Credit scores and trended data

[vanillabean]

"Using what's known as trended data is the biggest change. The phrase means credit scores will take into account the trajectory of a borrower's debts on a month-to-month basis. So a person who is paying down debt is now likely to be scored better than a person who is making minimum monthly payments but has been slowly accumulating credit card debt.”

Are monthly payments really reported to the credit bureaus?

[HeavenOhio]

Yes, but it's spotty.

The current month is always shown, and lenders can always compile their own data by doing regular pulls.

The reports themselves are structured to show payment data going back 24 months (Equifax and Experian) or 30 months (TransUnion). Not all companies fully report that data, however. So in those cases, you see a bunch of blanks.

Using Experian as an example, there's a section called Balance History. This part of the report includes the date, account balance, date payment received, scheduled payment amount, and actual amount paid. The critical field — actual amount paid — is the one that's often left blank. Experian will state "no data." Other reports show a blank box on a chart or skip that part of the chart entirely when there isn't a number to include.

In the case of my cards, Chase and Capital One don't report the "actual amount paid" data. Barclays, Synchrony, and Wells Fargo do.

For all cards, credit limit history and the high balance in relation to that history can be determined over that 24 or 30 month period.

[DollyLama]

Hmm I'm confused about this also, I pulled my EQ a couple days only from annualcredit. Only report I pulled. 

One Revolving Retail Card is correctly showing opening, credit limit, balance ,last reported Apr 2017, the balance and paid as agreed. For clarification the card has only ever had a $1k LOC ever. 

Then comes the ACCOUNT HISTORY

Account History The tables below show up to 2 years of the monthly balance, available credit, scheduled payment, date of last payment, high credit, credit limit, amount past due, activity designator, and comments.

Balance Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2015 $26,668 $25,701 $25,217 $24,248 $23,759 $22,821 2016 $21,315 $20,824 $20,331 $19,840 $18,851 $18,356 $17,364 2017 $16,368 $15,870

Available Credit Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2015 2016 2017

Scheduled Payment Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2015 $524 $524 $524 $524 $524 $524 2016 $524 $524 $524 $524 $524 $524 $524 2017 $524 $524

Actual Payment Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec  2015 $524 $524 $524 $524 $524 2016 $524 $524 $524 $524 $524 $524 $524 2017 $524 $524

High Credit Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2015 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 2016 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 2017 $30,000 $30,000

Credit Limit Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2015 2016 2017

Amount Past Due Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2015 2016 2017

Activity Designator

With Comments each month since opened

Fixed Rate

This is so confusing, almost reads like a mortgage (which I do not have), these numbers don't make any sense to me. Someone please help me understand.

[SouthJamaica]

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@vanillabean wrote:

"Using what's known as trended data is the biggest change. The phrase means credit scores will take into account the trajectory of a borrower's debts on a month-to-month basis. So a person who is paying down debt is now likely to be scored better than a person who is making minimum monthly payments but has been slowly accumulating credit card debt.”

Are monthly payments really reported to the credit bureaus?

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I don't think so.

[HeavenOhio]

Here are some examples from Experian. I chose that report because it's the easiest copy/paste.

Date: account balance / date payment received / scheduled payment amount / actual amount paid
Dec 2016: $685 / Dec 19, 2016 / $27 / $388
Nov 2016: $1,338 / Nov 14, 2016 / $44 / $2,115
Oct 2016: $3,453 / Oct 19, 2016 / $113 / No data
Sep 2016: $3,793 / No data / $124 / No data

Date: account balance / date payment received / scheduled payment amount / actual amount paid
Dec 2016: $436 / Dec 12, 2016 / $25 / No data
Nov 2016: $389 / Oct 27, 2016 / $25 / No data

Date: account balance / date payment received / scheduled payment amount / actual amount paid
Dec 2016: $19 / Nov 14, 2016 / $19 / $549
Nov 2016: $549 / Nov 01, 2016 / $25 / $165
Oct 2016: $0 / No data / No data / No data

Date: account balance / date payment received / scheduled payment amount / actual amount paid
Dec 2016: $1,959 / Nov 13, 2016 / $75 / $200
Nov 2016: $2,159 / No data / $75 / No data

[Anonymous]

In a few months I will pull my three reports via ACR and let you all know what mine show.  I'd like to delay it until June so that I can have more data on my two most recent cards: my BOA/Merril-Lynch card (opened in late January) and my Chase Sapphire Preferred (opened Feb 1).  I will have 13 credit cards potentially showing trended data from the following issuers:

Chase (Freedom and CSP)

BOA (two Cash Rewards, one BBR, one Merril-Lynch)

Wells Fargo (World Propel, opened and used for 11 months, closed Feb 2017)

Amex (Blue Cash Everyday and Hilton Honors)

Citi (Dividend, TY Preferred, DoubleCash)

Local CU card (Amex logo, managed by Elan Financial Services)

All are true major credit cards in my name (no charge cards, no AU cards, no store cards).

Most of them were added after I last pulled my true credit reports with ACR.com.  That was probably three years ago?  So I have never seen the TD on most of them and I can't remember what I saw last time, except that I remember there being TD present.

[DollyLama]

Heaven the bolded payments, do they match what you paid?

That is what has me perplexed, I don't even have a 30k total credit limit with anyone, or altogether, nor have I ever had a $524 monthly payment . Just wondering how this is affecting my scores, or not,  since initial shows correct LOC and balance. 

[HeavenOhio]

Yes, they match what I paid. Some are a combined amount for multiple payments in a month.

I don't know what to make of your report snippet either. I understand what the numbers are supposed to mean, but I have no clue why you'd have a bunch of huge numbers for what's supposed to be a low-limit account.