Multiple Recent Payments Hurt Score?

[Anonymous]

Hi,

  I was looking at my experian credit report and I have a question about the "recent payment" line on the credit report.  It shows the recent payment made last month.  This month I made one payment which was more than the minimum required, but then later in the month I made another payment which was a lot less than the minimum(just to chip away at my balance).

     My question is, will smaller payment that I just made be the one that shows up on experian in the future?  That is scary because the experian report will show that my last recent payment was $50,and under the"monthly payment" line (which is where your minimum required payment gets reported) it will list $200.  Thus anybody that looks at the report could get spooked into thinking I couldn't even make the minimum payment of $200, so I instead only paid $50.  Which isn't true, because I made one payment of $201 and then one payment of $50.

I'm applying for a 0% APR card soon so I don't want them to look at my report and the recent payment line and think that I fell behind and couldn't make the minimum

[llecs]

I wouldn't sweat it. Your FICO score wouldn't care any. Under a manual review, they would know that you are paying more than the minimum because you'd be marked late if otherwise. Besides, most CC providers do not manually look at your app. For the ones that do, you could always explain it away if given the chance to chat.

I do the same thing you do. I'll pay the minimum and a week or two later I'll make a large payment to bring the util. down to where I'd like it. I've never had anyone question it.

[Anonymous]

they would not necessarily know I'm paying more than the minimum in a manual review, because there is a 30 day lag before you get reported for being late.  they could worry that I had just fallen behind for the first time, and that it just hadn't been reported yet to the bureaus.

for your situation, you don't need to worry because your larger payment was the more recent one.  in my situation the most recent payment is much smaller than the minimum, and the credit report (at least experian, not sure yet about the other 2) offers no proof I paid the minimum until the next reporting date.  And I will be applying for the new card before the next reporting date.  So I think it could be a really serious issue and I only have 30 min to decide what to do (5pm EST last time to make another payment) because my statement closes today

Message Edited by urgent_help_needed on 01-23-2009 01:29 PM

[Anonymous]

As stated already, not to worry since its almost never an issue. I pay ahead and additional all the time to make my balances and util look a certain way and it has never "hurt" me.

[CreditAble]

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     My question is, will smaller payment that I just made be the one that shows up on experian in the future? 

---

The total amount of all payments made during the statement period should show on your reports

. I have been paying $1,000 weekly on one account for the last few months. Each month on Experian, the "Recent Payment" reported was $4,000.

I hope that is the answer you wanted to hear.  

[Anonymous]

I have a car loan from Capital One that is $200/mo, but I pay $50 a week for the first 4 weeks of each month.  For some reason, my Actual payment gets reported at $196 but Scheduled or Monthly payment is $200.  But the staus says Pays as Agreed

On a different car loan from Chase, my monthly payment was $235, but I paid $60 a week, and the Recent or Actual payment shows as $240.  You should be fine.

[Anonymous]

thanks for shaing your experiences, I really appreciate it.  CreditAble has said that it is the total sum of the payments you made during a statement period, rather than just the most recent payment, that shows up on the "recent payment" line on your experian report. 

What about Equifax and Transunion? Does anybody want to share their exeriences with those reports in regards to this issue?

[Anonymous]

Mike14 thanks for the info.  That's really strange about the missing $4 from your car loan.  Perhaps some kind of fees/taxes are being deducted somewhere?

I know this thread could seem like I'm worrying about a minor detail but I'm preparing for my first ever 0% balance transfer and I want to make sure nothing in my credit reports hurts me in getting the best deal and highest credit line possible.

Message Edited by urgent_help_needed on 01-24-2009 05:09 PM

[Anonymous]

The $4 extra on the car loan could be a $1 per payment fee they are charging you.  So it's not actually going towards your loan balance.

I remember this happening to me (it wasn't $4, it was $1, because I was making 1 payment).  Usually if you have a direct deduction from your checking acct, there will be no fee.

I've also seen this on other things like car insurance where the intial bill says do you want to pay one payment (say $1200), or in 6 payments of $201.

Message Edited by smak on 01-27-2009 06:26 PM

Message Edited by smak on 01-27-2009 06:27 PM