topic Re: High Balance in General Credit Topics

High Balance

MrTom — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 00:16:18 GMT

Just a quick question on the High Balance section of the trade line on credit cards.

Where does this amount come from?

Is it the highest your balance ever was at statment cut?
Is it the highest your balance ever was at a given time? So if I have a 1000 limit card, charge 900 and pay that 900 in 24 hours would it report my high balance as 900?

Re: High Balance

Thomas_Thumb — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 18:37:40 GMT

It depends on the CC company. Many report the highest "point in time" balance on the card for that cycle regardless of statement cut date. Some report only the highest based on statements.

On my Best Buy credit card the highest statement balance listed is $3011. However, my High Balance (HB) shows $3202 dated the same cycle (3/2014). Prior to that I had a HB of $2520 with a statement balance of $2102 (1/2014). [refer to paste below]

Note: If a subsequent cycle results in a new high balance it will get added to your credit report along with the date. However, the previous high balance and its date will be listed as well.

Re: High Balance

MrTom — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 05:55:53 GMT

I was mainly wondering how Amex reports

Re: High Balance

HeavenOhio — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 17:30:25 GMT

With AMEX, it's the highest statement balance.

Re: High Balance

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 21:51:19 GMT

I've only run into highest statement balance being listed as "high balance" on any given trade line, never any other number like something mid-cycle.

Re: High Balance

Revelate — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 23:51:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I've only run into highest statement balance being listed as "high balance" on any given trade line, never any other number like something mid-cycle.

Bank of America among others.

There was an old thread on CC's about that, IIRC was about 30/70 between those that did vs. did not report a mid-cycle balance.

Re: High Balance

HeavenOhio — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 23:56:23 GMT

Based only on memory of information posted here, I think Capital One and Chase might use mid-cycle balances.

Re: High Balance

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 01:13:40 GMT

I have two Chase accounts and a Capital One account and neither have ever reported anything other than a statement balance.

Rev, if the ratio you stated above is true, I'm an extreme outlier than as I have 7 different creditors with which I have revolvers and none of the 7 have ever reported anything other than a statement balance, with the lone exception being Chase reporting a $0 balance mid-cycle which has nothing to do with High Balance of course.

Re: High Balance

Thomas_Thumb — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 17:40:11 GMT

@HeavenOhio wrote:
Based only on memory of information posted here, I think Capital One and Chase might use mid-cycle balances.

FWIW - At the time my Best Buy card posted a HB that was greater than the statement balance (3/2014), it was managed by CBNA. The transfer in card management from Cap One to CBNA took place 9/2013 based on Cap One BB card close date.

The difference [statement vs high balance] was/is easy to spot when reviewing old credit reports from the CBs. [see example pasted in prior post]

Re: High Balance

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 20:04:43 GMT

In my own experience (just double checked on Experian), Cap One, Chase and Penfed report the highest balance ever (not just current cycle but the entire card history). Amex, Discover and Citi report the highest statement balance ever.

Re: High Balance

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 21:10:24 GMT

I'm quite certain that I've had balances in excess of my high balance listed on both my chase and capital one accounts, but they aren't indicated in the high balance field on my credit report. Near as I can tell, it's just highest statement balance from them both.

Re: High Balance

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 21:27:21 GMT

My Freedom and QS are both pretty new, 7 and 9 months respectively, I've gone back and checked the statements of both accounts and I'm 100% certain the high balance were mid cycle balances during the first month of both cards when I was fulfilling the bonus spending requirements while keeping UTI under 1% by making payments prior to statement cut, same with PenFed.

Re: High Balance

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 22:50:22 GMT

Well, if we have opposing data points here it simply means that Chase and possibly other lenders simply aren't consistent with respect to their high balance reporting.

Re: High Balance

Revelate — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 16:21:42 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Well, if we have opposing data points here it simply means that Chase and possibly other lenders simply aren't consistent with respect to their high balance reporting.

Or that it changed, would be more than strange to have inconsistency in their reporting system; it doesn't really matter, modern FICO high balance is pretty meaningless and personally I still think it's a good thing that lenders like seeing.

Re: High Balance

HeavenOhio — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 17:21:06 GMT

I could potentially test Capital One this month, but only if my natural spending causes that to happen. I definitely plan on paying to zero before the statement cuts, so that there'd be absolutely no confusion if the new mid-cycle number appears on my report.

Re: High Balance

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 17:30:02 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Well, if we have opposing data points here it simply means that Chase and possibly other lenders simply aren't consistent with respect to their high balance reporting.
Or that it changed, would be more than strange to have inconsistency in their reporting system; it doesn't really matter, modern FICO high balance is pretty meaningless and personally I still think it's a good thing that lenders like seeing.

Or, perhaps it's product-specific. Maybe co-branded vs straight up cards, or some other factor plays a role in the reporting.

Re: High Balance

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 18:45:28 GMT

@HeavenOhio wrote:
I could potentially test Capital One this month, but only if my natural spending causes that to happen. I definitely plan on paying to zero before the statement cuts, so that there'd be absolutely no confusion if the new mid-cycle number appears on my report.

Only if the new mid cycle balance beats out your prior highest mid cycle balances, I think you know that but wasn't sure.

Re: High Balance

Revelate — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 23:41:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Well, if we have opposing data points here it simply means that Chase and possibly other lenders simply aren't consistent with respect to their high balance reporting.
Or that it changed, would be more than strange to have inconsistency in their reporting system; it doesn't really matter, modern FICO high balance is pretty meaningless and personally I still think it's a good thing that lenders like seeing.
Or, perhaps it's product-specific. Maybe co-branded vs straight up cards, or some other factor plays a role in the reporting.

Given the way servicing departments work, it's pretty unlikely that they'd have seperate servicing applications for cobrand vs. in house cards.

Most likely explanation? Someone is mistaken, second most likely, it changed.

Re: High Balance

HeavenOhio — Fri, 23 Feb 2018 11:39:21 GMT

I pulled my reports from annualcreditreport.com yesterday. From those reports, I can tell that:

Capital One reports the highest overall balance.
Chase reports the highest overall balance.
Barclays reports the highest overall balance.
AMEX reports the highest statement balance.