Trying to restructure my debt

[Anonymous]

Hoping to get some advice on my strategy here.  Let me give some background to my credit world.

I have 11 accounts, 9 of which are CC accounts, 1 is a student loan and 1 is a delinquent utility bill for $13.  I have 1 30day late payment in the last 6 months and none prior to that.  My oldest account is 11 years and my average is 5 years.  My ratio of revolving balance is 73% (yes way to high)

Now onto my plan.  I plan to pay off $15,000 this month (came into some cash).  This pays off approximately 68% of my total CC debt.  I am than going to transfer all the remaining CC balances to a single card that has a very low balance transfer offer.  This will just about max out that cards limit but leave all the others at zero blances. 

I would like to close 2 CC's that are charging monthly and yearly fees the combined credit limit on these two cards equals about 6% of my total credit limit of all CC's combined.  Should I close these two cards?

Stupid PG&E is the utility that says I owe them $13 from years ago.  I have disputed it and they have affirmed it.  I know I have paid them this amount (it was a big mess when they changed over computer systems).  Should I just go ahead and pay them the $13 or wait for it to go away?  It shows the date closed as 12/2002.

Thanks for your time.

Message Edited by tkdehlinger on 09-17-2007 11:27 AM

[Anonymous]

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tkdehlinger wrote:

Now onto my plan.  I plan to pay off $15,000 this month (came into some cash).  This pays off approximately 68% of my total CC debt.  I am than going to transfer all the remaining CC balances to a single card that has a very low balance transfer offer.  This will just about max out that cards limit but leave all the others at zero blances. 

I would like to close 2 CC's that are charging monthly and yearly fees the combined credit limit on these two cards equals about 6% of my total credit limit of all CC's combined.  Should I close these two cards?

Thanks for your time.

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Paying down your revolving debt is the BEST thing you can do... You may see a "Stinging" message that sites you have one or more cards close to its max, but if it make financial sense - lower interest rates for instance - good move. Your FICOs will go up as a result of the new UTI ratio, so don't sweat - do what is right (as per your description.)

As for the Utility bill - attempt a PFD. $13 is not likely to earn an amicable response, but it can't hurt to ask!

If the PFD is unsuccessful, I would pay it off and be done with the stress. Others may flame me for offering this advice, but it is ALWAYS easier to explain a PIFd debt than one that hangs out there for all to see.

Good luck.

Rob