When will my statement balance actually report to the bureaus? Data points.

[supern8ural]

As all the derogs are finally off my reports and I have a little extra cash (last month I got a quarterly bonus; this month I get three paychecks just because of the way the calendar worked out) so I'm zeroing all my accounts except the one I took a 0%BT on to see if I can get my mortgage scores over 760 - I'm sure I can; I was only a couple points shy when I last pulled a full 3 bureau report before I did any optimization at all.  This'll be a "modified AZEO" as the one card with the balance won't be <10%, it's about 15% right now, but I'm deliberately not paying it down any faster than I have to because I'm putting money in my HYSA and investment accounts instead.

 

Right now I have zeroed out my Citi Costco Anywhere Visa which was >90% and my BoA Customized Cash Rewards which was very low util.  Thing is the BoA card reported on the 4th and it's now the 8th and it hasn't hit any of the bureaus yet hence my curiosity about when it will actually report.

 

Just out of curiosity I'm going to check every day and note how long each takes to report for the next month.  I missed noting when the Costco card actually reported so that'll have to be later this month.

 

#1 - Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards - statement cut 1/4/25; reported to bureaus ???

#2 - Discover It

#3 - Chase Freedom Unlimited (this one won't be zeroed, but that's kind of irrelevant to this discussion)

#4 - Citi Double Cash

#5 - Citi Costco Anywhere Visa

#6 - Macy's AmEx (I guess I need to throw lunch on this one day so I get a statement this month; gotta keep this one alive anyway)

 

My calendar says that Macy's statement date is the 27th although some of them have drifted a couple days since I put them in, but in any case I should have data by early next month.

 

I figure this will be helpful not only for my curiosity but for people who are optimizing toward a target date e.g. a planned purchase of a car or mortgage app.

 

[hdporter]

Just a thought:  Determine who you're most likely to seek a mortgage from and contact them to confirm their best rate FICO cutoff.  Some use 740.

 

You might also confirm their current rates to assess just how much it will cost you if you apply and only secure their second-best rate.

 

Finally, just checking that you understand that mortgage rates are driven off your "middle" score.

 

Best wishes for success in securing an advantageous mortgage!

[shifter]

22 hours ago, supern8ural said:

to see if I can get my mortgage scores over 760 - I'm sure I can; I was only a couple points shy when I last pulled a full 3 bureau report before I did any optimization at all

Are you getting an FHA loan or conventional? Are you putting 20% down or less? Optimizing your scores is most likely a fool's errand as 740 middle score will get you the best rates with a conventional lender with 20% down and you may not even need that. I got the best rates with a 727 I believe. With FHA you are going to pay a ton of extra fees and stuff and your score doesn't really matter. 

[supern8ural]

To address all your points...

 

yes, I know that it's the middle score, and I also know that the cutoff may be 740 or even lower.  I do not have a real plan yet; in fact on my list of things to do this week is reach back out to realtor as we kind of dropped stuff last year when I determined that I just didn't have the funds yet and interest rates were prohibitive.  I've been told that I can buy with as little as 3% down but that seems scary to me.  I'm saving as much as I can and I only have about $7k saved up so far, but I'm trying to save $1k a month and have been more or less hitting that except I had to withdraw a bunch of money to buy a "new" Jeep and then had to toss another $2k at my car for repairs.  such is life.

 

At this point this is about gamifying my scores as much as anything.  I was *so* close when I pulled my reports (I think my middle mortgage score was 757 last month with just organic use, and two cards >90%) I just want to see what I can do, and also as I said because I had a bonus and this month is a three paycheck month it's not hurting me to do this and in fact is a good exercise as instead of spending that money I'm getting rid of all my "float" instead (with the exception of the 0% BT which I still owe about $3700 on, but that was planned.)

 

I am curious to get DPs on how long it takes for everyone to report.  Obviously they're reporting statement balance and it takes "a couple days" to hit the bureaus but I never paid much attention to exactly how long it took before;  It looks like the BoA finally reported to Experian but not the other two (checking through CK).  this is really mostly for my own curiosity but I figured others might be interested as well.

[shifter]

2 hours ago, supern8ural said:

It looks like the BoA finally reported to Experian but not the other two

EX typically processes updates first, then EQ a day or two later and TU sometimes the same time or even a day or two later. 

[shifter]

2 hours ago, supern8ural said:

I've been told that I can buy with as little as 3% down but that seems scary to me.

Yes, that's an FHA loan. If you go that direction, your score basically doesn't matter as your rate + PMI + fees will be very high regardless. FICO score is only one part of the risk model that determines your rate and down payment is a big part. You might be able to get a good rate at 10% down but you will have PMI until you pay it down to less than 80% LTV. With FHA you will have PMI for the life of the loan. 

[supern8ural]

3 hours ago, shifter said:

Yes, that's an FHA loan. If you go that direction, your score basically doesn't matter as your rate + PMI + fees will be very high regardless. FICO score is only one part of the risk model that determines your rate and down payment is a big part. You might be able to get a good rate at 10% down but you will have PMI until you pay it down to less than 80% LTV. With FHA you will have PMI for the life of the loan. 

 

I assumed the same.  Unfortunately, in my area 10% down is $30-50k for anything insurable unless I want to actually live within the city limits which means my insurance will be very expensive anyway.  I'm still trying though...

[supern8ural]

well here's what I have so far

 

#1 - Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards
     Statement cut 1/4/25 (Saturday)
     Experian 1/8/25 (Wednesday) says reported 1/4/25 per Experian
     TransUnion 1/11/25, says reported 1/7/25 per CreditKarma
     Equifax appeared 1/10/25, says reported 1/7/25 per CreditKarma
#2 - Discover It (this one I messed up and it reported as $30 not zero because I ordered food 1/11 evening and it posted almost immediately)
    Statement cut 1/12/2025 (Sunday)
    Experian 1/14/2025 says reported 1/12/2025 per Experian
    TransUnion
    Equifax 1/14/2025 says reported 1/12/2025 per CreditKarma

 

I have two more reporting this week, including one that was maxed that will be zeroed out before the statement cuts.

 

What's really disappointing is that my Experian FICO 8 has not gone up at all - still holding right at 771 - despite zeroing out my BoA card and taking my Discover from ~$500 (which would be ~5% utilization) to $30 (I meant to zero it, but apparently some food I ordered Saturday night posted that same evening, usually it takes several days?  Whoops.  Of course the purchases I made Sunday haven't posted yet...)

 

This Friday my Citi Double Cash will cut a statement and that one was >90% last month so hopefully that one will move the needle?

 

The only other thing I can think to do re: my score would be to pay off my CFU, which is going to report at ~$3800 (of $25k) or at least pay it down under 10% but that would defeat the purpose of a 0%BT.  Right now, the CFU, my Citi Double Cash (>90% util) and Discover ($30 of $10k) are the only cards I have reporting balances, the others are zero.

[supern8ural]

I'm an idiot.  I bought something small on my Double Cash thinking it wouldn't post until Sunday at the earliest and... you know what happened.

 

I gotta stop doing this and stop chasing those last fractions of a point until this exercise is complete.  I'm going to try to pull a payment early tomorrow morning (there's another pending purchase is why I didn't do it today) to see if I can get that done before the statement generates.

 

I know this isn't real content but I need to vent and yinz are the only folks who will understand.

[shifter]

CC charges basically always post next day. I never make a charge I don't want to post until the day the statement cuts or Sat if the statement cuts on Sun or a holiday Monday. 

[supern8ural]

11 hours ago, shifter said:

CC charges basically always post next day. I never make a charge I don't want to post until the day the statement cuts or Sat if the statement cuts on Sun or a holiday Monday. 

 

Oddly for me it seems to be usually 2-3 days but this is twice this month I've tried to cut it close and it hasn't worked.  So it is never safe to assume.  I woke up at 2 AM and logged in but my statement had already cut, AND another charge had posted so my statement balance was ~$30 not zero.  Oh well.I still should have all cards reporting low or no utilization by next week save for one which is going to be about 15%, so I'll at least get to see what my credit score can be.  I have one more card to pay down but that won't be until about a week and a half from now.

[shifter]

4 hours ago, supern8ural said:

Oddly for me it seems to be usually 2-3 days

It is often 2-3 days, but charges the day before the statement cuts nearly always seem to make it on the statement. Sometimes you get lucky for one reason or another, but these days I plan on any charge made before the day of the statement to be on that statement. 

[supern8ural]

After a whole month of this, I finally have full data... Last card finally reported to the last two bureaus on Saturday.  I'm not sure I really learned anything groundbreaking.  The one anomaly was it took 12 days for my CFU to report to Equifax.

 

Seems as though it takes anywhere from 2-7 days typically.  Well, I went through the exercise anyway...

 

Not sure what I can do credit wise now.  I will ask for a CLI on my Discover card on the 1st or thereabouts.  May call about getting my interest rates lowered on a couple cards now that my scores are as good as they'll get.

 

#1 - Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards

Statement cut 1/4/25 (Saturday)

Experian 1/8/25 (Wednesday) says reported 1/4/25 per Experian

TransUnion 1/11/25, says reported 1/7/25 per CreditKarma

Equifax appeared 1/10/25, says reported 1/7/25 per CreditKarma

#2 - Discover It (this one I messed up and it reported as $30 not zero because I ordered food 1/11 evening and it posted almost immediately)

              Statement cut 1/12/2025 (Sunday)

              Experian 1/14/2025 says reported 1/12/2025 per Experian

              TransUnion 1/16/2025 says reported 1/12/2025 per CreditKarma

              Equifax 1/14/2025 says reported 1/12/2025 per CreditKarma also showed up 1/14/2025 on myFICO and says reported 12/12/2024 [SIC]

#3 - Chase Freedom Unlimited (this one won't be zeroed, but that's kind of irrelevant to this discussion)

              Statement cut 1/16/2025 (Thursday)

              Experian 1/18/2025 says reported 1/16/2025 per Experian

              TransUnion 1/19/2025 says reported 1/16/2025 per CreditKarma

              Equifax 1/28/2025 says reported 1/16/2025 per CreditKarma

#4 - Citi Double Cash

              Statement cut 1/16/2025 (Thursday)

              Experian 1/18/2025 says reported 1/16/2025 per Experian

              TransUnion 1/19/2025 says reported 1/16/2025 per CreditKarma

              Equifax 1/18/2025 says reported 1/16/2025 per CreditKarma

#5 - Citi Costco Anywhere Visa

Statement cut 1/22/2025 (Wednesday)

              Experian 1/24/2025 says reported 1/22/2025 per Experian

              TransUnion 1/26/2025 says reported 1/22/2025 per CreditKarma

              Equifax 1/24/2025 says reported 1/22/2025 per CreditKarma

#6 - Macy's AmEx (I guess I need to throw lunch on this one day so I get a statement this month; gotta keep this one alive anyway)

Statement cut 1/28/25 (Tuesday)

Experian 1/29/25 says reported 1/29/25 per Experian

              TransUnion 2/3/25 (might have reported 2/2/25?) says reported 1/28/25 per CreditKarma

              Equifax 1/31/25 says reported 1/29/25 per CreditKarma

#7 – Capital One Savor

Statement cut 2/2/2025 (Sunday)

              Experian 2/8/25 says reported 2/1/25 [SIC] per Experian

              TransUnion 2/8/25 says reported 2/1/25 [SIC] per CreditKarma

              Equifax 2/7/25 says reported 2/1/25 [SIC] per CreditKarma