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Hi, the settlement date for one of my credit cards is today. I woke up to find a pending charge had posted this morning. I don't want a balance reported on this card, so I paid it immediately. My question is what, if anything, will be reported when the bank reports my account in a few days? Do they report pending charges or only ones that have posted? Do they report activity through the settlement date, or up until the day before? Will my payment be reflected in time (my current balance shows $0, but I know payments sometimes take a day or two to officially hit)?
They report your balance as of the statement closing date. Depends on the lender and how they post payments as to whether or not your payment today will be reflected. If you read the T&C, it should advise of the cut off time for payments made on the statement closing date. Some will post payments if made by 5pm, others 8pm. It varies. If you made the cut off, then the account should report $0.
@Anonymous wrote:Hi, the settlement date for one of my credit cards is today. I woke up to find a pending charge had posted this morning. I don't want a balance reported on this card, so I paid it immediately. My question is what, if anything, will be reported when the bank reports my account in a few days?
It depends on what has posted by the time of the reporting date.
Do they report pending charges or only ones that have posted?
Only ones that have posted.
Do they report activity through the settlement date, or up until the day before?
The settlement date isn't meaningful for this purpose. They report activity until the reporting date.
Will my payment be reflected in time
No one can possibly answer that question for you. The only true answer is : maybe yes, maybe no.
If we knew the exact lender, and the exact dates involved, and the manner of payment, we could give you an educated guess.
(my current balance shows $0, but I know payments sometimes take a day or two to officially hit)?
BTW although most lenders report the statement balance, some lenders report different balances. E.g., some lenders report the balance as of the first of the month regardless of the statement date, some report as of a different day of the month, one lender -- Chase -- reports a zero balance offcycle, one lender -- Synchrony -- is reputed to post balances almost randomly.
Thanks. The lender is Citi. I paid online via a US Bank account. Statement date is today. The charge posted and I paid almost immediately (both around 5am). On my Citi account now, it shows the posted charge and my payment with today's date. My balance shows $0, but my available credit hasn't updated. So I'm wondering if they'll say the charge posted, but the payment is still processing and won't post until after they report to the bureaus.
@Anonymous wrote:Thanks. The lender is Citi. I paid online via a US Bank account. Statement date is today. The charge posted and I paid almost immediately (both around 5am). On my Citi account now, it shows the posted charge and my payment with today's date. My balance shows $0, but my available credit hasn't updated. So I'm wondering if they'll say the charge posted, but the payment is still processing and won't post until after they report to the bureaus.
Citi reports the statement balance.
I expect the statement balance and reported balance to be zero.
@SouthJamaica is right. Citi will credit payments the day you make them, so if the statement closes today, it will report zero.
If it closed yesterday, it will reflect whatever the balance was yesterday.
Following up to report what happened. My statement is now viewable online. It shows both the charge and the payment, so you guys were right; it reflects a $0 balance. Odd (to me) side note: they already reported to the credit bureau (I thought it typically takes a few days). Anyway, thanks for answering my question.