Question for my credit friends out there...
My current score is FICO 660, I have some baddies on there that I am waiting to fall off but I know what is impacting my credit the most is my debt... I am working on paying it off As quickly as I can, but as we all know, easier said than done. I have 5 cards with balances, 4 of which are above 50% UTL. The insterest rates are about the same except for NFCU which is 12% and WF which is 5%. The reason for my debt was due to a 4 month period of unemployment and making my mortgage my priority payment THEN other bills went to my CC's etc. Not an easy choice but keeping my house is the most important.
Below is a breakdown of my card. What is the most logical way of attacking this? I have $750-1000/mo to put towards my debt, do I do the snowball and put the $$ towards one card til it's zero or do I spread it out? I would like to get my score up to the 700/720 range to refinance my house out of FHA...
I have 12 cards overall, 4 store and 8 credit cards. Balance/Limits are as follows:
Target $0/$200
Loft: $0/$1000
NY&Co: $0/$700
Kohls: $0/$500
Merrick: $0/$2450
Apple FCU: $0/$500
Barclay: $0/$500
Cap1: $3800/$4500
Chase: $2470/$3500
Disc: $5000/$5900
NFCU: $8500/$12000
Wells Fargo: $4300/ $10000
Thanks in advance for your assistance!
Starting Score: 06/2010- EQ 464
Since you say your cards are generally the same interest rate, definitely recommend the snowball method. Start with Chase and work your way through them. Is the 5% interest rate on the WF card permanent? If so, perhaps a balance transfer from one of the other cards makes sense first.
Most importantly is of course not to add to the debt any further. You can do it! And once you get through a couple of cards, you'll feel really motivated to finish them off.
