Long story short i'm trying to dig in and seriously work on my credit score. Im currently 22 and have made my fair share of stupid decisions regarding credit and loans and in total was probably 35k in debt 6-7 months ago. I have 2 us bank cards, one navy federal card and 2 with synchrony bank along with a few personal loans. I had the whole want it now mentality and quickly saw where that left me. The only negative thing on my credit would be high use on the cards (90%) and one past due account i was never aware of as it wasnt originally in my name (ex's) that i didnt know i was tied to. That was quickly paid up in full when i found out about it but it did bring me from a 640 down to where i am now. I am currently down to around 20k in debt and want to start working hard to bring everything else down especially in tax time. I am wondering realistically if i can get the balances down on the cards what should be my next step? I even went as far as to sell the car a few of the loans was for to pay those down and drive a beater for a while just to get out of the hole and by hole i dont mean im having issues paying the bills i just dont see a point in paying sky high intrerest any longer. Ideally my goal would be to within the 2016 year get a respectable score that i could get a great interest rate preferably through navy or penfed on a new car. I dont really have the desire anymore for using the cards so paying those off would be top priority. Any help is greatly appreciated about what steps i should be taking.
Is that a FICO score or CK score that your referenced?
What is your current percentage utilization on your credit cards? Keeping the individual/combined utilization down around 10% or less if possible would be ideal for FICO scoring.
that would be from Trans union and Equifax via Credit Karma (not sure how accurate they are)? But they utilization on the 3-4 cards i have is all very high in the 90's which im a bit ashamed of but hey life happens. Should my score jump back up after i pay them down? I've carried the high balances for a few months and paid probably double the minimum but it doesnt exactly chip away much. I do plan on paying a few of them off entirely around tax time or when i sell another vehicle i own im just curious if it will recover back to the 640-650 range (or higher) that i was before the cards.
