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Been surfing the forums here on and off for years. But I've finally gotten to the point where I can I'm not sure what to do for my next move. I'm currently looking to see what Credit Cards I should app in the short term to make my utilization go lower while I work on paying them. Here's a bit about my situation:
80-90% CC utilization across four accounts totaling up to about 10K. (Paypal, Chase Freedom, Discover IT)
20K Student Loans
No bad payment history or other negatives to be concerned with.
1 HP over the last year.
Credit score around 680 from TU over the last year.
I'm just pulling into a situation where I'm finally finding a roommate and getting a raise, giving me some extra income per month that isn't spoken for elsewhere. I can now gradually work on paying off my CCs after dealing with a bit of nasty dental work that has been my financial focus on paying off over the past year. Since I can look at paying off my CCs, I want to figure out what my short term tactic should be to raise my score and potentially get a decent BT card I can transfer some of the debt onto. Easiest way to do that would be to open one or two cards with decent CL to lower my utilization from looking at the math. I also want to be on the safe side and have a better score, since my car has a few mechanical issues and I don't want it to suddenly go under while my score is just merely "Good" if I need to get a new vehicle suddenly.
The Chase Slate looks fantastic, but from reading, it looks like I would just get approved and get a low CL; wasting the HP. So what should I be looking at right now to app for? I got a prequalified fro a Cap One Plat MC in the mail. The Cap One website tells me I'm pre-qualified for a QS Rewards Visa at this point. Researching these cards has been quite mixed from looking at them.
Welcome to the forum. In regards to your question about what you should app for, in all honesty, nothing right now. With utl between 80% and 90%, most lenders if not all will view that as risky and either deny the application, or if by chance you do get approved it would probably be for a low sl. Now I could be wrong but most banks do not see that high of a utl as favorable. What you should do is work on paying that down, way down, I' say to at the most 30% before applying for any new cc's. I know that's not really what you want to hear but that is the position you are in right now.
Welcome
Throw the extra income you now have at the debt and I have to be honest
1) change your thinking of getting new cards to reduce UTL because that's a bad credit decision and usually leads to more debt
2) you won't be approved at 90% and if you do it will be low limits and this won't change UTL anyway I assure you
3) Chasing cards for UTL is simply not teaching you to pay them down and seek credit when you need it and not when balances are high
Certainly won't disagree with you Journey. I was more interested in doing some tactical moves to enable me to pay down my debt faster by hopefully swinging into a BT Card. I just wasn't sure on the likelihood of that being an option at this utilization. Certainly would allow me to use money I'm paying on interest to divert to CC debt if that were all possible.
@Anonymous wrote:Certainly won't disagree with you Journey. I was more interested in doing some tactical moves to enable me to pay down my debt faster by hopefully swinging into a BT Card. I just wasn't sure on the likelihood of that being an option at this utilization. Certainly would allow me to use money I'm paying on interest to divert to CC debt if that were all possible.
I do understand and wish I had another option for you but I have to ask will a new card with a $500-$1000 limit help you after the BT and how far will it drop UTL?
Even tho yes that amount will be under a $0% for XXXXX amount of time allowing you to save $$$$$$$ but in all honesty you'll now have another card maxed out?
If that amount is the key then I say yes go for it but if not you're still in the same bracket IMHO
Another question do you own a home or something that would allow you to borrow against for a long term low APR loan?