@trinigal30 wrote:
My FICO score is currently 677 and I don't plan on taking out any major loans as I have a mortgage that i've been paying on and have not missed a payment for 1.5 years.
You really don't have much choice in the matter if you have 3 maxed cards that are that close to 100%. There may be a chance that you might get an approval but you're going to get very unfavorable terms even if you do.
It's not just the 1.5 years that matter. Your entire payment history and all the derogs on your reports matter. If you have lates, collections and other derogs then definitely see if there's anything you can do to address them as Payment History is a bigger factor than Amounts Owed (which Revolving Utilization falls under).
http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx
@trinigal30 wrote:
I have $4,000 to pay down some of this debt and need to know what would be the best use of this money to increase my FICO score.
Score is the least of your concerns at this point. Your top priority is reducing debt and avoiding adverse action from having cards that high.
Set up a spreadsheet. Make a column with the current balance. Make a column with the limit. Calculate current revolving utization in one column. Use another column for payments. Create another column for balance after payment. Finally calculate reovlving utilization after payment in another column.
Play with the allocation of payments so that you reduce the revolving utilization on all your cards as much as possible with the money that you have. You want to reduce revolving utilization in stages until you get under a certain point. Get them all down to 90% or less. The get them all down to 75% or less. Then get them down to 50% or less. At that stage you might want to switch to tackling highest APR or smallest balance depending on whether or not your top priority is paying the least interest and whether or not you'd see motivational benefit from eliminating small balances.
You'll improve your scores by reducing your revolving utilization drastically. If you have derogs and also work on them you'll also see significant scoring improvements from that as well. After you've done that then worry about your scores.
@trinigal30 wrote:
Should I pay the one with the highest APR, should I take out a personal (revolving) loan or should I try to get a 0% Credit Card.
Don't rely on any new credit given your current state. Approvals and terms are all going to be based on your credit profile. With 3 cards that close to 100% you're going to have trouble getting approved and even if you get approved you will get poor terms. Focus on paying down those balances.
Make sure you're also addressing whatever led to this situation or you will not be able to make long term progress. Make sure you're budgeting, sticking to it, not relying solely on credit for emergencies, establihing a liquid reserve, etc. I know all this is much easier said than done but it is what it is and the numbers have to add up in order for your situation to improve.
@trinigal30 wrote:
@djambroak thanks for the advice. How long after paying off the discover should I wait before requesting CLIs on the existing cards? Or should I just monitor my FICO score?
Your entire credit profile and your income are both evaluated when determining CLI eligibility. If there is any benefit from paying off your Discover balance then you will see that benefit when Discover reports and the CRA's update. However, if you still have 2 cards that close to 100% you will have problems getting CLI's as well as approvals.
