topic Dates CC's Report To Bureaus? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Dates CC's Report To Bureaus?

sprint — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:52:20 GMT

I was told that I should inquire directly with the CC issuers to find out what date they report to the credit bureaus. I called WAMU today and the first representative told me that he couldnt release that information, it was against his policy. That really made me mad. When the supervisor came on, he told me it was not against their policy, but that no one there knew what date they report to the bureaus, that they werent supplied that information. When I asked who at Washington Mutual could tell me that, he told me no one, and that I would have to contact the bureaus.. This doesn't sound right to me. It is my credit card, my credit, and I have a right to know. What do you guys think?

Re: Dates CC's Report To Bureaus?

haulingthescoreup — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:27:41 GMT

After a lot of input from members here, this seems to be true:

Almost every CCC updates to the credit bureaus on your statement date, reporting the balance that is on the statement. Go online to your accounts, click "statements", and look at the past dates. Many ramble around, like 4/19, 5/21, 6/20, 7/19, etc., so you'll know that your statements drop and update somewhere around the 20th. Others are always on the same date. Many CCC's/ banks will allow you to pick your statement date, although they usually expect you to change your due date, so you'll need to be clear in your head and then with them about this.

Exceptions:

American Express cards update to the bureaus approximately 4 weeks after the statement drops, reporting the balance that was on that statement.

HSBC/Orchard bank cards update on the last business day of the month, reporting the balance as of that date. They are independent of the statements. However, my HSBC Best Buy store card reports on the statement date, so that's why I emphasized bank cards.

Many store cards don't report at all if you haven't had any activity within the last 30 days. This can make you crazy if they do report a balance, and then never report back to say that it's back to $0. (This has happened to me.)

edit to add: plus see marty's note below about GEMB cards.

NOTE: the statement date is NOT the same as the due date. The statement date is the date on which your statement summarizes the previous 30-31 days' worth of activity, tells you the total balance due, and tells you the minimum amount due and when it is due.

edited to repair html run amok!

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 12-18-2008 12:26 PM

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 12-19-2008 10:27 AM

Re: Dates CC's Report To Bureaus?

marty56 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:54:11 GMT

GEMB products tend to skip the reporting of a 0 balance from time to time. This can be very frustrating when trying to have 1 and only 1 card report a balance while also showing activity on all cards.

Re: Dates CC's Report To Bureaus?

sprint — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 05:17:24 GMT

Thanks so much for the info guys! My Household bank Platinum card said that they report the last Thursday of every month, and the Union Plus card said the end of every month. When WAMU wouldn't give me ANY information, that really made me mad, and I am thinking about only putting 2 dollars a month on it. UGH! But your information is great, I will log on in a moment and check their statement dates!

Re: Dates CC's Report To Bureaus?

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 06:03:13 GMT

I called all the banks whose credit cards I use (3 banks, 4 cards) to find out when they report my balance, because something that I can't get explained to me lowered my FICO recently by nearly 30 points. One of the (computer-generated) possibilities was that my balance to limit ratio was too high. I pay all the cards off before their due date. Turns out that one of them reports on the statement date, one reports "during the 3rd week of the month", and one (Citi's American Airlines Advantage card) won't tell me when they report. I've also gotten different answers from different "customer sercive representatives" from the same bank/card.

I want my balance to be zero when it's reported. This means I have to babysit the **bleep** balances and pay them off before the due date, before the third week of the month, and God knows when for the Citi card. So I've decided to only charge small amts. on the Citi.

Am I doing the right thing by having a zero balance when it's reported? Or does that make it look like I don't use the card?

Thanks to anyone who answers.

Re: Dates CC's Report To Bureaus?

llecs — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:32:54 GMT

ruby2zdy wrote:
Am I doing the right thing by having a zero balance when it's reported? Or does that make it look like I don't use the card?

There's no harm in carrying $0 balances when it reports. The CCC knows that you are using the card if you use it. And the CR will often reflect that as your "high balance" may report if you use the card at all, even if a $0 balance reports.

Re: Dates CC's Report To Bureaus?

Junejer — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 18:48:43 GMT

I will say that you don't want all of your CCs to report a $0 balance. If you do, the FICO scoring models will think that you are afraid of your credit and punish you for it.

Re: Dates CC's Report To Bureaus?

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 19:16:30 GMT

ruby2zdy wrote:

I called all the banks whose credit cards I use (3 banks, 4 cards) to find out when they report my balance, because something that I can't get explained to me lowered my FICO recently by nearly 30 points. One of the (computer-generated) possibilities was that my balance to limit ratio was too high. I pay all the cards off before their due date. Turns out that one of them reports on the statement date, one reports "during the 3rd week of the month", and one (Citi's American Airlines Advantage card) won't tell me when they report. I've also gotten different answers from different "customer sercive representatives" from the same bank/card.

I want my balance to be zero when it's reported. This means I have to babysit the **bleep** balances and pay them off before the due date, before the third week of the month, and God knows when for the Citi card. So I've decided to only charge small amts. on the Citi.

Am I doing the right thing by having a zero balance when it's reported? Or does that make it look like I don't use the card?

Thanks to anyone who answers.

Hi, ruby, welcome to the forums!

It's a heck of a lot easier to look at your CC statements and see when the statement dates are. 99% of cards report the balance on your statement, on the statement date. AmEx reports your statement balance, but they don't report to the bureaus until four weeks later. HSBC and Orchard bank cards (not their store cards) report on the last business day of the month and report whatever balance you have then.

In my experience, CCC CSR's are clueless as to when and how often they update. --HTH

Re: Dates CC's Report To Bureaus?

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 15:21:06 GMT

Anyone know about Capital1? They won't tell me when they report?

Re: Dates CC's Report To Bureaus?

haulingthescoreup — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:27:55 GMT

smo65d11 wrote:

Anyone know about Capital1? They won't tell me when they report?

As above. On your statement date.

This is what kills me about losing the TrueCredit 3-in-1 pulls! You could see exactly when EX and TU updated, although they didn't print the day of the month for EQ; just MM/ YYYY. Even so, if you pulled daily or every other day, you could see when EQ finally got around to updating. Oh, well...