Credit Cards

[Wwsam]

I am looking To get my score up ASAP, I have cards with high balances--close to max, and also about five cards that each hover around 200-300 in balance....should I pay off about 5 cards and get those reporting as 0, or should I pay a chunk on my 80% 7k card? Thanks for all input,

[Wwsam]

I just realized I should have put this in the rebuilding credit area..sorry!

[cmthomas06]

Pay down the cards that are nearly maxed out. You never want to have >50% UTIl on a single card or >40% UTIl of total revolving. 

[Wwsam]

Ok, thanks! That's what I was thinking, but I wasn't sure.

[cmthomas06]

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Wwsam wrote:
Ok, thanks! That's what I was thinking, but I wasn't sure.

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no problem  

But be warned, this may NOT dramatically increase your score over night. Credit is a long-term game. 

[agforfree5]

Bring your outstanding balances to $0 on all cards and keep apx 10-15% of total Utl on 1 card only... and there ya go.

[Revelate]

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agforfree5 wrote:

Bring your outstanding balances to $0 on all cards and keep apx 10-15% of total Utl on 1 card only... and there ya go.

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For most people. anecdotally it's less than 9% reported utilization on that tradeline (non zero though) on less than half your cards; on all the rest, $0 balance from what I've read here over the months and before that.  My credit file isn't stable enough right now to test that assertion (too many accounts new within the last year), but maybe come March next year I can start testing it myself with my limited number of cards.  It is individual though, so one's mileage may vary.

Quickest way for immediate improvement: pay the small balances to zero and then hammer the big balance with everything you can spare.

That said, quickest way for somewhat longer term improvement: pay your highest APR first, then your second highest APR, then continue down the line.  This makes the most financial sense, and will have your overall debt obligation paid the fastest.  If you're looking at putting the most lipstick on one's pig, this accomplishes it quickest mathematically, but if you need a few extra points for whatever reason right now, nuke the small balances first.

[bobebob]

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Revelate wrote:

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agforfree5 wrote:

Bring your outstanding balances to $0 on all cards and keep apx 10-15% of total Utl on 1 card only... and there ya go.

---

For most people. anecdotally it's less than 9% reported utilization on that tradeline (non zero though) on less than half your cards; on all the rest, $0 balance from what I've read here over the months and before that.  My credit file isn't stable enough right now to test that assertion (too many accounts new within the last year), but maybe come March next year I can start testing it myself with my limited number of cards.  It is individual though, so one's mileage may vary.

Quickest way for immediate improvement: pay the small balances to zero and then hammer the big balance with everything you can spare.

That said, quickest way for somewhat longer term improvement: pay your highest APR first, then your second highest APR, then continue down the line.  This makes the most financial sense, and will have your overall debt obligation paid the fastest.  If you're looking at putting the most lipstick on one's pig, this accomplishes it quickest mathematically, but if you need a few extra points for whatever reason right now, nuke the small balances first.

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I seem to remember that there was a calculation based not just on APR, but also how much you owed on each card that determined the optimum order for paying them off. 

I.E. once the low hanging fruit (the 200-300 balances) were paid off, then the entire payments you had been making to those cards is rolled over and applied to the next card and so forth.

[FrugalRican]

It'd help if you weren't using 5,600 on a 7,000 credit line.
That needs to go down and quick.

You're carrying a bunch of balances all spread out. That's raising a bunch of red flags.

You need to do something to quell your spending, more than anything else.

[youngandcreditwrthy]

Either
A. Pay down your debt to decrease ut
or
B. Get huge CLI to *trick* fico into lowering your util

THEN bt to 0% card and pay the debt off!!!

In the meantime, dispute baddies and make sure your credit report is 100% accurate.

:-)