Reader Question: How Long Does it Take for my Credit Report to be Updated?

Debbi recently wrote in with this question:

My New Year's resolution is to get my credit score to a 780 or higher. I have paid off most of my outstanding debts. May 24, 2008 is my last outstanding bill be to paid off.  I would like to know when should I order my credit reports to assure that the outstanding debts are reported correctly on my credit reports, and how long before I see some improvement in my credit score?

This is a great New Year's resolution! Reducing your debt balances can often help increase your credit score. It's all about that magic 10% debt-to-limit ratio we talked about last week.

Debbi's credit score should improve incrementally as she pays down her debts and reduces her debt-to-limit ratio. She'd see an improvement when her ratio went from 50% to 40%, 40% to 30%, etc. When she breaks through below the 10% mark, she should get another boost.

Credit card companies report to the credit bureaus on their own schedules. Usually, once every 30-days per customer. This could be 30-days from the 1st of the month or any other day of the month. If she paid off her bills, it should take 30-60 days for the new balance to be reported to the credit bureaus.

She could aim for ordering her credit reports and scores 60-days after the bill is paid off. Or she could order a credit monitoring program that will give her access to her credit all month long. Personally, I like Unlimited Credit Monitoring from TransUnion. For $14.95 a month, you can check all three of your credit reports and credit scores every day.

Emily Davidson – A former TransUnion insider and a member of Credit.com's expert team. Emily writes about credit reports, credit cards, loans and personal finance as the CreditBloggers.com editor.

Comments

[Greg Smith]

I don't know, $14.95 a month seems like a lot of money to find out information about yourself.

[Emily Davidson]

If you want a free credit report, you can order through www.annualcreditreport.com (this doesn't include a credit score though).

[Mike Clover]

You can go to www.my720fico.com and get a free trial with credit scores.

[DianeT]

The problem is, TU's scores are not TRUE FICO scores. There's a reason they're referred to as FAKO scores.