@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:In fact you will find scoring breaks at each multiple of 10% - so once you get them under 90%, next goal is under 80% and so on - once you have them down to 50% would be the time to look at paying one or more completely off
Are you certain about this? I've always understood the break points to be every 20% starting with 90%, so it would then be 70%, 50%, 30% and 10%.
In all honesty - no, because for me it's all theory and (cross my fingers) is going to remain that way because I (hopefully) learned my lesson about carrying balances in my BK. 
That said, I remember reading a post (that of course I can't find) which recommended stepping down by 10% as a good goal for a pay down. Of course, even if it's not a major breakpoint from a scoring POV, it's psychologically quite a bit easier to motivate to pay down 10% chunks than 20% chunks at at time 
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:In fact you will find scoring breaks at each multiple of 10% - so once you get them under 90%, next goal is under 80% and so on - once you have them down to 50% would be the time to look at paying one or more completely off
Are you certain about this? I've always understood the break points to be every 20% starting with 90%, so it would then be 70%, 50%, 30% and 10%.
In all honesty - no, because for me it's all theory and (cross my fingers) is going to remain that way because I (hopefully) learned my lesson about carrying balances in my BK.
That said, I remember reading a post (that of course I can't find) which recommended stepping down by 10% as a good goal for a pay down. Of course, even if it's not a major breakpoint from a scoring POV, it's psychologically quite a bit easier to motivate to pay down 10% chunks than 20% chunks at at time
Got it in one. Individual tradeline utilization doesn't have many breakpoints seemingly, aggregate has more.
FWIW I always recommend paying off high interest first regardless of credit impact as at the end of the day money >> FICO, and the more money you save, the faster it will be paid off. Debt snowballing is a psychological effect too but with anything it's rare to be able to focus on long term goals so setting shorter term benchmarks can be huge as markers for progress.
@Revelate wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:In fact you will find scoring breaks at each multiple of 10% - so once you get them under 90%, next goal is under 80% and so on - once you have them down to 50% would be the time to look at paying one or more completely off
Are you certain about this? I've always understood the break points to be every 20% starting with 90%, so it would then be 70%, 50%, 30% and 10%.
In all honesty - no, because for me it's all theory and (cross my fingers) is going to remain that way because I (hopefully) learned my lesson about carrying balances in my BK.
That said, I remember reading a post (that of course I can't find) which recommended stepping down by 10% as a good goal for a pay down. Of course, even if it's not a major breakpoint from a scoring POV, it's psychologically quite a bit easier to motivate to pay down 10% chunks than 20% chunks at at time
Got it in one. Individual tradeline utilization doesn't have many breakpoints seemingly, aggregate has more.
FWIW I always recommend paying off high interest first regardless of credit impact as at the end of the day money >> FICO, and the more money you save, the faster it will be paid off. Debt snowballing is a psychological effect too but with anything it's rare to be able to focus on long term goals so setting shorter term benchmarks can be huge as markers for progress.
Yes but the OP's near term goal is to qualify for the Slate card, so improving his FICO score is critical.
@SouthJamaica wrote:Yes but the OP's near term goal is to qualify for the Slate card, so improving his FICO score is critical.
Right path to that would be looking at a considation loan for some or all of the current debt. Much longer walk to a BT card, which I suppose still prioritizes FICO to your point if that's the primary concern.
And I was repeating what I stated above anyway, I need breakfast haha.