What a relief! i got approved for 3x increase. need your advice though

[Techno]

So i'm going through some tough patch, switching jobs, and helping family members, so i kinda charged alot on my cards lately.

i took big expenses and job didn't turn out to be good paying, so i'm looking for another one after this christmas.

this may sound very bad but what i make go for my car and insurance payments and the rest, and i find myself going into at least 1000 more debt a month on my cards to carry on to the next month.

while i used to have a 8% util

now i have 3k/10k which is 30%

my macys and chase amazon are 1700 together, which has very high apr so i try not to use them at all.

and pay them off first but it seems it's gonna take some time.

i am not late or anything but debt is adding up, and as i work in sales, im expecting to make good comission and pay it off completely after christmas, and get another job.

so i work only comission and it it turns out where i work is quite a **bleep** place, expenses are high, and i don't have too much options as of now because even a bad place for sales make good business on christmas, so i'll wait another month for that. hopefully to make a little more, and big hit on christmas( big hit is like 6-9k a month) nothing special but hey i'm just 19.

now with the approval i am suprised and relieved because my debt on the amex was 800 out of 1000 on the bcp! which is bad and my scores dropped significantly since i applied for this amex in september 02 and for the chase freedom in september 17, shopped for a car loan(i got denied and decided to take over a lease from a family member) and on top and util went up quite a bit, so score went from 710 to 643 and back to 658 this month (yeah i let my mom buy groceries and gas and she spent like 460 this month statement only, and i wasn't able to pay it all off, hell two days ago it was maxed... which is very easy to max that low of a balance)

not i try to carry my balance on this and the freedom which is also 1000 limit, i spent 500 on it to get the bonus and try to stop there, put what i have only on the amex with 3k now, since no interest payments, maybe transfer some from my chase? since it might take some time for me to clear all this debt.

and yeah it's 3k only, but you know how it is, there are other things coming up, car, car insurance (goddamn 293 a month).

no idea how to let me i clearly show them i am risky, or they think the limit is too low for me, hopefully that gives me some fresh air.

now util is like 22% i'd say which is better for score.

ALSO!!!

since i work off of freaking comission, no base(yeah well i always go above 8 an hour but anyways) my payroll is 3k, which is 2 1500 a month, what it supposed to be at least. if i make anything higher than that, oh well let's leave that aside, NSA might be reading this.

if i make less i still pay tax and it shows that i made let's say only 1200 the entire month instead of 3000.

so my annual is not predictable, it used to be flat 18000 when i aplied, but now i didn't wanna be too optimistic, since i'm gonna quit this job too so i kinda wrote 24k, inbetween you know.

and i haven't recieved my first paycheck yet for this job as i started about 2 weeks ago and they always pay two weeks late. so it takes 30 days to recieve that.

is that gonna be a red flag for amex? or they don't give a damn about these things? they check my w4 and tax income?

thanks for help guys! 

after all, situation is hard right now, but i believe it's gonna get better.

[MACFRME]

Just focus on paying those cards off. Do not rely on them as income. I was in the same place you were four years ago, and I regret every cent I charged to those cards. Sometimes, things don't get better. I wish I would have not charged up all the things I did, or I would still have some pretty decent credit cards and scores. Pay the minimums if you must, but do not charge anything else. You will get through this mess with your credit intact if you just proceed with caution. I think charging and more and making small payments will send up red flags, while just making small payments while the balance decreases should be okay if you're going through a rough patch.

[Techno]

I agree, but my checking account can't support my neccessities which are food and gas, for now, rent and car exenses i pay on my paycheck(about 1200). So eventually i have to charge the cards to finish the month. i am sorry to hear about what happend to you and glad your doing alot better now, i will not make that mistake where my cards to go collection agency and ruin my creditworthiness to 0.

this is always an option and the worst case is considered, which rebuilding what i have my take up to 7 years, 7 bad years. I will definatly not let that happend.

[lg8302ch]

Sorry but there is only one recommendation from me and not what you want to hear...Do not use the credit cards for more than what you earn right now.  What if the situation should not get better? This will only get you deeper and deeper in trouble.

[youngandcreditwrthy]

I don't really where my op falls in line here, but this is what I think.
1) NEVER MISS A PAYMENT
2) if you're going to have debt, have it at 0%
3) CUT ALL UNECESSARY spending

If you're making $3k a month and spending $4k a month. That's a deficit of $1000 a month. That's a huge deficit.
I wouldn't stop using the cards or just make the minimums. I would pay as much as you can on the cards and use them for necessities ONLY. I say this because if you just make the minimums but charge a lot; that's a red flag! If you make larger payments and charge more than the payment, that's not such a big deal. Ignoring the debt won't make it go away. Furthermore, you need to CUT CUT CUT! If you have old stuff lying around- jewelry, clothes, that old tanning bed you never used(I sold an old tanning bed back when I was 18 to pay off cc debt! Lol) sell it!
The most important thing here is to remain creditworthy...
It's really the lesser of two evils: would you rather go into debt until you take action or just quit paying and screw yourself for years?

No matter WHAT, PAY ON TIME!!!!