When does Discover report balances?

[yapsalot]

I've had a Discover card for four months now. Each month I pay the balance right before the statement cuts, on the 5th of the month, so there is zero balance when the statement cuts and no affect on my FICO score. I got an alert today that Discover reported a balance on August 22, 2016 of about $600. The statement does not cut till September 5 and the August 5 balance was zero. A review of my charges, shows that the $600 balance occurred on August 9.

All of my other accounts report balances just after the statement cuts. This mid-statement report by Discover seems unusual but I don't have a sufficient history to know if it is normal. I noticed other forum members stating that Discover reports just after the statement cuts. The report did lower my FICO score a few points which is not a catastrophe but I like to keep my score controlled as much as possible and if Discover is now reporting at random times, I probably won't use the card. Anyone have any experience with mid-statement reporting from Discover?

[Anonymous]

Hey Yapsalot.  That's really interesting... and to me surprising.

I personally encourage you to assemble some documentation in advance and then call Discover and ask them about it.  They should have an internal dept that specializes in their relationship with the three credit bureaus.

By documentation, I'd put together an overview sheet for yourself that describes all the relevant info, e.g....

       What balance amount has Discover reported to each credit bureau for the last four months?  (Right there that is 12 pieces of information)

       For each of those 12 points, what did the credit report say the "date reported" was?

       What was the amount owed on CC statement been for the last four months?

       When Discover did report a positive balance...

                What purchase did that seem connected to? 

                What is the  "date reported" according to the credit report?

                Did Discover do this with all three bureas?

It sounds like you may have much of that put together already.  Be sure to have that in front of you when you talk to their internal group that specializes in reporting to the bureaus.

I'd be curious to hear what they say.

[Anonymous]

The same thing happened to me this month! I have the Discover secured. My normal reporting date is the 5th ( I had a zero balance on that date) but then they reported again on the 11th. I called them Saturday and they said something about Credit karma reporting off dates (which mad me sense to me). She spoke with a supervisor and came back to say they would submit an off-cycle report of the balance on the 5th to correct it

[CreditDunce]

For me, Discover has always reported after the statement cut.  Any CCC can report at other times if they think something significant has changed (or if they just feel like it).  However, this is the first time I have heard of Discover doing so.

I would eventually expect more such reports.   I can envision a time when most CCC report daily balances.  I am sure the CRA are pushing CCC's to report more often.  Not just monthly.  By expect, I mean in years, not anytime soon.

[CreditDunce]

Here is another thread about Discover doing an out of cycle report due to large purchases.  I guess it is something Discover has started.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Why-does-Discover-feel-the-need-to-snitch/m-p/4725490

[Anonymous]

---

@CreditDunce wrote:

Here is another thread about Discover doing an out of cycle report due to large purchases.  I guess it is something Discover has started.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Why-does-Discover-feel-the-need-to-snitch/m-p/4725490

---

Thanks, CD.

Yapsalot... you mention that you had a $600 balance as of Aug 9.  Was that a single $600 charge, or were there multiple smaller charges between Aug 5-9 that together totalled $600?

Also, do you mind telling us what your CL for the Discover card is?  I am wondering whether Discover has a policy of reporting when your utilization gets up to a certain %.  If your CL is $1000 then $600 is a big number.  If your CL is $10,000 it is not and it is strange that Discover would report it.

One of strangest things to my mind about what happened is that the card had a $600 balance as of Aug 9, but there was still a delay of another two weeks before Disover reported that Aug 9 balance to the CRA.

[yapsalot]

Yes it's weird. Credit line is $25k. All very small purchases for the $600 balance.

[Anonymous]

Strange!  So it wasn't triggered by large purchases (each charge being less than 1% of thje CL) nor by the balance having grown unusually high (balance reprted was less than 3% of the CL). 

It may be that there is no rational explanation, i.e. no imagined policy lurking behind the mid-cycle report.  Perhaps it was just the result of some buggy software on the Discover servers.  If so, that's just one more reason (if you really want an explanation) to call Discover and ask them to investigate.  If that's the answer no amount of speculation on our part will uncover it.

Geekmama is the closest to have having had your experience: a similar mid-cycle report happening this month.  Maybe GM can tell us more about what happened on her end and what she remembers the CSR telling her.  If the CSR did indeed blame Credit Karma for it, that can't be right; Karma is just a third party that pulls reports.  Karma doesn't PUSH data onto the report; only a creditor (e.g. Discover) can do that. 

My closing thought is that I wouldn't let this cause you to stop ever using your Discover card again.  (You write " ... if Discover is now reporting at random times, I probably won't use the card.")  You got the card for a reason, likely its' 5% cash back.  That was a smart decision then and it continues to be a smart decision  Don't allow the presence or absense of a small reported balance on one card to control you making wise financial decisions.    Remember that most of the time you don't need to have all your cards reporting at $0 with the remaining card at a low balance.  That's only need in the days before a massively important credit review.  And if Disover does continue a pattern of mid-cyc;le reporting, you could always just make Discover that one card with the positive balance in the rare situation when you need that.

[yapsalot]

Thanks Credit Guy,

I will keep an eye on it to see if they do it again. I suspect it was some random or otherwise unexplainable event but not going to call because what they actually do means more to me than what they say they are going to do and the headache I will get from listening to whatever they have to say about it. 

[Anonymous]

I have a small credit limit,, it's a secured card and I've only had it a couple of months. 

WHen I called the CSR was clear that  my reporting date was the 5th. She put me on hold and spoke with a supervisor, came back and asked me if I used Credit Karma. I'm wondering now if that's because CK reports weekly.  Anyway, she said it would be corrected. I'm doubting that  now as I'm seeing that it happened to a few people on this forum. No correction has happened so far. This has really tanked my DH score as he has even less available credit and his util skyrocketed. I know it should correct, but if I don't know what date they're reporting, I am wary of even using the card to be honest.