Do all credit cards report payments to credit bureaus?

Not all credit cards will report payments to credit bureaus.  This can harm a borrower’s plan to repair a poor credit score.

When repairing credit it is quite common to take a credit card, borrow a manageable amount and keep paying the credit back.  In this way a credit score can be rebuilt as a pattern of steady repayment of debt is re-established.  This is usually recommended as a way of repairing credit as it not only establishes a record of repaying debt, it also brings in good habits of regular repayments and monitoring debt levels.  In other words it re-trains a person who has previously had a problem with repaying debt in managing their debt.

This way of repairing credit relies on credit bureaus.  The role of credit bureaus is that of collecting information on a potential borrower and then being able to give a credit score.  If a credit card is not repaid, or there is an action to recover money, then this is reported to credit bureaus, which then use it to make their credit scores.  The credit bureaus then let lenders know applicant’s credit scores, which can often deny the applicant a new loan if it is a poor credit score.

However not all credit cards will report transactions to credit bureaus.  There is no requirement for many credit cards to do so, and for those that do they may sometimes only report negative events such as not paying a bill rather than positive events such as a good record of repayment.

If looking for a card to specifically repair credit, it is often a good idea to look for cards that explicitly advertise that they are reporting all payments to credit bureaus.  If a card does not advertise it and the interest rate and conditions are particularly good then it is better to ask whether the card reports to the credit bureaus for all transactions (not just whether it reports to credit bureaus, as that can be only for negative events) rather than simply assuming that it will.

Secured credit cards, cards that are backed by a deposit, tend to be reported to credit bureaus – but it is always a good idea to check.  Co-signatory credit cards – where another person guarantees the cards – also tend to report to bureaus for both signatories, but again it is best to check that they do this for both parties.  Prepaid cards do not tend to report all incidents to credit bureaus.