Pay off cards or car?

[Anonymous]

I'm in commercial real estate so I make significant commissions then go long periods of time without cash flow. Up and down. 

I'm relatively new in the business so I racked up about 30k in CC debt until I closed my first deal. 

Should I pay off my car (about 30k) or wipe my credit card debt clean?

Pretty sure I need to clear credit card debt because the interest rate on my car loan is very low.

Thoughts? Thanks everyone!

[Kree]

99% of the time paying off the CCs is the prudent choice.

[howellco2]

CC all the way even refinace car for a lower rate unless its already low Win win

[Anonymous]

definitely focus on the cards first

considering your pay will always be up/down, I would put aside money to not have to rely on credit cards again during the slow periods

I would do this even if it meant paying a little more interest on the cards until your backup fund is established.

Ideally what you end up doing is setting a budget, putting ALL of your checks into savings as you get them, then withdraw your monthly budget amount each month and essentially give yourself a consistent paycheck. You're also going to save far more of the proceeds from any big sales this way.

[Anonymous]

Ok so I just paid off all my CC debt at one time this morning. Paid off a little bit of the car, but it is already very low interest rate and a small payment so I am good there.

Question is, will I be able to get CLI's on a handful of these cards now that they are wiped clean? 

[Anonymous]

Also I logged in to my Apple Barclays account to pay it off in full and it was closed......

I was only late on one payment...weird.

[Anonymous]

Definitely CC debt! Then without those payments, you can throw a little extra each month into your car payment to work down the principal quicker. Is that your only installment loan or do you have others (mortgage, student loans, etc)?

[Anonymous]

Student loans. But that's just a part of life forever haha.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Ok so I just paid off all my CC debt at one time this morning. Paid off a little bit of the car, but it is already very low interest rate and a small payment so I am good there.

Question is, will I be able to get CLI's on a handful of these cards now that they are wiped clean? 

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Watch out for CLI applications. Some are soft pull, but some are hard pull. Also some lenders have certain time periods and criteria in place for CLI's. We need to know what the cards are to advise you on CLI's.

But the short answer is... no, your 'wiping' them clean doesn't mean a **bleep** thing; most of us wipe our slates clean every month.

[Anonymous]

OP, if you could list out your credit cards with their balances/limits both before/after paydown it would be beneficial to providing you with additional information.  Paying down $30k in debt is a great thing, but we don't know if it was $30k in debt across $35k in credit limits or if it was across $250k in credit limits.  The difference could be major both in your credit scores as well as how your lenders perceive you, which could impact lending (CLI) decisions.