topic Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off? in Credit Cards

What Credit Cards should I pay off?

dl5770 — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 00:07:27 GMT

Hello all!

I am new to this board and it appears to be a great resource to get some solid advise.

I am coming into some money ($18,000) in January and would like to take the best approach in paying off some Credit Cards. Both for Credit Score and peace of mind!

Here's my situation (listed by highest ARP):

Cap 1 (17.9%) - $575 balance ($5,000)

AMEX (17.24%) - $7,722 balance ($8,000 limit)

Discover (12.99%) - $6,118 balance ($7,200 limit)

Chase (12.24%) - $4,913 balance ($5,500 limit)

BOA (9.24%) - $9,927 balance ($11,100 limit)

Citi (6.24%) - $9,355 balance ($9,500)

My thoughts are: Cap 1, AMEX and BOA....OR.....Cap 1, AMEX, Discover and Chase (most of)

Any input would be great!!

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

creditnocash — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 00:12:43 GMT

dl5770 wrote:
Hello all!

I am new to this board and it appears to be a great resource to get some solid advise.

I am coming into some money ($18,000) in January and would like to take the best approach in paying off some Credit Cards. Both for Credit Score and peace of mind!

Here's my situation (listed by highest ARP):

Cap 1 (17.9%) - $575 balance ($5,000)
AMEX (17.24%) - $7,722 balance ($8,000 limit)
Discover (12.99%) - $6,118 balance ($7,200 limit)
Chase (12.24%) - $4,913 balance ($5,500 limit)
BOA (9.24%) - $9,927 balance ($11,100 limit)
Citi (6.24%) - $9,355 balance ($9,500)

My thoughts are: Cap 1, AMEX and BOA....OR.....Cap 1, AMEX, Discover and Chase (most of)

Any input would be great!!

i would do the first.

but then manage your cards better.

after you pay off most of your balances you should see a gigantic score bump. in which id app for a cu credit card with a super high limit and bt for a 0% for x months for whatever you can. since you prob wont be coming into another 18k anytime soon.

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

Repo-ed — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 00:14:47 GMT

from highest apr to lowest apr

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

oogy — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 00:17:06 GMT

Personally, I would probably pay all of them down below about 70% so they're not so close to max limits. Then I would put the rest towards paying down the highest interest cards. If you've got to leave money sitting on there, it might as well be getting the lowest interest rate possible.

On the other hand, you might want to skip the first step and just put the whole lump sum into paying down the highest interest balances. I think the cards that have a really high percentage of utilization are an extra red flag on your credit score - but that may not be a huge concern if you're not applying for anything soon. So avoiding the extra interest might be a higher priority.

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

Wolf3 — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:04:58 GMT

Repo-ed wrote:
from highest apr to lowest apr

+1. More important to reduce interest payments to zero that worrying about credit score.

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

nicholasyud — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:28:53 GMT

30k in debt man its a lot of interest to paid each months.

You paid totally 300 to 400 each month with a firm 15% APR.

That's crazy god........Please stay in shape and stop abuse those plastic. They worth for their purpose ( save money and rewards)

I hope your finance getting better in a near future.

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

bluesnowman — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:36:50 GMT

Pay off the one with highest APR's first, that's a lot of interest to pay every month man. Or pay the smaller cards and apply the rest so at least some cards won't kill your Utilization. You've got a lot to pay off my friend...and stop abusing the plastic like Nick says, It'd take me like 3 years to pay off all that debt if it were me...

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

webhopper — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:37:42 GMT

Hi! I recommend that you pay them off with the highest interest first.... then you can close some cards and limit yourself to one or two and hopefully do not get in that situation again. Best of luck!

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

bs6054 — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:41:08 GMT

nicholasyud wrote:
30k in debt man its a lot of interest to paid each months.
You paid totally 300 to 400 each month with a firm 15% APR.
That's crazy god........Please stay in shape and stop abuse those plastic. They worth for their purpose ( save money and rewards)
I hope your finance getting better in a near future.

Yes, so if you pay off the top 4 APR cards (well, most of the fourth) you are saving about $210 in interest, which you should use as an additional payment on the next highest APR card.

Of course, this only works if you don't add new balances to the paid-off cards. If this is impossible, and the pattern looks bad (a series of nearly maxed out cards) then go to a real credit advice service and see what they can suggest

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

distantarray — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 05:34:17 GMT

dl5770 wrote:
Cap 1 (17.9%) - $575 balance ($5,000)
AMEX (17.24%) - $7,722 balance ($8,000 limit)
Discover (12.99%) - $6,118 balance ($7,200 limit)
Chase (12.24%) - $4,913 balance ($5,500 limit)
BOA (9.24%) - $9,927 balance ($11,100 limit)
Citi (6.24%) - $9,355 balance ($9,500)

imo,

1. Amex

2. Chase

3. Capital One

4. Citi

5. Discover

6. Bank of America

LOL but that'sjust me. because Amex HATES people carrying large balances, and Amex and Chase being the top two credit card companies in my opinion I wouldn't want to burn either one of them or make them lose faith =)

I could careless about Capital One or Bank of America personally since I don't think they offer anything that's of any value compared to the rest of them.

But generally the plan with the highest interest rates first would probably work best, I'm just a bit weird =)

So if you take that into consideration I would pay off

1. Capital One

2. Amex

3. Chase

4. Discover

5. Citi

6. Bank of America

It's not exactly highest APR to lowest, but considering the APR and how I rate the banks personally since Amex and Chase holds most of the best reward cards and sign up bonuses this would benefit you a lot in the future, so it's nice to keep a good history with them. The APR's shouldn't be so different to cause too much of a extra troubles.

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

chnceit — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 05:41:40 GMT

dl5770 wrote:
Hello all!

I am new to this board and it appears to be a great resource to get some solid advise.

I am coming into some money ($18,000) in January and would like to take the best approach in paying off some Credit Cards. Both for Credit Score and peace of mind!

Here's my situation (listed by highest ARP):

Cap 1 (17.9%) - $575 balance ($5,000)
AMEX (17.24%) - $7,722 balance ($8,000 limit)
Discover (12.99%) - $6,118 balance ($7,200 limit)
Chase (12.24%) - $4,913 balance ($5,500 limit)
BOA (9.24%) - $9,927 balance ($11,100 limit)
Citi (6.24%) - $9,355 balance ($9,500)

My thoughts are: Cap 1, AMEX and BOA....OR.....Cap 1, AMEX, Discover and Chase (most of)

Any input would be great!!

All I gotta say is WOOOOOOW thats some high balances! But yes pay off the highest balance first then work your way down!

But if you cannot pay that off quick enough I would try to get a loan to consolidate your debt. Maybe even close them after so you dont go that deep again

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

maiden_girl — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 08:53:44 GMT

chnceit wrote:
dl5770 wrote:
Hello all!

I am new to this board and it appears to be a great resource to get some solid advise.

I am coming into some money ($18,000) in January and would like to take the best approach in paying off some Credit Cards. Both for Credit Score and peace of mind!

Here's my situation (listed by highest ARP):

Cap 1 (17.9%) - $575 balance ($5,000)
AMEX (17.24%) - $7,722 balance ($8,000 limit)
Discover (12.99%) - $6,118 balance ($7,200 limit)
Chase (12.24%) - $4,913 balance ($5,500 limit)
BOA (9.24%) - $9,927 balance ($11,100 limit)
Citi (6.24%) - $9,355 balance ($9,500)

My thoughts are: Cap 1, AMEX and BOA....OR.....Cap 1, AMEX, Discover and Chase (most of)

Any input would be great!!

All I gotta say is WOOOOOOW thats some high balances! But yes pay off the highest balance first then work your way down!

But if you cannot pay that off quick enough I would try to get a loan to consolidate your debt. Maybe even close them after so you dont go that deep again

All I have to say is HOLY SHIZNITZ! And I thought I was in debt....Pay AMEX and CAP1 off first. Highest APR on down like others have said.

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

sakhalin070 — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 09:03:34 GMT

dl5770 wrote:
Hello all!

I am new to this board and it appears to be a great resource to get some solid advise.

I am coming into some money ($18,000) in January and would like to take the best approach in paying off some Credit Cards. Both for Credit Score and peace of mind!

Here's my situation (listed by highest ARP):

Cap 1 (17.9%) - $575 balance ($5,000)
AMEX (17.24%) - $7,722 balance ($8,000 limit)
Discover (12.99%) - $6,118 balance ($7,200 limit)
Chase (12.24%) - $4,913 balance ($5,500 limit)
BOA (9.24%) - $9,927 balance ($11,100 limit)
Citi (6.24%) - $9,355 balance ($9,500)

My thoughts are: Cap 1, AMEX and BOA....OR.....Cap 1, AMEX, Discover and Chase (most of)

Any input would be great!!

You could knock out your Capi 1 really fast. Assuming your $18,000 is used to pay off debt (of course, this may not be the case) I would then set AMEX as your priority (PIF!!) , and spread the remaining amount you have on your other cards.

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

visorboy1974 — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 09:42:59 GMT

Repo-ed wrote:
from highest apr to lowest apr

+100000000 This

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

espnjunkie — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 22:12:12 GMT

Do what you can to pay those off (highest to lowest apr first) asap. Not going to ask because circumstances can get tough.

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

Croselx — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 23:16:57 GMT

Highest APR should be paid off first so you have more money leftover to pay the remaining cards.
You can pay off Cap 1, Amex, Discover and most of Chase on the first month (finish paying it on Feb unless you have saved up money to pay it off on Jan).

You are at $38610 / $46300 or 83.4% of overall utility, assuming you put the full amount in your new util will be 44.5%. If your overall credit picture is looking good you can try to get a card with 0% balance transfer so you pay the maximum amount to the principal and save some money (wait for the cards to report the new $0 balance). If you can't get the card then you should apply the freed up money from the paid off cards to pay off the remaining BOA and Citi cards.

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

Thunderstruck — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 23:32:31 GMT

This is my proposal:

Pay in full Cap 1 ($575)

Decrease utilization down to 30% in AMEX paying off $5,322

Decrease utilization down to 30% in Discover paying off $3,958

Decrease utilization down to 30% in Chase paying off $3,263

Decrease utilization down to 70% in BOA paying off $2,157

Decrease utilization down to 70% in Citi paying off $2,705

Total cost = $17,980

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

Dustink — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 23:34:54 GMT

What happened to OP?

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

dl5770 — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 23:38:59 GMT

I want to thank everyone their input. It is very valuable. The "plan" is to stop using the cards altogether and continue to pay down. We went to a single income and had our second child over the last year which pushed these balances up. Our goal is to be CC debt free by February 2014.

With the help and advise of the group, I think we will be paying off highest APR's in January:
Cap 1

AMEX
Discover

Chase (most)...then rest over coming months.

We'll continue to knock down the last two over the next 13 months.

Re: What Credit Cards should I pay off?

Dustink — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 23:47:50 GMT

dl5770 wrote:
I want to thank everyone their input. It is very valuable. The "plan" is to stop using the cards altogether and continue to pay down. We went to a single income and had our second child over the last year which pushed these balances up. Our goal is to be CC debt free by February 2014.
With the help and advise of the group, I think we will be paying off highest APR's in January:
Cap 1
AMEX
Discover
Chase (most)...then rest over coming months.

We'll continue to knock down the last two over the next 13 months.

That looks like a good plan. I would recommend you keep some money in savings. So, if your accounts are completely dry. You should put a little away.

Also, I would think about paying the high utilization cards down some. Your citi is maxed, but since it is your lowest interest card. It is a tough choice. Maybe after you pay down your other cards, you can get citi to give you an increase on your limit.

Good luck getting them all paid down.

After you start getting them paid down well and your credit score refects it. It might be worth getting a loan so that you have one payment for all the credit cards and then your score will shoot up after everything gets paid off.