questions re. (1) incorrect balance and (2) credit report number

[Anonymous]

Couple of issues I was hoping someone could help me with --

(1) I'm subscribed to Score Watch and there was a recent drop in my credit score from 800 to 757 because American Express reported a balance on my account on April 3, 2009. However, it turns out that this was actually paid in full on March 13, 2009 (almost a month prior to their reporting). The payment on March 13, 2009 is very clearly documented ony my Amex account.

I've had this problem once before with American Express reporting balances a whole month after they've already been paid. The last time this happened, I filed a dispute with the credit bureaus and that resulted in my score going up only 10 points (much less than the drop in points). So this time I thought I would take it up with American Express directly rather than with the bureau. Does anyone know if this might be more beneficial than disputing with the credit bureaus? The thing is that I don't keep balances on my credit card accounts (i.e., I pay everything off in full every month). When I disputed through the credit bureaus the last time, the result was that they then corrected the report to say -- "paid off on (date) xx/xx/xxxx", thereby falsely suggesting (to my mind at least) that I finally paid off a long-held balance or something. Could that have been responsible for the smaller uptick in the score even though the drop that came before it was so much bigger?

It seems to me that this reported balance should not be on my report in the first place because it seems to be a clerical error. Therefore, it seems that after resolving the dispute over this balance, my score should be right where it was before the balance showed up, at 800. Does that make sense? Does it work that way?  Would it make a difference if I go to American Express directly and have them actually "take back" what they reported incorrectly?

(2) I did call American Express to discuss this, and they said they need the Equifax credit report number before they can do anything. I have a credit report from myFICO from 4/9/09 but I don't see any credit report number listed. Where would I find it?   

Thank you in advance for any help/info!

[Anonymous]

In my experience with AMEX the balance reported to the CRAs is always the balance reported on your statement when it is cut. Just because you paid it in full having recieved your statement, doesn't mean they then report zero. As far as I've been told this is totally legal and not really grounds for a dispute with the CRAs. The only way to avoid it is to pay your cards balance before the statement cuts. For example, my billing period typically ends oon the 16th, and if I have any balance reporting on that date that is the balance reported to the CRAs typically 2 weeks later (I find they normally report just after I've actually paid, making it doubly annoying). If I were to pay the card in full on the 15th before the billing period was over, AMEX would then report $0.

The only real way to fix the util being reported is to wait for next month. I discovered this situation when I was looking at car loans, and had to wait an extra month to actually go through with anything because of it. That's Amex for you!

[Anonymous]

Mank is correct, you need to find out when AmEx reports and what balance they report. Do they report your statement balance, the balance on the day they report, etc?

Do some reading over on the CC forum and you can likely figure out when/how they report.

Disputing is going to cause it to take longer to update.

You'll only have a CR number on a report directly from the CRA.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the info, that was very helpful!