CMS and CB reporting (CK & MyFICO)

[Anonymous]

I'm curious if someone can help answer this.  I'm in the market for a new car, I've pounded away about 13k out of 15k of credit card debt to get my credit score in line for a new car loan.  I want to go into the bank to apply for loans when my credit score is adjusted to reflect my current credit card balance.  This will be my first car, so I'm itching to get it.  I've relied on public transportation for over 10 years and would very much like to get a vehicle asap since I am now in the position.  That being said, I'm not stupid enough to jump into it blindly and will of course wait to get the best available APR% through ensuring my credit score is as good as it can be.

1)  My credit card closed out today (Bank Of America), and I've noticed over the past few months that Credit Karma updates my credit score a few days following the last date for my credit card statement.  Close out date being 6/12/13, I usually have Credit Karma update within a couple days following that.  Does this mean that Bank of America is reporting to the credit bureaus a couple days after the close out?

2) I will be paying off most of my remaining credit card balance on Friday, and I missed the close out date on 6/12 (I won't be able to pay BofA until 6/14) so I'll likely need to wait for the next close out date 7/12 before going to apply for loans.   My current utilization is 23% of my total credit, after this Friday it will be down to 6-7%.  I assume this would have a nice impact on my credit score, and would be worth waiting to apply for loans instead of being impatient and going as soon as possible?

Credit Karma has my current score at 738 with 46% Utilization (it hasn't updated to reflect my payments through May yet), it will update to my 23% utilization in the next couple days.  Credit Sesame has me at 746 with the same 46% utilization, and won't update until the beginning of July.

3) Would it be worth it to get the Score Watch to monitor when the credit bureaus actually report, or will Credit Karma play that role just as well?  The goal for me is to know when my credit score is reflecting the sub 10% credit card utilization that I will have as of this Friday, so I can start getting auto loan quotes. 

4) I seem to recal reading on these forums a while back that BofA reports extremely fast to credit bureaus, and can do it for just changing settings of your online account?

[Anonymous]

I'm curious if someone can help answer this.  I'm in the market for a new car, I've pounded away about 13k out of 15k of credit card debt to get my credit score in line for a new car loan.  I want to go into the bank to apply for loans when my credit score is adjusted to reflect my current credit card balance.  This will be my first car, so I'm itching to get it.  I've relied on public transportation for over 10 years and would very much like to get a vehicle asap since I am now in the position.  That being said, I'm not stupid enough to jump into it blindly and will of course wait to get the best available APR% through ensuring my credit score is as good as it can be.

1)  My credit card closed out today (Bank Of America), and I've noticed over the past few months that Credit Karma updates my credit score a few days following the last date for my credit card statement.  Close out date being 6/12/13, I usually have Credit Karma update within a couple days following that.  Does this mean that Bank of America is reporting to the credit bureaus a couple days after the close out?

2) I will be paying off most of my remaining credit card balance on Friday, and I missed the close out date on 6/12 (I won't be able to pay BofA until 6/14) so I'll likely need to wait for the next close out date 7/12 before going to apply for loans.   My current utilization is 23% of my total credit, after this Friday it will be down to 6-7%.  I assume this would have a nice impact on my credit score, and would be worth waiting to apply for loans instead of being impatient and going as soon as possible?

Credit Karma has my current score at 738 with 46% Utilization (it hasn't updated to reflect my payments through May yet), it will update to my 23% utilization in the next couple days.  Credit Sesame has me at 746 with the same 46% utilization, and won't update until the beginning of July.

3) Would it be worth it to get the Score Watch to monitor when the credit bureaus actually report, or will Credit Karma play that role just as well?  The goal for me is to know when my credit score is reflecting the sub 10% credit card utilization that I will have as of this Friday, so I can start getting auto loan quotes. 

4) I seem to recal reading on these forums a while back that BofA reports extremely fast to credit bureaus, and can do it for just changing settings of your online account?

[llecs]

IME, BofA will report the balance you had on your statement and will start reporting within 2 days of that statement date, usually to EX first and TU last up to a day or two later.

If you go down from 23% to 7%, you might see a bump; but this is one card. You'd have to consider overall util. You stand to see a generous increase if util is listed as a top neg. reason, you have a good mix of credit, and most of your balances are at $0 and none report over-the-limit.

IMO, find a service that allows you to pull all 3 reports daily. I like USAA's service, but there are a couple of others out there. Use that as a litmus as to what reports and when vs. relying on alerts which could be delayed for most services. Just ignore the scores and advice. 

BofA is fast and fairly predictable. And yes, you can update your address and get them to report mid-cycle.

[Anonymous]

I'll be going from 3400 to 700 on my last credit card with a balance.  My biggest negative was my balance.  As of May 1, it was 96% utilization.  All other aspects of my account are perfect.  2 inquiries.  No late / missed payment over 8 years.  14,600 total credit spread over 6 cards.  Only one card has a remaning balance, and Friday that will be dropping from $3400 to $700.

In regards to BofA, if I updated my address would that initiate a report to the credit bureau mid cycle?  Or am I misunderstanding that?

Thanks for all your help!

Edit: In regards to BofA - if they are reporting to the credit bureau mid cycle, would this mean 2 weeks as opposed to 4?  Or it pushes the report the same day as when I update / change account info?

[llecs]

Right, updating the address anytime mid-statement will result in a mid-cycle update on the CRAs, usually starting 2-3-4 days following said update. And mid-statement being anytime within those 30 days. So conceivably if you update the address 30 times in the month you could have 30 daily updates of your BofA to your CRs (though I definitely wouldn't recommend doing that).