Quick Help - How to get CC to report new balance?

[kynative]

Hey guys,

I have been working on my credit score for several years now. I finally got it to 690  (not great, but if you knew where i started...) which is perfect timing as we are going for a home mortgage soon.  However - Just this week one of my low limit CC's ($500 limit) was up to $485 for a couple of days and that happened to be when the credit card company reported the balance   It dropped me back to 665.  Big bummer.

Is there any way to get them to report the balance (which is now $0) to the credit agencies so I don't have that big drop in score?

[pizzadude]

---

@kynative wrote:

Hey guys,

I have been working on my credit score for several years now. I finally got it to 690  (not great, but if you knew where i started...) which is perfect timing as we are going for a home mortgage soon.  However - Just this week one of my low limit CC's ($500 limit) was up to $485 for a couple of days and that happened to be when the credit card company reported the balance   It dropped me back to 665.  Big bummer.

Is there any way to get them to report the balance (which is now $0) to the credit agencies so I don't have that big drop in score?

---

You would need to call the creditor and request them to do an out of cycle update to the CRAs.    Many CSRs don't know how to do this, or they may tell you that they don't allow it,  or they may not understand what you are asking for.....so you might have to keep calling until you get thru to someone who does.      YMMV.

[kynative]

I meant from 690 to 675 (didn't drop to 665)

[Anonymous]

Besides doing the out of date, which was just mentioned, it's really finding that "sweet spot," I guess in between when it's reported to the creditors and paying things off where you're not geting pounded with interest. I'm still working on it : ) I would say if possible, if you have a $500 limit then pay it off, and buy something under $50 (use under 10% util for the card(s). Keep doing this for some cycles and your score should go up. Maybe apply for another card hopefully to get a higher balance, but not crazy if you're buying a house soon. GL.

P.S.  I'm buying a house in a year or two, and know where you're coming from. Working on building mine, paying things off, etc...

[kynative]

Thanks Pizzadude, I followed your advice.. got to a supervisor and they said it would take about 3 business days to report to the credit agencies   However - she did say that it takes about 30 days for the credit agencies to update their reports.  That doesn't ring true to me, any thoughts?

[pizzadude]

---

@kynative wrote:

Thanks Pizzadude, I followed your advice.. got to a supervisor and they said it would take about 3 business days to report to the credit agencies   However - she did say that it takes about 30 days for the credit agencies to update their reports.  That doesn't ring true to me, any thoughts?

---

Cool ~ I hope that they can really send it in just a few days.    She is mistaken about the CRAs though, they process updates every day, so assuming that the creditor really does send the update to them you should see it soon.

[kynative]

Thought I would update everyone... I did talk to the card company (Citi) and the original person said they couldn't do this. I got to a supervisor and she got it done.  The score changed in about 3 days - back up to 695.

[westo12]

Using this "Out of Cycle" update request would be a great alternative to rapid rescoring for mortgage approvals...and free to boot.  Unless they don't do rapid rescores anymore? I don't know. 

[kynative]

I am not sure what rapid rescores are, but this adjustment took less than 5 business days and WILL affect my mortgage in a positive way   Lower closing costs.

[westo12]

Rapid rescores were when you were in the underwriting phase of a mortgage loan and needed a few extra points for the approval OR to qualify you for a lower interest rate.  

For example: The lender/UW would work with a company that would contact the cc company on your behalf (for a free of like $30 for each rescore) and ask them to send a fresh update to the CB's.  You may had already paid off a cc, but the bank hadn't updated the CB's with the current stmt bal yet.  

So I was just saying, instead of working with a lender to do this and paying for it, it may make sense to contact your cc companies directly and ask for this "out of cycle" reporting prior to apping for a mortage (or any loan actually), or prior to paying another company to do it for you.