paying credit card debt

[Anonymous]

hi guys,

a year ago i got a chase 0% card and didnt paid my balance and accrued about $2000 (limit is $2100)

i didnt knew that it would hurt my credit score...

now i am applying for student loans and my fico score is only 637 so i plan to payoff entire $2000 and clear my account..but i dont know whats better for increasing fico score ..to payoff entire amount in single transcation or divide it for 2-3 payments???

how long it would take to increase my score.

thanks in advance for your help.

[Marvintran]

DO you have any other debt? If not I'd pay off the whole balance

and you should see a big jump on your scores.

[Anonymous]

Pay it off all at once if you can.  You'll the effect on your score once the CCC reports the new balance to the CRAs and the CRAs update your files.  That could be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.