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In a nutshell:
What is the best method for decreasing utilization on my Chase Rewards? I am paying around $450 per month to knock it down as quick as possible
Chase Visa 9100/ 10,000 CL; 9.9 APR
Barclays 0/ 4500; 0% BT option for ??, then 9.9%
USAA 0/ 6000 22% APR; APR is too high, so BT is not an option
Discover It 0/ 3500; BT option 0% for 16 mo.
Bank of America 0/ 10,000; BT option 0% for 16 mo.
I would appreciate any help in obtaining information to make my utilization optimal for increased scoring. Currently I am at 728. AAoA- 6 years. Barclays, USAA, Discover It and BoA are all new accounts.
What an interesting question. Here's my .02 and why.
Transfer $4,500 to B of A. (45% util on that card.)
Transfer $2,500 to Discover (71% on that card.)
Transfer $2100 to Barclays (47% on that card.)
Your overall utilization won't change at all, of course, but if you do that, you'll have two cards reporting at zero utilization (USAA and Chase Visa) and NO cards maxed out. (both of which REALLY affect your scores...ask me how I know... )
Then, pay $100 per month to B of A and Barclays (each) and send $250 to Discover until you get it's utilization under 50 %.
Then you re do your math based on how long which zero interest deal lasts. Good luck!
My .02 and a clever way to approach this.
1. Transfer entire Chase balance to your 0& BofA.
2. Check your reports for when Chase and BofA report to the bureaus.
3. You should time the balance transfer to show Chase with a zero balance and BofA with a zero balance (meaning BofA has not updated yet)
4. Apply for 2 cards or so to keep your UTIL down ... hoping for a 10k limit to match the other cards.
5. Pay away at your 0% interest :-)
Thank you blk8 and fade. That is the kind of outside of the box thinking I was looking for. The latter is particularly interesting, but unfortunatley the new TLs have come at the expense of inquiries. Additionally, I am a noob, so figuring out when cc's report would be challenging. I also do not know what my APR will be for BoA after the introductory 0% period. I could get screwed if it is high.
tcbofade
Is it not better to have 4 TL's reporting with 0 balance and one biggie balance? Just asking?
Well played BLK8!
Hopefully, the OP's balance reporting intervals can make that happen easily.
OP,
My two cents to add onto what blk8 said and your response to it.
It's not hard to figure out your reporting date. It's usually the date that your monthly cycle closes.....with very few exceptions (and I know Chase isn't one of them....I doubt BoA is either but I can't say for sure.)
The real trickiness is when the CRs update. In my experience, EX is almost immediate while EQ lags a day or so later and TU a day or so later still.
So, to be safe, you need access to all three bureaus with daily updates. That's easy as a paid service with freecreditreport.com (EX) and equifax.com. TU's only free way, Credit Karma, no longer has unlimited daily updating. Whenever you update, you have to wait a week for another update. But believe me when I say that EX is usually first to update. I have seen it many times. If you get a subscription to freecreditreport.com, you can check daily the day after your monthly cycle closes and figure 2-3 days and it will be updated on the others as well.
Hopefully, your BoA and Chase statement dates are far enough apart to allow some wiggle room in between. Check them out and let us know. If they are too close together, you'll need to call one of them and move the monthly cycle closing date ahead to accomodate enough room to work with.
You CAN do it.
Do you want to save the most money and pay it off the quickest of have the highest score while your paying down at the cost of paying more in interest?
@tcbofade wrote:What an interesting question. Here's my .02 and why.
Transfer $4,500 to B of A. (45% util on that card.)
Transfer $2,500 to Discover (71% on that card.)
Transfer $2100 to Barclays (47% on that card.)
Your overall utilization won't change at all, of course, but if you do that, you'll have two cards reporting at zero utilization (USAA and Chase Visa) and NO cards maxed out. (both of which REALLY affect your scores...ask me how I know... )
Then, pay $100 per month to B of A and Barclays (each) and send $250 to Discover until you get it's utilization under 50 %.
Then you re do your math based on how long which zero interest deal lasts. Good luck!
I like this approach!!!