topic Re: Noob ? about payment reporting in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Noob ? about payment reporting

snickerpedia — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 00:27:06 GMT

Let's say I have a balance that reported of 1500. If in between the statement closing dates I make a payment of 1500, charge another 300, then pay that off before the date will both payments get reported for the month?

Re: Noob ? about payment reporting

SouthJamaica — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 00:29:23 GMT

@snickerpedia wrote:
Let's say I have a balance that reported of 1500. If in between the statement closing dates I make a payment of 1500, charge another 300, then pay that off before the date will both payments get reported for the month?

The payments don't get reported. Only the balance as of the reporting date -- which is usually the statement date -- gets reported.

Re: Noob ? about payment reporting

snickerpedia — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 00:36:57 GMT

Neither payment gets reported?

Re: Noob ? about payment reporting

SouthJamaica — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 01:04:09 GMT

@snickerpedia wrote:
Neither payment gets reported?

No. What gets reported is the balance, not the payment.

The only thing mentioned in terms of payment is "paid as agreed".

So if your lender reports the statement balance, in the example you gave the balance would be zero. Because all the charges were paid off before the reporting date.

Re: Noob ? about payment reporting

pinkandgrey — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 01:27:12 GMT

The issuer of the card will see both payments, but the credit bureaus will see only the balance as of the statement cut date.

Re: Noob ? about payment reporting

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 01:27:54 GMT

@snickerpedia wrote:
Let's say I have a balance that reported of 1500. If in between the statement closing dates I make a payment of 1500, charge another 300, then pay that off before the date will both payments get reported for the month?

It's possible that the last payment made - the $300 in this case - will show up under 'Recent Payment' or 'Payment Received' on your full credit report obtained directly from the bureaus (like annualcreditreport.com).

It's also possible that TransUnion might record the exact date of the last payment made, like you can see on my full report from TU below.

This seems dependent on the card issuer from what others have posted here. I can tell you that at least TU tracks the amount received and date of last payment on both my credit union issued Mastercard (PSCU is the processor) and Citi Costco Visa card. They also keep track of utilization, high balance, and credit limit month by month.

Re: Noob ? about payment reporting

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 02:58:36 GMT

@pinkandgrey: That isn’t quite correct. The balance on the reporting date is what is reported to the bureaus, not the balance on the statement date. If you make a payment after the statement cuts, but before it reports, the balance reported will be the balance on the day it’s reported, not the statement balance, for most CCC.

And as CassieCard reports, some CCC’s report payment information, as well. Not all CCCs do.

Re: Noob ? about payment reporting

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 03:09:59 GMT

As a general rule, Statement Close date is also Reporting date. The only exceptions, in my experience, are U.S. Bank and Elan Financial Services(a wholly-owned subsidiary of U.S. Bank); they both report account balances on the last business day of the month which doesn't necessarily coincide with the Statement Close date.

Re: Noob ? about payment reporting

snickerpedia — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 03:10:52 GMT

thanks for all your inputs. So do you think it is wiser to make one large sump monthly payment incase the creditor does report the last payment received or does it not matter becuase the issuers are not really looking at that information for approvals?

Re: Noob ? about payment reporting

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 03:26:54 GMT

@snickerpedia wrote:
thanks for all your inputs. So do you think it is wiser to make one large sump monthly payment incase the creditor does report the last payment received or does it not matter becuase the issuers are not really looking at that information for approvals?

It doesn't really matter. Most lenders only care that the account is "paid as agreed" which means that you made at least the Minimum Payment due by the Payment Due date. Although its perfectly acceptable to make multiple payments, the normal behavior is to make a single payment after the statement is created, but on or before the Payment Due date. And especially at the start of a credit relationship you want to appear as "normal" as possible to avoid additional scrutiny.

Re: Noob ? about payment reporting

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 05:51:22 GMT

U.S. Bank is a perfect example. I went through it with them regarding that exact issue after their CSR misinformed me that the statement balance is what would be reported and it was not. It’s definitely better to check than to assume.

Re: Noob ? about payment reporting

SouthJamaica — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 09:37:33 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
As a general rule, Statement Close date is also Reporting date. The only exceptions, in my experience, are U.S. Bank and Elan Financial Services(a wholly-owned subsidiary of U.S. Bank); they both report account balances on the last business day of the month which doesn't necessarily coincide with the Statement Close date.

I can think of other exceptions. DCU reports balance on the 1st, Vantage West reports balance on the 5th, Chase reports new zero balances off cycle, PenFed PLOC reports over a span of 8 or 9 days over beginning & end of month, Synchrony reports randomly.

Re: Noob ? about payment reporting

SouthJamaica — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 09:36:56 GMT

@snickerpedia wrote:
thanks for all your inputs. So do you think it is wiser to make one large sump monthly payment incase the creditor does report the last payment received or does it not matter becuase the issuers are not really looking at that information for approvals?

It does not matter.

Re: Noob ? about payment reporting

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 17:00:44 GMT

@snickerpedia wrote:
thanks for all your inputs. So do you think it is wiser to make one large sump monthly payment incase the creditor does report the last payment received or does it not matter becuase the issuers are not really looking at that information for approvals?

@SouthJamaica is right - it doesn't matter. I've seen plenty of posts from students using a Discover secured card (with $500 limit) for all their spend in a month (way more than $500), making several payments a month, and they end up with very good (740+) FICO 8 scores in 7 or 8 months time.

A lot can be inferred from the statement balance and high balance as well: If statement balance was $1500 previously and your new monthly reported balance is $35, but your last payment received was $50, they know you made more than one payment and one or more of them totalled $1415.

Re: Noob ? about payment reporting

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 21:35:31 GMT

My Amex Surpass card closed on 7/14, and reported yesterday with the new statement balance including its interest, not the balance at statement closing. I have two more Amex that close tomorrow, and can report back next week if they report the balance as of tomorrow although based on the Surpass, I assume it’ll be the new statement balance.

Re: Noob ? about payment reporting

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 06:21:11 GMT

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Discover-Statement-Cut-0-00-Balance-Reported-76-05/m-p/5686258#M282756