Monday's Help...

[fishbjc]

I have learned a LOT here in three days.  I cannot sign up with myfico until next Friday so I'll get the scores then.

After cancelling and cutting out extra's and working more hours, I have a few extra $$$ to work on paying off debt.

Month of Jan I will have $1,000.

What is best to pay toward?

BOA.....$2000 limit.....$485 owed

Firestone $750 limit....$450 owed

Best Buy $3100 limit....$2700 owed

Sears $250 limit....$100 owed

GM Card $1400 limit....$1350 owed (can pay in full in February) use for business expenses

BP 4700 owed...acct closed orig limit $5300

Chase 7500 owed.....acct closed orig limit $10000

$ Bank $1750 owed....acct closed

[Anonymous]

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fishbjc wrote:

I have learned a LOT here in three days.  I cannot sign up with myfico until next Friday so I'll get the scores then.

After cancelling and cutting out extra's and working more hours, I have a few extra $$$ to work on paying off debt.

Month of Jan I will have $1,000.

What is best to pay toward?

BOA.....$2000 limit.....$485 owed

Firestone $750 limit....$450 owed

Best Buy $3100 limit....$2700 owed

Sears $250 limit....$100 owed

GM Card $1400 limit....$1350 owed (can pay in full in February) use for business expenses

BP 4700 owed...acct closed orig limit $5300

Chase 7500 owed.....acct closed orig limit $10000

$ Bank $1750 owed....acct closed

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Ok the BP , Chase, and $Bank may be closed but are still figuring into your overall utilization as long as i shows a balance,. You could pay down the GM..its maxed out for all intents and purposes which is hurting your score.  But first I would focus on getting those closed accounts paid down then the high balances.  Just don't forget to leave yoursef enough to makeyour regular card payments and use no more of the lmits than you already have.  Keep money for groceries caus at this point until you've paid down your cards should go into the sockdrawer.

[SmartCookie]

I personally would PIF Sears and Firestone, and throw the rest on Best Buy.  That way you only have 2 live accounts reporting balances.... and then you can peck away on getting the UTI down on both of those cards.

For the closed accounts wait till you have enough to offer a legal less than full settlement... PFD if there was any derog info on those that outweighs the good.  Work on the open accounts for now.

[Boswd]

Hmmm  I would work on your current accounts first.  How much do you currently pay each month to your current accounts?

[SmartCookie]

Regarding settling on the old cards with the big balances... I should add by family experience that if you can't do it anytime soon.... make sure to get a payment arrangement with APR reduction with the company BEFORE they wind up shipping it off to collections.  Usually they try to do this with you before closing the account and many people avoid the phone calls offering it.

[Anonymous]

I'm not getting the logic behind this.  The closed accounts are still figuring into the overall uti mking him look as if he is well maxed past his avail.

[Boswd]

I can't speak for cookie, but I'm looking at this as an overall debt situation and what's the best way to overcome this before it gets into major crises level as opposed to a FICO situation.      I've always subscribed to the ideal of thought of  debt first, credit score second.  

[Anonymous]

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fishbjc wrote:

Month of Jan I will have $1,000.

What is best to pay toward?

BOA.....$2000 limit.....$485 owed

Firestone $750 limit....$450 owed

Best Buy $3100 limit....$2700 owed

Sears $250 limit....$100 owed

GM Card $1400 limit....$1350 owed (can pay in full in February) use for business expenses

BP 4700 owed...acct closed orig limit $5300

Chase 7500 owed.....acct closed orig limit $10000

$ Bank $1750 owed....acct closed

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On the closed accounts, have you recently closed them? I would try to get them reopened. That's more leverage you can use to your advantage.

[SmartCookie]

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Boswd wrote:

I can't speak for cookie, but I'm looking at this as an overall debt situation and what's the best way to overcome this before it gets into major crises level as opposed to a FICO situation.      I've always subscribed to the ideal of thought of  debt first, credit score second.  

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We're looking at it the same way.  

He's working OT to get that extra 1k to pay down debt and what's done is done regarding the closed accounts for the moment.   

[Anonymous]

Great Idea Noah, for some reason I was going on the assumption tha the accounts were closed by creditor and not the borrower.  Sorry just not used to peopel closing accounts with such balances remaining.