oodles of cards, what should I do?

[tjkelly1726]

Okay, this is my first post on here, when I was 18 I started applying for all kinds of cards and they just kept giving them to me! Everytime I would get approved, I would go for another! I guess it was just all the excitement. I just checked my FICO score and it was around 651. I am wondering what you guys would suggest I do to raise it. I will list the cards I have, the credit limits as well as the amount I owe on each. Please be kind and let me know what you think I should do if anything.

Cards with a balance:

Bank Of America Platinum Plus Visa 

CL 9,000 (was 15,000 until last week)  

Balance is 7,962.84  (making a payment of 3368.01 to bring it down to 4,594.83 this month)

American Express Blue 

CL 5,000 

Balance is 3031.17 (made a payment of 309.00 today to bring it down to 2,722.17)

American Express Clear

CL 2,500 

Balance 600.00

Capital One Platinum Visa

CL 2,500

Balance 263.25

Capital One Platinum Mastercard

CL 1,500

Balance 1,411.07 (will be making a big payment soon)

Chase Freedom Card (was a regular Wamu card)

CL 1,000.00

Balance 212.73

Chase Perfect Card (was a regular Wama card)

CL 2,500

Balance 745.42

Best Buy Store Card

CL 2,000

Balance 1,453.94

Lowes Consumer Credit

CL 4,000

Balance 468.00

Cards with no balance now, I use them sometimes but mostly pay in full or pay within 2 statements:

Wal-Mart

CL 700.00

Exxon

CL 980.00

Paypal Buyer Credit

CL 500.00

Abercrombie & Fitch

CL 500.00

Buckle

CL 690.00

Target

CL 500.00

Belk

CL 350.00

Kohls

CL 2,000

Amazon

CL 600.00

American Eagle Outfitters

CL 450.00

Cards that I have NEVER used:

Chevron

CL 500.00

Citgo

300.00

JC Penny

300.00

Sears Solutions Card (HSBC)

CL 300.00

Dillards

CL 124.00 (used to be 500.00)

Home Depot

CL 500.00

Old Navy

CL 200.00

Sam's Club

CL 900.00

QVC

CL 500.00

HSN

CL 300.00

I'm sorry for the long list but I just really need some opinions about what I should do? I know I need to pay off the higher balances but do I need to keep all the other cards open or what? The oldest card is the Bank Of America Platinum Plus Visa and the newest are the Target and Abercrombie cards. The others were opened anywhere from May 2007 till Feb. 2009.

I guess I also need to add that I have 3 collection amounts on my Equifax report, they aren't on the others. The collections are from a hospital in South Carolina, I was there on vacation right after highschool and managed to end up with Bacterial Spinal Meningitis, I was in 2 hospitals in South Carolina, 1 in Virginia (home) and another in Tennessee. I had insurance at the time and it paid for all the hospital bills that were submitted, but one hospital in South Carolina submitted bills almost a year later after the insurance had expired, so they ended up coming after me! So now I am stuck with 3 collections!

Message Edited by tjkelly1726 on 04-14-2009 05:03 PM

[Creditaddict]

1. Instead of paying $3k on Bank of America I would pay your 2 Amex cards OFF!

Amex is on a rampage for people that carry any balance and even people that don't carry balances.

and the more smaller cards you pay off, that will free up more money to apply to the bank of america anyway.

so just me and I'm sure you will get lots of opinions but I would pay off as many cards as you can with that money you were going to apply to bank of america

I would also keep all your cards open that are not charging an annual fee. 

[Anonymous]

Be sure NOT to close your oldest accounts. Right now, while you're carring a fairly high utilization it's probably a good idea to keep all your accounts open even after you've paid on ein full so that your total utilization calculates as low as possible. Also, it's best to report a very small utilization (1%) rather than zero, but it would be best if the balance was only being carried on one or two cards and the other smaller ones were paid off.

Check out the Medical Collections forum to learn about the HIPAA process and work on getting the medical bills off. I'm not sure, but it seems to me that the medical biller has an obligation to bill in a timely matter, or you insurance has an obligation to pick up the bill even though it later was cancelled. Does anyone know the answer to this?

Message Edited by Mank on 04-14-2009 02:16 PM

[Creditaddict]

the rule of having something report other than 0 in my opinion only counts when you have NO Balances on other cards.  When you are trying to pay your credit cards off, your only goal is to keep all the accounts active but get as many to $0 as possible, then and only then should you worry about 1 or so reporting a balance each month.

[tjkelly1726]

Thanks for the replys so far, I guess I should go ahead and pay the American Express off and then worry about the Bank Of America card later. $2500.00 of the balance on the Bank Of America card is coins from the US Mint, I purchased them when I had my 15,000 limit so I could earn more World Points. I planned on taking them to the bank and just paying it back before the new statement generated so I would not have to pay the interest. Now since my limit has been lowerd to 9,000, it just kinda scares me to see the balance so close to the CL.

I called Bank of America and asked why my CL was lowered and they said 9,000 should do me for now but if I needed an increase later, "Scott" the credit analyst that I spoke with said that he would be happy to raise it, I don't know how that would go though.

[Creditaddict]

I would have been like well Scott, while we are on the phone and while you said you would raise it, GIVE IT ALL BACK! lol

[tjkelly1726]

I did ask for it back and then he asked if I planned on making any big purchases soon and I told him no, so he said when I need it for something, give him a call. He gave me his direct number and ext. I highly doubt it will work though. Oh well.

[Creditaddict]

call him and tell him your buying some new furniture.

what, is he going to log back into your account in a week to see you didn't buy anything? I don't think he would even be allowed to log into accounts that he was not directly dealing with at the time.

I would lie cheat and steal to get my credit line back! not really but you get the idea 

[Anonymous]

**bleep**.....that's allot of cards. You have issues......but it's cool. Maybe you just like to spend. But what i would be is pay off the Amex cards....and Bank of Scamerica as they are greedy chumps that are on everyone bad side right now. And close a few but leave the one's that have the most seasoning  on them....or age. That should get your scores up you have a million cards, and bank and FICO are taking all that into consideration then giving you a score...Get some of thos balances down and close some cards that would be a start.

[Creditaddict]

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@Anonymous wrote:
**bleep**.....that's allot of cards. You have issues......but it's cool. Maybe you just like to spend. But what i would be is pay off the Amex cards....and Bank of Scamerica as they are greedy chumps that are on everyone bad side right now. And close a few but leave the one's that have the most seasoning  on them....or age. That should get your scores up you have a million cards, and bank and FICO are taking all that into consideration then giving you a score...Get some of thos balances down and close some cards that would be a start.

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I mean it's a lot, but it's not to bad! I won't post my cards that I had to list for Suze Orman, I don't think me or you all are ready for it!