Credit is good but feel it may go down

[Anonymous]

Hello all! The Dink is in!

Anyhow, now that I got the laughs going, It's time to get a little bit serious.

Right now, I am doing really great with credit being only 23 years of age. My credit between all 3 bureaus are over 700:

EQ: 723 (g)

TU: 734 (vg)

EXP: 743 (vg)

They were lower 700s last month, but due to a balance change they went up to what's listed above! Which made me happy because I was doing so well.

But now, my CC is almost maxed out which I am stopping my use of it til I can get it down:

I have the Discover student card from when I was a student in 2013, I was in school for a about a year and half doing photography then moving onto Computer Science, used the funds in my college savings account so I didn't have to actually take out a student loan at the time, but it's now empty because america and college is **bleep**...pardon my french. And I haven't really actually told Discover I am no longer in school so as I took my graduation and student information off my account that I am able to edit, they have stopped my automatic increase in credit limit on the card which is now $1000.

I am happy that it has been stopped at $1000 because I am really nice guy, I help people when they need it and before the due date come up this month (just like renting an apartment or house from a rental management company where the due date is 5th of every month, I had my card at $400 out of the $1000) bringing my total debt to $800 out of $1000 limit. As per stated, it's not all just helping, only half of the increase was help, the other half was computer parts for my PC.

But since I have almost already maxed out the card and refuse to try and raise my limit further, I will let it stay there and have planned to get the card fully paid off when I get my tax returns, to which I will tell discover if they want to update the card to a regular (non student) card or how ever they would like to do that. I know going a year and a couple of months with a student cc as a non student will come up bad on my reports (most likely, not sure), I am willing to take it, but as I am now, I can do well with paying off most of my debt.

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Now to give you a little income information so you know kind of how I do the payments each month.

I work at $9 / hour

I work full 40 hours per week

MATH TIME!

$9 x 40 = $360

$360 x 2 weeks = $720

$720 (1 paycheck) x 2 (1 month paycheck (gross)) = $1,440

$1,440 (1 month gross) x 12 (months) = $17,280

With that, after taxes I have an average of ~$630 per paycheck.

With mandatory expenses (living with parents):

*1. Rent of $300 that goes into a savings account that ultimately helps me in emergencies, rent coverage (if needed when I move out).

2. Debt being paid off of about $200 per month (but as you can see that doesn't really help).

3. Gas (of course to drive to work since I actually live outside of the city limits (so bus is no go, and to hell with a taxi...)

**4. Helping parents with any expenses that they may be having trouble with.

* The savings account is always building, i've only had to take out of it once and that was just $100.

**These expenses almost never come up, if something is in need though, I will help with it.

So after hearing about this, you really probably are wondering just how I am able to do it?

A: With being each paycheck about $630 a paycheck, 300 of the first paycheck goes into the $300 rent, leaving me with about $330 leaving me with spending money for cigarettes, gas, and lunch money for days I work because I don't really make my own lunch...it's within my means. And the second paycheck goes $200 to the Discover card, ~$100 as insurances (car, motorcycle, health (being on parent's til the year starts and go onto the company policy), this leaving me against with about $330 as spending money. If my spending is low for a paycheck cycle and I end up getting more in my account at the pay period, I sometimes make another $100-$200 payment to the Discover card.

If anyone actually read through all this, please help with any advise you might have on the card issue and bringing that 800 down steadily.

[takeshi74]

A higher limit would actually help your utilization.  That is, assuming that you don't increase the balance.  However, with your current utilization you CLI odds may be reduced.  The only thing you can do at this point is pay down the balance.

[Callandra]

Just keep paying what you can, it'll get there eventually. I did notice you say you buy lunch out; making your own lunch will save you some money you can use towards paying down your debt 

Also, you say you have some savings? Can you use that to pay the card down? 

[Anonymous]

Paying it down as I can and not using the card might be the best thing for me.

But as you asked about the savings, If I could use, it'd be paid off instantly. But that isn't the case as the savings is in my parents' names so I don't actually have access to it. The best that is used for is: If Discover tells me they are canceling the card due to it being the Student Discover Card and I have been out of school for a year now. And they want it paid off before a certain time (to which it would go to collectors). Then I can dig into the savings and pay it off.