If you keep an eye on your reports and credit scores and try to make positive changes, you might wonder how long it will take to that actions such as the payment of a full loan or reducing your credit utilization rate by opening a new credit card to be taken into account. Whether you work to improve your credit in general, or if you want to increase a specific purpose, such as getting approved for a mortgage, understanding the process of how different actions affect your reports and credit scores can help reduce some of the stress. There are a lot of solid information available about how the negative elements are reported, and how long they stay on your credit reports, but it may be cloudy as to when changes are made to your reports credit. If you are wondering why, the answer is quite simple. 
The timing of positive change reports is every creditor
Before you start worrying about how something will impact your credit report, you'll want to make sure you have a general understanding of what is and isn 't reported to your credit reports. Once you have confirmed this change will impact your credit, you can consider the moment. In general, all the positive actions taken by you with your creditors (as well as negative events, such as an account go to collections or defaulted on a loan) will be reported to credit bureaus on the schedule of creditors. Ideally, you should see a reflection of all the actions you have taken on your credit reports within 30 days - however not all creditors report to offices in that time (not all creditors report to all three bureaus, so you could not even see if you are just looking to Equifax TransUnion and Experian, but not, for example). As such, you should expect changes appear on your report (s) of credit within a maximum period of 90 days - it really just depends on when your creditors report the change to the offices. If you have not seen updates in a month, you'll want to make sure that you follow with creditors to ensure they have reported your payments and ask about a time frame. While they may not be able to give you an exact number of days, they should be able to provide you with a general schedule.
It is also important to remember that the repayment of an element that has been reported as delinquent on your credit reports already will not be the same effect as paying the balance of your credit card or repay a loan that was never in default. Read this blog to learn more about the duration of the negative items stay on your credit reports.
How do I know when changes are made?
If you plan to take a mortgage or buying a new car and want to make sure your credit is in good standing, it is a wise idea to check your credit reports at least six months before when you plan to take action. This will give you time to look for all possible errors and get them corrected - and give your creditors a long time to report any positive change - before your bank or creditor makes an inquiry on your credit. While you are entitled to a free copy of all three of your credit reports every 12 months from AnnualCreditReport.com website sponsored by the government, you do not get access to your free credit score ( at that time), and once a year is probably not enough if you are actively working to make improvements on your credit.
Registration for a credit report monitoring service that provides continuous access to your reports and credit scores and alerts in case of change - positive or negative - is detected is a good solution . Many of these services offer free trials, so you can register and test the service before making a financial commitment. In addition, most of the best credit monitoring services also include identity protection features against theft, which is essential in today's world with data breaches happening right and left.
Want to know more about your credit? Follow our credit report monitoring blog for tips and articles.