Help with UT IL ?

[Rlandon87]

OK I have about 7k cash to pay down balances on my CC'S.

I know this is impossible to know for sure but what is the best way to apply the 7000 on these card balances for the biggest FICO boost. I'm not worried about the interest rate or financial standpoint of things, strictly what will be the most feasible to attain the most FICO points.

11680/12000-
2800/3000-
4400/4500-
2700/3000
580/800
2900/3000
1100/1600
1800/2000

My thoughts were to eliminate as many balances as possible, but what if I applied the amount across all cards and brought as many as possible below 80%?

[Rlandon87]

If you are wondering why I have so much cc balances, I was recently married. We charged the ring, wedding, and honeymoon due to 0% offers and benefits.

I will have the money to pay all cards off within 18 months. I just need the quickest boost possible for obtaining a morgtage.

[Skye12329]

Personally i would eliminate the smaller balances first only because its less payments to worry about. However it would be smarter to eliminate the higher APR cards first unless you have 0% for X amount of months.

[Rlandon87]

Most are 0% highest that's not 0% is 17.99.

I'm looking for biggest FICO boost, I know however I apply the money the overall utilization will have the same effect.

What I want to know is how much better is it to have all cards under 80%, or pay off two high balance cards, or pay off multiple small balances so I only have 3 cards reporting high balances.

I will have about 15k more to apply over the next 6 months... but I want to make the largest FICO jump possible now.

[hizzaah]

If you're not worried about interest, pay as many down to zero as possible.. Can't say how much of a boost you'll get, but that's what I'd do. Some are 90%+ which is considered maxed which won't help, but I don't know that you'll get more points from paying all of them down a few %.

[destine2grow]

I am not sure if paying the smaller balances off first will boost your score more or spreading the 7k out across all credit cards.

I personally would pay all small balances first. I think it looks better to have some cards at 0 balance rather than spreading the money out.

I also think it will motivate you ( not that you are not motivated) to contribute reducing your cc debit. I also think it will feel more rewarding! Good luck with whatever you decide.

[Rlandon87]

I'll go with paying as many off as I can, I'll let you know what it does to the scores.
Right now I'm at

EX- 638
TU-646
EQ-627

[destine2grow]

Look forward to the update!

[SusieQ]

I was in a similar situation recently.   I first paid against any that were over 89% utilization to get them out of maxed out.  I then started paying lowest to highest balance.  

Reducing the maxed out ones gave me the biggest jump in score, followed by zero balances on a few others.

Hope this helps.

[xerostatus]

I myself would probably pay off across all cards, in weighted amounts. The reasoning would be, to lower both the overall and individual util across the board, as I do recall there being some word about keeping util under around 90% to avoid getting the "maxed out card" designation.

Based on your numbers, I ran it through a quick excel analysis (I get bored at work =X):

Current Bal	Limit	Current Utilization	New Balance	Payment Needed
$  11,680.00	$  12,000.00	97%	$              8,400.00	$    3,280.00
$    2,800.00	$    3,000.00	93%	$              2,100.00	$        700.00
$    4,400.00	$    4,500.00	98%	$              3,150.00	$    1,250.00
$    2,700.00	$    3,000.00	90%	$              2,100.00	$        600.00
$        580.00	$        800.00	73%	$                  560.00	$          20.00
$    2,900.00	$    3,000.00	97%	$              2,100.00	$        800.00
$    1,100.00	$    1,600.00	69%	$              1,100.00	$            0.00
$    1,800.00	$    2,000.00	90%	$              1,400.00	$        400.00
			TOTAL PAYMENT	$    7,050.00

 (very simplified analysis, I think SusieQ's suggestion might be better, first and foremost bring down the "maxed out" balances down under 90%, then zero out the lower balances then whatever may or may not be left over can be used to paydown the remaining higher balances) 

[Edited for some math errors]