Plan of attack? Opinion and help needed!

[ugdawgs]

Hi all,

Somehow I got myself into massive debt and figured it’s time to get my finances under control and eventually purchase a house. I am living comfortably with my salary and expenses but wanted to start saving money for my future and stop spending money needlessly as I am getting older. Per Credit Karma, my stats are:

1. Credit score: 607
2. Utilization: 88% (paid off 2 of my big ones last month ~16k, not reflected yet)
3. Late Payments: 0
4. Derogatory marks: 0
5. Credit age: 4 years 7 months
6. Total accounts: 18
7. Hard inquiries: 3

I am trying to form a plan of attack for the next 4-6 months to clean up my debt. Please see my revolving credits below:

1. Amex Blue: $637/$100 at 30% (they lowered it from 6k because I haven’t been using it)
2. BofA: $4081/$4,200; at 15%
3. Capital One: $2965/$3,000 at 22%
4. Citi: $6793/$6900 at 17%
5. Discover: $1886/$2,200 at 16%
6. Discover IT: $0/8700 (I had a 7,900 balance last month but paid it off in full, my dad gave me a loan. I will be paying him back ~$500 starting July/August)
7. Chase Sapphire: $0/$8700 (I had a 8,500 balance last month but paid it off in full, my dad gave me a loan. I will be paying him back ~$500 starting July/August)
8. Chase Freedom: $1,500/$1,500 at 24%
9. MySynchrony: $506/$2000 at 27%
10. First National: $1,425/$1,500 at 21%

Every month until I start paying my dad back, I should have about $1,000 to $1,500 to pay off my credit card debt.

Tomorrow/February: Pay off both my Amex and MySynchrony in full which should free up about $60 in minimum payment.

March: Pay off my Chase Freedom in full.

Mid-march: Tax return + extra cash to pay off my First National. Any leftovers sent to Discover.

April: Pay off my Discover

May, June, July: Biggest first?

Is this a sound plan of attack? I want to use the “snowball” method because psychologically it will help me and I can use the minimum payments I was paying to other payments. However, I am open to other routes. How much will my credit score increase if I was to bring my utilization down to say about 20-25% Just wanted your thoughts as I am a complete novice.

Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

I will give you general advice. If you're already paying the interest figure out which card has the highest interest+balance. Try to pay it off first, if not in full then lower the balance so your interest will be low as well. Then do the same with the second card (high balance/high APR). Do it one by one or 2-3 cards at a time with small payments. I think you're on the right track