Scores Ex- 690 (AMEX Site/Ex App) / TU- 710 (Amazon Sync) 698 (Credit Karma) /EQ - 686 (Credit Karma)

At some point, you should grab all three FICO8s so you're comparing apples to apples. AMEX gives you a FICO8 based on Experian. Credit Karma gives you VantageScores based on TransUnion and Equifax. I don't know what score you get from Amazon/Synchrony. You can get all three FICO8s, along with reports, by signing up for a $1 trial at CreditCheck Total, then cancelling the subscription that comes with it. I've never done that myself, but if you have questions, someone here should be able to fill you in.