Need advice with 3 CC's. Two with 0 balance, 1 near max.

[Anonymous]

Okay, sorry that I haven't waded thru 100's of previous posts but....I have a CC with $5,000 on it and a balance of $1,000 available. I have 2 accounts sitting with 0 balance. How much should I transfer over to the other 2 cards or what exactly do you think is best? My FICO is around 640 and I am currently looking to buy a house. Right now I rent. Thanks

[Red1Blue]

Usually balance under 10% of the CL is the best way to get most scores.

[Anonymous]

Hi Jonbenet,

What is your three CCs CL?  

It is better as concrd said, but it seems it will not be happen in this case.

10% of 5K is $500.  You have $4000 to divide to three CCs.  It depend on those CL.  

I would say, should keep the util at least less than 30% of each CL ... which you need to reduce $4000 to less than $1500 on current CC you have balance on it. 

[Anonymous]

I see what you're saying. I think one of the other two has a CL of 8k and the other is about 3.5k. Should I transfer balances to the other two?

[Anonymous]

Before you do a BT pay down as much of the balance as possible. Also be aware that unless your other 2 cards offer no fee BT that you will be charged from 3-4% of the balance transfered.

[Anonymous]

Jonbenet692000 wrote:
I see what you're saying. I think one of the other two has a CL of 8k and the other is about 3.5k. Should I transfer balances to the other two?

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cowpaddi wrote:
Before you do a BT pay down as much of the balance as possible. Also be aware that unless your other 2 cards offer no fee BT that you will be charged from 3-4% of the balance transfered.

It's correct cowpaddi.  Also, if you are planning to use these card for daily spending ... need to look at BT APR if CCC offers promotion rate.  As long as it it's same APR, there is no problem.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=creditcard&thread.id=44333

Example ... if you decide to make BT:

Card 1.   CL     5k     balance  4k       pay down  0.5k or 1k   new balance  1.5k or 1k

Card 2.   CL     8k     balance   0        BT  2k

Card 3.   CL  3.5K    balance   0        keep as zero, but make sure use this card at least once a

                                                                month to show the activity in order to CCC to report your

                                                                balance and CL even just $1.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=creditcard&thread.id=47106

Anyway, it requires to calculate well before make a decision.   Don't loose your hard earned money on the interests and BT fees.  If you do the BT, I hope you will save some money.

Factors:

1. APR

2. Balance and CL

3. BT fee

4. Repayment amount

Score wise ...  What is your current score right now?

Card 1's util will decrease by BT, but Card 2's util will increase by BT.

I hope these information will help you.   Can somebody help more here!

Message Edited by bunnyrabbit on 03-02-2008 12:57 AM

[Anonymous]

One other thing to think about is that currently you have 3 cards with 2 reporting 0 balances.  FICO likes that you only have balances on less than half of your accounts.  So I am guessing that there will be a wash in points when more than half of your accounts report a balance.

Just another thing to think about before you run up anything on one of your 0 balance cards.

Van