The Switcheroo any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

So my fiancée is at 46% overall UT and 80%+ on 3 accounts. But I just got a CLI on my NFCU card to 13k and there's a BT promo right now so we're transferring all her CC debt to me making her UT between 0 and 1% (0 is bad we've heard so leaving under $50 balance on one card).

Her score prior to this was 715 as of today it's 687 she has no derogs (aside from (2) 30 day lates from 2012 which should have no impact on her credit score). After this is paid we are guessing it'll shoot to 730. Any thoughts on something we should do a specific card to app for or anything?

She's been in the garden for a while (3 cards opened in the last 24 months) we are considering her applying for the Chase FU (she currently has Chase Freedom and Slate) but only in branch and only if she can get the $300 bonus for $500 spend not the $150 Standard.

[DeeBee78]

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@Anonymous wrote:
So my fiancée is at 46% overall UT and 80%+ on 3 accounts. But I just got a CLI on my NFCU card to 13k and there's a BT promo right now so we're transferring all her CC debt to me making her UT between 0 and 1% (0 is bad we've heard so leaving under $50 balance on one card).

Her score prior to this was 715 as of today it's 687 she has no derogs (aside from (2) 30 day lates from 2012 which should have no impact on her credit score). After this is paid we are guessing it'll shoot to 730. Any thoughts on something we should do a specific card to app for or anything?

She's been in the garden for a while (3 cards opened in the last 24 months) we are considering her applying for the Chase FU (she currently has Chase Freedom and Slate) but only in branch and only if she can get the $300 bonus for $500 spend not the $150 Standard.

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Paying the debt off is more important than scores. Pay all your balances down to zero, and don't worry about leaving a small balance reporting. 

[Anonymous]

Yeah that's not happening though. And in the meantime while we are making payments towards the debt a $300 sign up bonus is pretty enticing especially when it's only on $500 spend over 3 months. While we will budget and cut out some things we will definitely spend $500 within 3 months on costs of living (food, gas, clothes, etc.) and if $300 of that $500 is taken care of that's just really helpful for us. Just my honest thoughts.

Also, why shouldn't we worry about a small balance reporting according to multiple threads here if you show a 0 balance FICO will drop you about 20-30 points

[DeeBee78]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Yeah that's not happening though. And in the meantime while we are making payments towards the debt a $300 sign up bonus is pretty enticing especially when it's only on $500 spend over 3 months. While we will budget and cut out some things we will definitely spend $500 within 3 months on costs of living (food, gas, clothes, etc.) and if $300 of that $500 is taken care of that's just really helpful for us. Just my honest thoughts.

Also, why shouldn't we worry about a small balance reporting according to multiple threads here if you show a 0 balance FICO will drop you about 20-30 points

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Leaving a small balance reporting on ONE card is the best for scoring. Leaving balances reporting on additional cards will hurt your score. 

[Anonymous]

If you read my initial post that's exactly what I said we were doing...

" (0 is bad we've heard so leaving under $50 balance on one card)."

[DeeBee78]

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@Anonymous wrote:
If you read my initial post that's exactly what I said we were doing...

" (0 is bad we've heard so leaving under $50 balance on one card)."

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My mistake. I thought you were leaving balances on all your cards. 

[Chris679]

FYI on the 30 day late my FICO went from 760-770 to 800+ when I got a single 4 year old 30 day late removed last year.

Also I know you don't want hear this but chasing sign up bonuses when you have cards at 80% utilization sounds like a terrible idea to me.

[Anonymous]

Chris - Did you do GW letters? And what bank?

It wouldn't be multiple it would be one and that's only because the sign up bonus covers 60% of the amount spent and we are spending that amount regardless. After that it would be into the Garden.

[Chris679]

Capital One, emailed the CEO after trying everything in the book over the course of 3+ years.

[Anonymous]

I personally wouldn't do anything until she was your wife.