Personal loan to pay off remaining CC debt

[Creditaddict]

Has Navy approved the Personal Loan at 13%?

13% is the best rate Navy offers for a Personal Loan and it can go up as high as your credit cards.

I understand everyones fear of paying off all credit cards with a loan and then maxing cards out again and the fact is if it's going to happen it's going to happen but I wouldn't give advice and or stick paying 20%+ interest credit cards just because if you took a loan at 13% you would then have $20k of available credit to charge on again... TAKE THE LOAN... if you take the loan and don't run cards up and pay it off in 2 years well you just saved yourself a bunch of money!

just hopefuly you stick to it.

I don't see why everyone is okay with taking out new 0% credit cards but not the personal loan? I mean yes 0% is way better then personal loan rates but same idea of available credit soon available... 

[OptimalCS]

Thanks for being super receptive to feedback.

I have a few additional strategies:

1. Can you try asking for a CLI on one of your current cards? I use my citi card most frequently because of the high limit. I never charge more than 10% each month so it gives me a great cushion so that my scores are never impacted by my usage. I also rotate my cards every once in a while but I never use more than one card at a time because like you, I hate having to deal with paying multiple cards each month.

2. I routinely make multiple payments to my card throughout the month to lower my bal and stay under 10%. That way I never, ever pay interest, ever!

3. Sometimes I would pay my card in advance through my bank's billpay. For example if I want to buy a new HD TV, I'd pay the purchase price in advance of making the purchase so that I can reap the rewards and keep my util low. I know that annoys Amex, Discover, HD and Citi but I do it a lot!

4. Also I've heard stories of Citi granting current cardholders 0% apr for 18 months. Something to think about if you get a citi card and really need to carry to bal.  

With your util being high bank won't understand that you have the ability to pay. They'll interpret it as you are overextended yourself. But I total understand your situation. That's one of my reasons for being a HUGH fan of having no more that 5 cards. My experience has been that it's hard to keep up.

[kilj0y]

CALL NFCU back and talk to a different CSR. They can reduce your APR if you qualify once a year. I know because I recently got both my navy APRs reduced in June. You can also ask Navy for a CLI at the same time. I went from 4k in limits (1k and 3k) to 25K (both at 12.5k each) which significantly dropped my util then I asked for an APR reduction to go from 17.99 to 8.99% after the util updated on the reports.

That should be your first action hitting the luv button on the website, then asking for APR reductions then the loan if need be.

[amieric88]

What were your credit scores at the time you got the CLI; your credit history?

[kilj0y]

Navy pulled score was 632, and I had 5 30 day lates, last late was a year ago. After util updated my navy pulled score was 677.

[NewtoCredit80]

OP your dti is 20% so your debt is not out of control. I would recommend that you pay off your Navy card with your bonus and try to get a better apr and cli. I would also recommend taking personal loan upto 60% of the debt any pay your other credit cards. This should get util to 20% and get a good jump in score. After that you can apply for a new BT card like Citi simplicity which offers 0% apr for 18 months. You would have 2 payments to make. One for personal loam and one for credit card.