topic Re: Question about updating CC balances in Credit Cards

Question about updating CC balances

wwinter — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:56:09 GMT

Hi everyone,

Last week I paid my cc utilization down to 1.8% in anticipation of applying for a car loan later this week. Two of the four cards report balances to the CRA's on the 26th and 28th but two others, one is CapOne and the other is Home Depot, don't report I just discovered until Nov. 9 and 10 respectively. I have letters from both CapOne and Home Depot stating that the accounts are at zero balance as of last week.

My question is will my faxing these into the 3 CRA's help to get the balances updated sooner? Or do I just need to sit tight?

Thanks!

Re: Question about updating CC balances

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:03:54 GMT

The last time I spoke to someone at Experian about something similar they said I have to wait for the creditor to report the balance.

In my case it wasn't about trying to show a 0 balance, it was to get the card reporting on my report in the first place, but they said they basically won't do anything unless the creditor sends the request. As a consumer, you mean absolutely nothing to them. All they care about is what the creditors tell them.

You could, of course, get lucky! But in my (somewhat limited, I suppose) experience dealing with CRAs, they're about as much fun to deal with as the IRS.

Edit: Apparently I don't know how to spell report. Or creditor.

Re: Question about updating CC balances

tcbofade — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:03:47 GMT

How big are the balances?

If you're dealing with small dollar amounts (under $1,000 or so...) I don't think that your utilization ratio will have much of an affect on a car loan app.

True, they consider the same credit information, but a secured loan (car loan) and a credit card are different animals and each weigh different factors differently.

Re: Question about updating CC balances

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:07:13 GMT

@tcbofade wrote:
If you're dealing with small dollar amounts (under $1,000 or so...) I don't think that your utilization ratio will have much of an affect on a car loan app.

I think it's the question of the impact it has on your credit score more than the amount itself. Ever lender is going to process things differently, obviously. But even if they ignore the amount of debt, it's still going to have an impact on your credit score if the util % is too high, at which point you'll get a worse APR.

Re: Question about updating CC balances

wwinter — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:08:27 GMT

We just bought a house and so we were at $6400 usage out of $6700 total credit. The total balances are now at exactly $100. I'm looking for this to boost my FICO scores thus hopefully getting me a lower interest rate. I'm not as concerned about my dti, I have very good income (low six figures) and even considering the new mortgage my dti is low.

Re: Question about updating CC balances

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:16:27 GMT

Yep, exactly my point - you can easily pay off the balance, and it shouldn't be a problem - but when you're talking about automatically calculated scores, it's just going to see your 95% utilization and put up a huge red flag.

I mean really, you'd basically have the same problem if you have a $300 card with $280 balance on it. Paying off the balance is obviously no issue at all, but from a scoring perspective, your utilization percentage is too high.

Have you tried contacting the CRAs to ask if they'll update it for you? I'm about 95% sure they'll say no, but it's not like it's going to cost you more than a phone call to find out.

Re: Question about updating CC balances

wwinter — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:24:49 GMT

I called each of the credit card issuers and not one of them will report prior to the end of the billing cycle. They did, however, fax me on their letterhead, letters stating that the balances as of X date were paid in full. I will call the CRA's now and ask them if they will accept these letters and adjust my file accordingly asap. I was just hoping someone here might have had recent experience with faxing updated balance statements to the CRA's and having them take the documents seriously and adjust accordingly.

Re: Question about updating CC balances

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:48:03 GMT

wwinter....any luck in faxing payoff/paydown letters to CRA's? I'm waiting on them to report mine too & am trying to get mortgage approval ASAP!!

Re: Question about updating CC balances

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:44:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
wwinter....any luck in faxing payoff/paydown letters to CRA's? I'm waiting on them to report mine too & am trying to get mortgage approval ASAP!!

Your mortgage company can do what they call a rapid rescore where they calculate off those letters

see this thread http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Mortgage-Loans/Rapid-Rescore-authorization-needed-for-CRAs/m-p/1038428

Re: Question about updating CC balances

wwinter — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:57:13 GMT

I found that the only CRA where I could actually get a CSR on the phone was TransUnion. The rep I spoke to was as helpful as I could have imagined. The will update your balances if you fax them a letter on the letterhead of your various creditors stating the date, the account #, and the current balance. The document MUST be signed by a human being from said firm as well or they will not accept the letters. I can take 5ish business days to get it done but they will respond if you give them what you want.

I got the TU phone number (and others for that matter) from this site.

I couldn't get a human being on the phone at either EQ or EX.

Good luck... at least there's one CRA that will work with you a bit.