Help with consolidating credit cards

[pamsue]

I would like to consolidate my cc with a lower interest rate and to make it easier to pay them off. I have a total of approx $12,000 in cc. My fico score is 742. I have never been late with a payment, I have no collections and I don't have any hard inquiries on my report. The problem is that my credit utilization is around 43%. This is all cc debt, no loans, no mortgages. I do not want to apply for an unsecured personal loan and be turned down because that will add an inquiry to my report. I was thinking of applying for a new cc to get my credit limit higher, which will make my utilization lower. I am paying high interest on these cards. Two of them are almost maxed out, the other five are either zero balance or less than half of credit limit. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you. 

[tcbofade]

Chase Slate...15 months 0 % interest and NO BT fee.

Citi Simplicity...18 months 0% interest.

BofA Better Rewards Balance Card.

With a fico of 742 and zero inquiries, I think you would be approved for any of them.

Good luck!

[-NewGuy-]

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@tcbofade wrote:

Chase Slate...15 months 0 % interest and NO BT fee.

Citi Simplicity...18 months 0% interest.

BofA Better Rewards Balance Card.

With a fico of 742 and zero inquiries, I think you would be approved for any of them.

Good luck!

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Slate would be my choice. No BT fee would save you a couple hundred bucks if you transferred all of it. Also, once the debt is paid off, you could transfer your available credit from the Slate over to a different Chase card.

[user5387]

I believe that checking out your prospects at Lending Club is a soft pull.

You could also take your report to some local CUs and ask them about your prospects in an informal way.

If you get another CC, it will help with your overall utilization, but will not directly address the issue of maxed out cards, unless you shift balances to the new CC.  Both overall and individual utilization are important.