Revolving Util drop from 26% to 14% no change in EQ FICO

[chasmith]

Over the past couple of weeks have been able to drop total util from 26% to 14%, but score (per Equifax Scorewatch) remains at 677.  I do have one card at 72% util that will go to zero next report.  A majority of my accounts are zero balance.

Not a whine, just thought others who are curious about util vs. score would be interested.  I should be able to isolate the effect of knocking out that 72% card, and then the effect of going below 10% total util.

[haulingthescoreup]

And all the paid-down accounts have reported, and the new balances are showing on Equifax, correct?

Since you pulled a new report (showing no score change), what are the negative reasons in order?

If util isn't one of the top two, maybe three, a relatively small decrease in util might not result in much (or any) of a score change. If high util was first or second, though, you should have seen a change, as long as all the new balances have reported.

[chasmith]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

And all the paid-down accounts have reported, and the new balances are showing on Equifax, correct?

Since you pulled a new report (showing no score change), what are the negative reasons in order?

If util isn't one of the top two, maybe three, a relatively small decrease in util might not result in much (or any) of a score change. If high util was first or second, though, you should have seen a change, as long as all the new balances have reported.

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Sorry, typo in the original subject line...

I don't pull expensive score reports all the time, I get Scorewatch alerts when there is any change in reported credit card balance.  Sometimes the account balance alert gets a simultaneous score change, sometimes it doesn't.

[haulingthescoreup]

Oh, OK, I don't blame you a bit. I forgot about the SW alerts telling you your score without a report pull, duh me.

Well, we're having to work without updated reports here, but if you look at an older one, is high util the first or second negative on screen 2? And if you look at the dates on your oldest account, could it have changed/ gone up a year in the interim?

Most people do see a score change for a util drop, but not everyone, and if there's anything else going on with your reports that you're not aware of, it might have cancelled out a score change from the lower util.

Hope your scores catch up to your good work soon!

[Anonymous]

I have the same issue going from 45% util to around +-5%. I was told that HSBC reports that last day of the month, but that has not been the case. I was expecting a bumb by the forth or fith of March becuase 2 of the 3 cards I paid down were both HSBC cards. Some one gave me some good advice to get a free report from somewhere and see if they are reporting yet. I followed that advice on the 6th and HSBC had not updated as of yet. Here it is the 8th and still no update. I dont think that HSBC reports on the last day of the month, or it would have posted by now.

Try using a free report somewhere and look at the cards that you are expecting to see lowered balance on. If they are still reporting the balance prior to you paying them down, they that is why you havent seen a bump. if they reflect the amount that is current, they you wont get any bounce.

[chasmith]

I wasn't really asking questions, trying to share a data point.

I have one HSBC card (BBRZMC) and yes, it reports the balance as of the last day of the month.  I use USAA/CCT and verified the card balances, also received alerts as each balance dropped so I know pretty well what my utilization is.

[Anonymous]

Well, I have prooved the opposite.. it is now the 8th and my cards according to the reports have NOT updated.. I am not sure what to tell you...

[haulingthescoreup]

Two different issues going on here! There's the amount reported, and then there's when it actually gets reported.

For their bank cards, HSBC (and Orchard) reports your balance as of the last day of the month. In other words, that's the dollar figure that they will send in.

However, they often don't send in that info until a week or two into the following month. So that's one delay.

Then you have to wait for each of the three CRA's to post the info. Experian typically updates the same evening or next morning after getting updates. (That's kind of the only nice thing I can say about Experian. ) But Equifax and TU generally take 3-6 days, sometimes longer, to post the new numbers.

So for Joe and Joanie Consumer, they might have a $100 balance on February 28. HSBC might actually send in that figure on, say, March 7. It will probably show up on their Experian reports on March 8, but it might well be March 11 for Equifax, and March 12 for TransUnion. But the figure that eventually hits credit reports will be $100, the balance showing as of the last business day of the (previous) month.

[Anonymous]

It may be an issue with a particular HSBC card I have. I have two HSBC cards. An Orchard card which reports at the end of the month like you and everyone in this comunity has validated. I can see this fact with the myFICO reports for both EQ and TU as well as on all three agencies with a freebee fako report.  The issue though is  I have a Direct Merchants (HSBC) card that does not. At the end of the month, my real balance on the card was +-$800, but the same reports that showed the Orchard correct balance, showed the Direct Merchants old balance, which was not accurate. When i looked at the details of the all three reports, the Direct Mechant showed the last report was 2/15 which was the statement date for this card.

I have confirmed that the last day is in fact true with my Orchard card, but with this Direct Mechants card, that is not the case for whatever reason. Just an FYI for someone that might have this HSBC card.

Regardless of all this, I would suggest to the OP that he/she refreshes the report on myFICO to see th bump in score. I was relying on Score Watch here at myFICO and I paid my accounts down as well and saw no increase in score. That is when I took the advice of someone here and used a free score somewhere to check if the cards I had paid down were in fact showing the new balances on my reports. I did this again last night, and all but this Direct Mechants card had updated, although my myFICO score never rasied with Score Watch. I was curious so I refreshed my EQ report here on myFICO and it in fact raised 16 pts. Not sure why SW didnt report this bump. I even had a rule set to notify me if my score went above a certain number, which in fact it did.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It may be an issue with a particular HSBC card I have. I have two HSBC cards. An Orchard card which reports at the end of the month like you and everyone in this comunity has validated. I can see this fact with the myFICO reports for both EQ and TU as well as on all three agencies with a freebee fako report.  The issue though is  I have a Direct Merchants (HSBC) card that does not. At the end of the month, my real balance on the card was +-$800, but the same reports that showed the Orchard correct balance, showed the Direct Merchants old balance, which was not accurate. When i looked at the details of the all three reports, the Direct Mechant showed the last report was 2/15 which was the statement date for this card.

I have confirmed that the last day is in fact true with my Orchard card, but with this Direct Mechants card, that is not the case for whatever reason. Just an FYI for someone that might have this HSBC card.

Regardless of all this, I would suggest to the OP that he/she refreshes the report on myFICO to see th bump in score. I was relying on Score Watch here at myFICO and I paid my accounts down as well and saw no increase in score. That is when I took the advice of someone here and used a free score somewhere to check if the cards I had paid down were in fact showing the new balances on my reports. I did this again last night, and all but this Direct Mechants card had updated, although my myFICO score never rasied with Score Watch. I was curious so I refreshed my EQ report here on myFICO and it in fact raised 16 pts. Not sure why SW didnt report this bump. I even had a rule set to notify me if my score went above a certain number, which in fact it did.

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Ah, OK. There was a former member here who had one of these. I think it updated the balance as of the statement date. Thanks for reminding me about it! I didn't realize that there were any of these still around!

And the other exception would be HSBC store-only cards. The only one I know of is the HSBC Best Buy store card (not RZ MC), and it also goes by statement date.