Paid off CCs - Can't wait for Score Increase!

[MBOhio2]

Thanks to some additional funds that just came our way, my husband and I were able to pay off ALL of our CC debt over the weekend. We had about $11K in CC debt and it's now ZERO, yay!! Also, our util %s were both over 100% because we had a joint CC that lowered the limit down to $100 but still had a $1200 balance, so it was killing our util %. My below scores are based on the over 100% util.

I cannot wait to see how much my (and my husband's) scores incerease!! Because my husband's credit is very clean, I think he'll be well over 700 and my fingers are crossed that I can get into the upper 600s so we can prepare to buy a house next Spring! Here's hoping for the 100 point increase that other have gotten with similar pay-offs!!

[Walt_K]

Congrats!  I know how great it feels because I just recently paid off the last of my CC debt a month or so ago.  I still don't know what to do with myself sometimes.  It's weird not to have five different credit card bills to keep track of.  Will be looking forward to hearing about your new score once your reports update.  Good luck house hunting.

[MarineVietVet]

Excellent news!! I know the feeling you are having right now.

Be sure and let us know how much this helps both your scores.

From a BK years ago to:
EX - 3/11 pulled by lender- 835, EQ - 2/11-816, TU - 2/11-782

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem".

[MBOhio2]

Thanks!

Walt - I've thought about that... I've spent so much time over the past few years keeping track of and paying CC debt (my spreadsheet is crazy) that's it's going to be such a weird feeling to have that burden completely gone! My only debt now is student loans and one car loan (we paid off a personal loan too)... it seems surreal!

I will certainly report back as soon as the scores starting inching up (unfortunately, most of my CCs closed a few days before the pay-off) because it will probably  be almost a full month before I see the final results, but I will definitely keep this thread updated!

[MBOhio2]

UPDATE:

Ugh, I've only seen modest increases so far... about 20-30 points. Waiting for all of the CCs to report the $0 balances is exhausting!!

Our timing for paying off all of our CCs was terrible. We paid off everything on Sat, April 30th so most didn't post until the first few days in May, which was right AFTER most of our cards reported updated information to the CRAs. Therefore, I've been waiting for 3 weeks to see what will finally happen with all of my scores. It's killing me!!

I'll keep updates coming so everyone can see where we finally end up!

[Anonymous]

congrats MBOhio! You are an inspiration to me because I am in the process of paying mine off as well to see a score boost (though a MUCH smaller amount).

Does anyone know if the $ amount makes a difference in the score change when lowering the util percent?

[MBOhio2]

I don't think the actual money makes a difference. So if once person has a 50% util owing $50K on $100K of credit and another has a 50% util owing $500 on $1000 and those 2 people both paid it down to 0%, assuming all other factors are the same, they would see the same increase in score.

[MBOhio2]

I have one straggler CC left to report the $0 balance (missed the cut-off by one day for May reporting, so I'm waiting for June 2nd to report). However, as of today, I'm officially in the 600 club on both TU and EQ - woo hoo!

The only revolving left is a very large LOC that is factoring in as revolving. Unfortunately, I cannot pay it off now ($19K balance), but I am getting ready to throw $2K at it so that my overall util % will be under 50% and then I will slowly chip away at it over the next 12 months until it's paid off.

Getting closer and closer to being debt free (minus SLs which will haunt me for the next 20 years)!

[MBOhio2]

UPDATE:

All CCs are now reporting $0 balances (yay!)

Now I'm starting to see small increases (e.g. EQ just went from 622 to 634) due to my most recent lates passing the 2-year mark. About this time 2 years ago is when my financial troubles started and that period lasted about 6 months, so I'm hoping to continue seeing gradual increases from now until January, 2012, when I will officially have a 2-year clean slate!!

[CS800]

Time will heal the scores.

I recently paid off all my CC. They were all closed with payment plans.

But I have some lates that I have sent GW letters to no avail. So I will let those lates age and let time do it;s job.

In the meantime, I'm making sure that i'm paying everything else on time while maintaining my existing opened CC balances at 5% total util or less.

It seems like every month i have been getting abourt 6-10 points from EQ and 10-15 points from TU from some ative accounts (car loan & mortgage) reporting .

So I'm hoping to be at around 680 across the board by the last week of Dec 2011.