@expatCanuck wrote:Fair question.
Yeah, I enjoy the game. But the purpose of my original post (as noted) is to let people know of this behavior, so they can act accordingly in case it matters.
Personally, I find the situation troubling because an issuer should bloody well be reporting to the bureaus the same friendly thing that they're reporting to cardholders. In other words, if you tell a consumer that he/she doesn't owe anything for a billing period, that's what should be reported to the bureaus. And the underlying IT systems should be built accordingly.
US Bank and thier subsidiary Elan Financil report your balance on the last day of the month regardless of statement balance.
So... Is there a predictable timeline on what/what they report. For example, is it known whether they always report the current balance x days after teh statement cuts? Or, is this limited to situations when charges are made right around the statement cut date?
Also, any idea on how this may impact payments? For example, my statement cut on the 5th. I subsequently made a payment the same day. I'm wondering if their next report will show the balance before or after the payment.
I did not think I was affected by this but noticed today this is the way it works. My statement cuts on the 5th and reporting normally happen's on the 9th. After reading this I paid attention and sure enough, it did not report the statement balance but the balance as of today. I need to keep this in mind
Interesting...
It seems that for both expatCanuck and dynamicvb, Disco is reporting the balance on a date several days after the statement cut date. Yet for you, Disco is reporting the day before your statement cut date.
There seems to be no predictable pattern and that each of us (who cares about such things) needs to find out our own reporting dates.
This happened to me last month. The pizza joint I visited did not take Amex and the only other card I had on me was Discover. The authorization was given on the 24th. My statement closed on the 26th with a zero balance. However, they reported a balance to the bureaus which was $30 for the pizza. I tried to pay it right after the meal but was denied a payment option because my balance was zero. In the end, the fault was mine for even having the Discover in my wallet being so close to the cut date.
@expatCanuck wrote:Hi folks. Here's a potentially useful datapoint.
Until moments ago, I had a recurring charge billed to my Discover card. The charge hits on the 5th of the month; the Discover statement cuts on the 7th.
Reviewing today's EQ report, I learned that while the charge does not show on the statement (the statement shows a zero balance), Discover does report the charge to the bureau (i.e. - Discover reports that I owe a balance). Which ticks me off a little.
Needless to say, I've moved that charge against a different card, 'cause I try to maintain AZE3 or better.
FWIW ...
Glad you reported this finding! It has happened to me before and it is more than Discover that has done it to me. Makes me darn mad ... why do they do that? Leave a foot print in the bureaus just like HPs versus SPs so the other creditors know?! Time for a RANT! 
