topic Re: Transactions take too long to post! in Credit Cards

Transactions take too long to post!

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 16:04:47 GMT

I make weekly personal and business purchases of $8k-$12k, but noticed it takes transactions between 4-7 days to post. Is that normal? I prefer to bring my balance down before my statements cut to show very little utilization. For that reason, I have to stop spending a week before my statements cut to let the transactions post and then pay down balance. This is very inconvenient. If I make a mistake of making a large purchase within the last week before the statement cuts, it doesn't post until after the statement cuts, which then shows a higher utilization. Is there any way around this?

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

simplynoir — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 16:11:34 GMT

With what issuer?

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 16:18:31 GMT

Stop pulling payments using the creditor's website and start pushing payments from your checking account website.

I regularly will throw a $2000 charge on a $2500 limit card that may take anywhere from 3-5 days to post, but then a day or two later I'll push $2000 from my checking account to the credit card. Never have an issue with the payment taking longer than a business day to post.

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 16:37:21 GMT

I'd like to clarify that the purchase transactions are taking too long to post, not the payments I'm making.

Currently Discover is heavy in my rotation because it's my first year. I recently got the Chase FU and Cap1 Spark.

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

Kforce — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 17:23:11 GMT

Most of my creditors have a 3 day pending time window, except at statement posting date.

They speed up the pending charges by a day or two having them post on statement early.

The best way to control utility is to "Push" money from your Bank or CU "Billpay Service" about

five days prior to the statement cut date. Push enough to cover all pending and expected

weeks spend. This guarantee's a zero balance reporting.

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

MakingProgress — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 17:33:04 GMT

You don't need to wait for the purchase to post to the account to make your payment. As others have said push the payment from your online bill pay. Your credit card will post your payment and it may create a credit balance, but it will zero out when the purchase posts.

I recently went on a vacation and wanted to make sure that my card was at zero for the trip, but I knew I had a small recurring charge that would post the day I was leaving. So I paid my balance + the amount of that recurring charge. On the day I left I had a credit balance, but once that charge posted I had a zero balance. I didn't acutally use that card on the trip, but I wanted the entire CL available to me if I wanted to use it.

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 17:33:44 GMT

This is conjecture on my part because I've never actually timed it, but I feel like changes take longer to post on my discover & chase cards compared to other lenders. Maybe I'm mistaken but discover in particular feels like it averages 5 days before something goes from pending to posted. Next time I use it I'll make a note to time it

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 17:49:40 GMT

I was talking with a friend at a meeting the other day about folks who hound you about not having cashed checks promptly upon receipt. He is treasurer for our union, and as he points out, if you keep your records correctly, then that money is already gone once you write the check. There is no need to worry about it any more.

I point this out just to say that if you are keeping your own records and not relying solely on your banks or cc's statement page, you will not have this issue. Use a budget program or spreadsheet. It can be as simple or complicated as pleases you. Or just use one of those old-fashioned checkbook registers; I have a friend who asks for mine and still uses them to keep balanced, and it works for her.

As others point out, make payments based on your own record of purchases and when the cc tells you a payment is due (obviously you will need to reconcile your statement with your own records). But don't worry if a payment hasn't posted immediately. It happens to me too. It still "counts" as spent money as far as you and I are concerned, and that's all that matters.

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

Kforce — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 17:52:59 GMT

You need to start counting days from when it first post as pending

at the Bank/CU. When you buy items on line the company you purchase

from will usually hold charging your card until the item ships.

This can add many day's from time that you push the "Buy" button.

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 22:09:13 GMT

I completely understand, I too stop spending a week before the statment cuts to make sure nothing posts out of my control. hahah

It is a very long process to make transactions happen in the first place. But some of the slowest from my own experience is Capital One and Citi. And Citi will not let you make a payment if that current balance is $0 (regardless of what is pending) so if you mess up and have a charge 2 days before the statment cuts well kiss that goodbye.

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

elim — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 22:22:16 GMT

Rotation, rotation, rotation.

Use other card(s) every two weeks.

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

elim — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 22:27:30 GMT

To add... It doesn't hurt to let large PIF statement amounts report to the CR's (if you pay after cut). I like a "big spend, big payment" profile. Just cut a $0 / 1%-9% and get the score boost before you app for anything.

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

NRB525 — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 22:56:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I make weekly personal and business purchases of $8k-$12k, but noticed it takes transactions between 4-7 days to post. Is that normal? I prefer to bring my balance down before my statements cut to show very little utilization. For that reason, I have to stop spending a week before my statements cut to let the transactions post and then pay down balance. This is very inconvenient. If I make a mistake of making a large purchase within the last week before the statement cuts, it doesn't post until after the statement cuts, which then shows a higher utilization. Is there any way around this?

Do you happen to know what the score impact is from those later charges reporting?

Are that few points worth the worry, if they are temporary?

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 00:00:55 GMT

Best I can tell, it seems to vary by issuer, and then even by where you made the purchase.

As the OP mentioned, Discover seems to be the slowest to post to me. In particular, Discover purchases from Sam's take forever to post. Like, up to 5 days. Meanwhile, I find Citi to be lightning quick. When I use the Citi at Sam's on a Sunday, by Tuesday at 4AM (when I get up and make payments), it's posted and I can go ahead and pay it. With Discover, I'm lucky if I can do that by the next Friday. But Discover does seem to be a little faster with purchases from other places besides Sam's.

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 17:45:45 GMT

I appreciate everyone's response and suggestions.

I had been pulling from the issuer's website, but will begin to push from my bank. I just setup all my credit card accounts under Bill Pay and pushed a $10 payment to Discover as a trial before I start pushing larger amounts.

A couple questions, though.

1. If there is an account credit when the statement cuts, how is that reported to the bureaus? Does it still report as a zero balance?

2. Do all credit card issuers accept pushed payments while purchases are pending? Do some just simply reject pushed payments, trying to refrain you from having a positive balance?

Also, just last month, Discover didn't post a purchase I made in time causing me to report a 56% utilization. My score dropped by 46 points because of that, but since has recovered.

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 17:53:54 GMT

I’ve never seen a push rejected for any reason but I also make sure it’s paid digitally as it is way faster than the bank mailing a check.

Positive credits below $0 balance report as $0. All my CCs but one have a balance below $0 by a few bucks up to $30 on Sync Amazon and they all report as $0.

Doing a small trial payment is very important to see when it posts and when the credit limit is restored!

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

Kforce — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 15:43:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

1. If there is an account credit when the statement cuts, how is that reported to the bureaus? Does it still report as a zero balance?
( Yes it reports as Zero balance )

2. Do all credit card issuers accept pushed payments while purchases are pending? Do some just simply reject pushed payments, trying to refrain you from having a positive balance? ( All of my issuers accept pushed payments ( Electronic -ACH - {2-3} days to credit, however I have 2 issuers that only except 4 payments a month )

Also, just last month, Discover didn't post a purchase I made in time causing me to report a 56% utilization. My score dropped by 46 points because of that, but since has recovered. ( Utilization is a snapshot of reported use, If trying to micro-manage utility you need have all report zero, except one at less than 8.9-%, and have each report
to the credit bureaus. This can take about a full month of paying cards and controlling what reports to see the score change. )

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

NRB525 — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 04:44:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I appreciate everyone's response and suggestions.

Also, just last month, Discover didn't post a purchase I made in time causing me to report a 56% utilization. My score dropped by 46 points because of that, but since has recovered.

A 56% utilization on one card dropped your score by 46 points? What was overall utilization at that point, total of all cards, and how many cards do you have?

Where are you getting your scores from?

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

HeavenOhio — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 13:37:29 GMT

@Kforce wrote:
except one at less than 9.8%

8.9%.

Re: Transactions take too long to post!

Kforce — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 15:42:54 GMT

HeavenOhio wrote:
8.9%.

Thank you for correcting the error.

You are correct, ( 8.9% ) or lower.

I had a brain malfunction.