When does Dell report to CRAs?

[Anonymous]

I paid off my computer a few weeks ago when I got my tax refund, and when I checked my credit reports today I noticed that on all 3 reports, it showed the last report date as 2/08. I thought it was standard for companies to report when the monthly bills are sent out; I already received my bill showing a $0 balance a week or so ago, so shouldn't it be reflected on credit reports by now?

I am not too worried about it yet since there are still a couple of days left (in case they report on the last day of the month or something), but I read on another credit board that some people were complaining because Dell does not bother to report the fact that you paid off an account, which makes it look as if you still owe them money. 

I am hoping this is not the case since I am expecting a big bump with my credit scores after paying off the $1,000+ that I owed for the computer.   

Does anyone have experience in this area?

[Anonymous]

Companies usually only report once a month & then the CRAs update!  I paid off my PC 2 months ago & got NO points. Maybe because I had the 1 year no int.  and I paid it down and last payment was only $100. It didn't make a big difference in my UTIL.

[ngerasimatos]

You can always dispute the account as PIF but you also run the risk of it getting delete from your account accidentally, have you tried calling Dell and asking them nicely to update your account balance?

[Anonymous]

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HappyDays wrote:

Companies usually only report once a month & then the CRAs update!  I paid off my PC 2 months ago & got NO points. Maybe because I had the 1 year no int.  and I paid it down and last payment was only $100. It didn't make a big difference in my UTIL.

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It should make a big difference in my utilization since I had a balance of over $1,000 the previous month

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ngerasimatos wrote:

You can always dispute the account as PIF but you also run the risk of it getting delete from your account accidentally, have you tried calling Dell and asking them nicely to update your account balance?

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Not yet, I figured I'd wait a few more days to see if they go a whole month without reporting (since they haven't reported for March yet)

Message Edited by rbaker79 on 03-29-2008 12:41 PM

[Anonymous]

Depends on whether it was an installment loan or a charge account. The balance of installment loans doesn't count toward utilization, and FICO scoring is largely insensitive to installment balances.

[Anonymous]

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TheNewWorldMan wrote:
Depends on whether it was an installment loan or a charge account. The balance of installment loans doesn't count toward utilization, and FICO scoring is largely insensitive to installment balances.

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It is listed as a charge account

Although it is interesting to read that installment loans do not count toward utilization; that must be why I did not get as much of a score increase as I expected a year ago when I paid off a bank loan.