Review of my cards. Keep, close, or new

[Imperfectfuture]

As to using cash, if you have a PayPal debit card, and use it as credit, you can get cash back. Those limits are way too high. Using the debit card for 6 years taught me how to manage payments.

[Chris679]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Also bringing your balances down won't exactly catapult you from 600 to 700 overnight. Even if you cut them all down in one megapayment.

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I'm picturing megapayment as this giant Godzilla/dollar sign looking thing with laser beams shooting at all of the creditors.  They all trying to get to safety screaming "OMG ITS MEGAPAYMENT, EVERYONE RUN!"  Maybe I had too much to drink last night...

[Anonymous]

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@Chris679 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Also bringing your balances down won't exactly catapult you from 600 to 700 overnight. Even if you cut them all down in one megapayment.

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I'm picturing megapayment as this giant Godzilla/dollar sign looking thing with laser beams shooting at all of the creditors.  They all trying to get to safety screaming "OMG ITS MEGAPAYMENT, EVERYONE RUN!"  Maybe I had too much to drink last night...

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This.

So much.

[CreditUnionFan]

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@jason0618 wrote:
So like the title says, I want to review my cards to see what my best course of action should be with them. I have no care right now to get the highest limits or anything, just the best score so I can buy a house in the next 90 days with the best score...

Current card details.

NFCU nrewards- opened April, 2012. $1000 limit, $970 current balance. Never late.
Barclay Rewards- opened July, 24. $1300 limit, $1295 current balance. Never late.
Barclay Apple card. Opened August, 2014 $1700 limit $1600 current balance
Jared jeweled- opened November, 2013. $700 limit, $0 balance. Original limit $300, raised to $700 in November, 2014, auto cli.
Credit one bank- opened March, 2014. $600 limit, $560 current balance. Original limit $300, raised to $500 in June, then to $600 about a week ago. Auto cli, no fee both times. Annual fee will be assessed in March.
Current scores are all low 600s except Experian. I know paying down will increase.

---

Ask for a CLI on the nRewards card. Shoot for $25k and see if they counter.

You're getting slammed with the Credit One. If you could get the nRewards high enough, transfer the Credit One balance to nRewards and chuck the Credit One.

You could consider applying for a second Navy Federal credit card. Your utilization is very high right now, and you need to either pay down, increase your available credit, or both.

Check out some of the other boards at myfico. They may help with a budget, paydown plan, or suggest finding some part-time work to help you get ahead of the "snowball".

The Barclays cards probably have no AF, so they're keepers.

With the fees and APR on Credit One, I'd kick it to the curb ASAP.

[NRB525]

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@CreditUnionFan wrote:

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@jason0618 wrote:
So like the title says, I want to review my cards to see what my best course of action should be with them. I have no care right now to get the highest limits or anything, just the best score so I can buy a house in the next 90 days with the best score...

Current card details.

NFCU nrewards- opened April, 2012. $1000 limit, $970 current balance. Never late.
Barclay Rewards- opened July, 24. $1300 limit, $1295 current balance. Never late.
Barclay Apple card. Opened August, 2014 $1700 limit $1600 current balance
Jared jeweled- opened November, 2013. $700 limit, $0 balance. Original limit $300, raised to $700 in November, 2014, auto cli.
Credit one bank- opened March, 2014. $600 limit, $560 current balance. Original limit $300, raised to $500 in June, then to $600 about a week ago. Auto cli, no fee both times. Annual fee will be assessed in March.
Current scores are all low 600s except Experian. I know paying down will increase.

---

Ask for a CLI on the nRewards card. Shoot for $25k and see if they counter.

You're getting slammed with the Credit One. If you could get the nRewards high enough, transfer the Credit One balance to nRewards and chuck the Credit One.

You could consider applying for a second Navy Federal credit card. Your utilization is very high right now, and you need to either pay down, increase your available credit, or both.

Check out some of the other boards at myfico. They may help with a budget, paydown plan, or suggest finding some part-time work to help you get ahead of the "snowball".

The Barclays cards probably have no AF, so they're keepers.

With the fees and APR on Credit One, I'd kick it to the curb ASAP.

---

+1

I don't have NFCU, but that it the longest open account and seems like the logical way to go, to increase a low interest, customer friendly option.

OP have you talked with a mortgage broker / lender yet to show them your cards profile? Have they given you a framework of what you can expect for loan amount and interest rate? Suggestions about how you need to change your file?

I will say, that high utilization is an eye opener / concern. On the bright side, you haven't got any Jared open amounts, so that is good. No sense paying for overpriced sparkly rocks and adding those to a sock drawer, best to keep the Jared card in the sock drawer.

[longtimelurker]

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@NRB525 wrote:

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OP have you talked with a mortgage broker / lender yet to show them your cards profile? Have they given you a framework of what you can expect for loan amount and interest rate? Suggestions about how you need to change your file?

I will say, that high utilization is an eye opener / concern. .

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+1!   Apart from the utilization killing your score, you are also paying out money to service the cc debt.   This impacts your DTI ratio and in itself may make it harder to qualify.   (I know the numbers aren't huge in absolute terms because the balances are fairly small, but it can still hurt if the income isn't large).   And with borderline scores you want as few questions raised as possible!

A good broker will let you know if your 90 day goal is reasonable (which I doubt unless you can pay a very large percentage of the house value) and, if not, what best to do to qualify at some later date.    This part of the forum is too credit card centric, for mortgages you need a bigger picture.

[takeshi74]

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@jason0618 wrote:
So like the title says, I want to review my cards to see what my best course of action should be with them. I have no care right now to get the highest limits or anything, just the best score so I can buy a house in the next 90 days with the best score...

---

Closing won't help you.  You need to get your utilization down.  For the same reason, new accounts and CLI's won't help you either.  General advice is no new credit 6 months to 1 year prior to a mortgage.  You might want to be more careful with your due diligence in future.  Definitely talk to your mortgage lender.

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@jason0618 wrote:
I know paying down will increase.

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That's understating it.  You have 3 maxed revolvers and 83% overall.  Get the maxed accounts down ASAP.

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@Anonymous wrote:
Close anything store you arent actively using, And definitely close CreditOne.

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Don't close anything until you get your utilization down.  Definitely do not close anything with a balance.  Utilization is already extremely high and closing will just make it worse.

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@kdm31091 wrote:

I would pay down the highest interest and go from there.

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Focus on utilization first.  The goal right now is to avoid adverse action which would also make utilization worse.

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@longtimelurker wrote:

This part of the forum is too credit card centric, for mortgages you need a bigger picture.

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I know what you're trying to say but the Credit Card subforum is too credit card centric?

[red259]

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@jason0618 wrote:
So like the title says, I want to review my cards to see what my best course of action should be with them. I have no care right now to get the highest limits or anything, just the best score so I can buy a house in the next 90 days with the best score...

Current card details.

NFCU nrewards- opened April, 2012. $1000 limit, $970 current balance. Never late.
Barclay Rewards- opened July, 24. $1300 limit, $1295 current balance. Never late.
Barclay Apple card. Opened August, 2014 $1700 limit $1600 current balance
Jared jeweled- opened November, 2013. $700 limit, $0 balance. Original limit $300, raised to $700 in November, 2014, auto cli.
Credit one bank- opened March, 2014. $600 limit, $560 current balance. Original limit $300, raised to $500 in June, then to $600 about a week ago. Auto cli, no fee both times. Annual fee will be assessed in March.
Current scores are all low600s exceptExperian. I know paying down will increase.

---

I would close the credit one card. No need to pay an AF. I would not close any non-AF cards, because you will want all your available credit to count towards util and getting a new card at this point when looking for mortgages would likely do more harm than good. Getting util down is critical. I think there is a mortgage board in the forums and I suggest you post there, so you can get much more on point advice. 

[TiggerDat]

My advice:

  Rethink every purchase you make between now and when you buy the house.  (If you have to have something which is a higher ticket price, find it at the lowest price.  Also, buy quality things that will last at the cheapest price you can find.  You won't have to replace them as often, so it can mean that you save that way too!)

  Get Credit Karma and read as much as you can there and here.

  Close nothing right now and open nothing now.

  Pay balances down as much as you can.  (Pay the highest interest rate cards first, but pay every card at least the minimum each month.)

  Ask for CLIs.  (This will help with utilization as you pay the debt down.)

  Save asmuch as you can before buying the house.

  Use whatever cards you have for best rewards and PIF.  (Redeem these rewards when you can and often.)

  Let no more than 10% utilization hit your reports at least two or three statements before the mortgage. 

  Eat healthy food bought at ALDIs.  (Yes, become thrifty for at least a while!  And stay healthy doing so!)

  Focus, focus, focus, no hocus.

  Don't close any cards 6 months before the mortgage.  (Unless you get advice from your lender to do so!)

  Close the AF cards either after the mortgage, before the AF hits, or 6 months before the mortgage, but consider getting the AF waived for a year first when the balance of the account is at $0. 

Don't go overboard on the house.  Find one you can afford in an area you could live for the next 10 years.  Find a bargain or a fixer upper.  A house that might require a bit of work will have more equity after you do so and get it reappraised or if you go to sell it later.  Think of your family plans in the next few years.  Are you going to have a baby or two?