scores went down with new cc

[Anonymous]

hello, during 2007 i over did it and obtained 11 new cc.  it seems my scores have all dropped. (10-20 pts) no new lates & 2 student loans that are still in deferment show up. 

i read not to close accounts so how can i get scores back up?  i am trying to get a home loan.

utl. is $5000 out of $12000 avail.  i am paying down about $500 per month.

thanks,

[Anonymous]

Getting your balances down to under 10% of the available credit is a real good way to boost your score. The other way is just time...3,6,12,18 and 24 months of history on each card will increase your score with each tier reached.

[haulingthescoreup]

Hi, robywater, welcome to the forums! . . .As jdm said, it's all about the util, which you can control.

Additionally, since you have quite a few cards plus a few student loans (don't know what else), you might want to shoot for letting only 3 or 4 CC's show a balance at any one time, with the others paid off. You can use the others, but just pay them off to $0 when they show up online. I would especially recommend paying off store cards the moment that they post, unless they have a 0% on new purchases offer, because store cards typically have high APR's, and they can be pretty squirelly about updating to your credit reports.

This can also help maintain your sanity by not having to keep track of 11 different balances, 11 different statement dates, and 11 different due dates!