Citibank 30 Day Late reporting frequency?

[Anonymous]

I have a major dilemma. I signed on to make my monthly January Citicard payment last night when, to my horror, I discovered that I completely forgot to pay my bill in December. I've never done this before on any of my cards in my 7ish year credit history. Yesterday just so happened to be the 30th day, and I paid about 50 minutes after their cut-off time of 6 ET. I immediately paid in full online (including $14.80 late fee) and then called the generic CS number (twice) to see if they had any advice or reassurance. Both folks I talked to were very friendly, but not necessarily a wealth of information. I am literally days away from putting in an offer on my first house, and this would completely devastate my credit score if the account is reported negatively (I was at an average of 760 for the 3 agencies when I checked last, in late November of 2010).

BTW, this is the breakdown:

Statement date: 11/23/10

Due date: 12/21/10

Next statement date: 12/23/10 ($14.80 late fee assessed on this statement)

Next due date: 1/21/11 (My payment is scheduled to process on 1/19/11- paid after hours on 1/18)

I guess my question is, is the credit reporting agency reported to on the 30th day of MY account cycle, or is it on the 30th of every month for everyone (or 1st, 15th, whatever)? Basically, how quickly is this going to show up on my credit report IF it even shows up (and what is the likelihood of that? I called one of the backdoor numbers today and spoke with someone who first thanked me for my excellent account status in the past (ha) and then discovered that I guess one of the reps I had talked to last night had entered the payment I made online as a pay by phone payment (I guess maybe to speed things up? Anyone ever heard of them doing that?). He was very sympathetic but said that their relationship with the credit reporting agencies is very touchy and that the best thing I could do would be to wait and see if it shows up, and if it shows up to then send a letter requesting that it be removed. Does that sound like the right advice?

Help!

[Anonymous]

You know, after looking at the calendar more closely, it seems that today (the 19th, the day the payment will post) is only the 29th day. Am I in the clear? Or am I calculating wrong?

[RHAL]

I have paid on the 29th day and the 30th day before for a different bank. On the 30th calendar day from the due date they hit me 30 days on my report. On the 29th day before the cutoff time they did not hit me. The csr that I spoke to could usually tell me when I was going to be reported late. Usually on the 29th day before a certain cutoff time.

[RHAL]

Also, in my experience... It was always the time of your payment that counted (not your posting date) unless it was past the daily cutoff.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your advice! It is strange... when I log in to my Citi account, it now says it is the 31st day (yesterday it said 30th). It still has not posted but they assured me when I called for the fourth (yes, they are going to charge me with stalking soon) that it will post today. I was after the daily cut-off, but even with it posting today, as I counted on the calendar, it should be the 29th day!

The last rep I talked to said that he really didn't think it would go on my credit report, as this is the first issue in my history. I hope that is true!

[Tazman81]

Unless your payment is truly 30 days late, they cannot report it as such.  If your payment has cleared and posts to their systems on the 29th day, then you should be okay.  You still want to keep an eye on it to make sure it does not show up as it is not uncommon for a lender to repull your credit a few days prior to closing to make sure you didn't rack up any additional debt and/or baddies.