best way to pay off to increase score

[rebuilding]

a little over a year ago, I lost my job.  I had to live on credit cards, and I had a hard time paying bills and got a few lates over the past year.  I am back on my feet now, everything is current, and I am paying off debt quickly.  however,

most of my lenders lowered balances on my cards ;making it look like they were maxed, and several of them closed my accounts. (including NFCU. )   I am hoping to buy a house at the end of this year.  should I do the normal 'snowball method' and pay off high interest rate cards first, or pay higher amounts on all cards to get them further away from that max limit status?  my total debt-income ratio will change the same either way, but I wasnt sure if FICO scoring looked at cards close to max, or just overall utlization.

Thanks!

[notfancy]

---

@rebuilding wrote:

a little over a year ago, I lost my job.  I had to live on credit cards, and I had a hard time paying bills and got a few lates over the past year.  I am back on my feet now, everything is current, and I am paying off debt quickly.  however,

most of my lenders lowered balances on my cards ;making it look like they were maxed, and several of them closed my accounts. (including NFCU. )   I am hoping to buy a house at the end of this year.  should I do the normal 'snowball method' and pay off high interest rate cards first, or pay higher amounts on all cards to get them further away from that max limit status?  my total debt-income ratio will change the same either way, but I wasnt sure if FICO scoring looked at cards close to max, or just overall utlization.

Thanks!

---

They look at both. Right now, what are the balances / limits / interest on each card? How much can you afford to pay total, how much can you throw at this weekly or monthly, and if you decide to try and apply for a home loan, when will you be doing this? What month?

At some point, I'd suggest calling those that closed your accounts to see if they'll reopen, and call those that lowered your limits and see if they'll put them back, but first let's see what you currently owe before doing that.

[rebuilding]

NFCU CC is sent me a letter in November when my cc was due to expire, and said they would not be renewing it.  but I have started direct deposit checking with them again, and still have my auto loan with them.  I only had one 30day late with them on my auto, and had to get tthem to move some payments back about 6 months ago. 

DCU has me 'locked' from using the card, but isn't reporting closed?  they raised my APR from 11 to 18

Nationwide is still open.

Sams lowered me from 12k to 6400k just a couple of months ago.

Right now This is what I have BANK | BALANCE | %APR | LIMIT

 Thanks again!

SAMS	5,976.74	18.00%	6,400.00
DCU	3,444.27	18.00%	5,000.00
Nationwide	4,295.58	19.24%	5,000.00
NFCU CC	21,053.33	13.90%	22,000.00
NFCU NAVCHK	13,751.36	15.90%	15,000.00

[rebuilding]

oh, and also, to answer your other questions.  I am looking to pay about $2000-$2500/mo towards paying these off.

I hope to purchase a home by the end of this year.  right now my exp and transunion are about 600-620 range, but my equifax is 488!! not sure why such a drastic difference. 

[notfancy]

---

@rebuilding wrote:

NFCU CC is sent me a letter in November when my cc was due to expire, and said they would not be renewing it.  but I have started direct deposit checking with them again, and still have my auto loan with them.  I only had one 30day late with them on my auto, and had to get tthem to move some payments back about 6 months ago. 

DCU has me 'locked' from using the card, but isn't reporting closed?  they raised my APR from 11 to 18

Nationwide is still open.

Sams lowered me from 12k to 6400k just a couple of months ago.

Right now This is what I have BANK | BALANCE | %APR | LIMIT

 Thanks again!

SAMS	5,976.74	18.00%	6,400.00
DCU	3,444.27	18.00%	5,000.00
Nationwide	4,295.58	19.24%	5,000.00
NFCU CC	21,053.33	13.90%	22,000.00
NFCU NAVCHK	13,751.36	15.90%	15,000.00

---

Ouch. At this point, don't worry about getting score increases. I don't know what a mortgage lender would say to those issues with the lates, forbearance, and these balances.. but I feel you might experience a delay before you'll be able to get approved for a loan.

You have two options- You can pay the smallest balances first to get more cards at 0 sooner, or start with your highest balance first. How much can you pay on these now, and monthly? What are your minimum payments?

In your case, I would probably start with the Nationwide account because it has the highest interest and it's a smaller account. Maybe seeing one card hit 0 would motivate you to find ways to pay more on the others faster.  Then I would work on the NFCU CC because the interest on such a high balance has to be terrible. Nav check would be next, but if it reports as a loan verses revolving credit, it won't affect your score as much as paying off the CCs would. It is a shame that Sams CLDd you, that would have helpled your UTL.

[notfancy]

---

@rebuilding wrote:

oh, and also, to answer your other questions.  I am looking to pay about $2000-$2500/mo towards paying these off.

I hope to purchase a home by the end of this year.  right now my exp and transunion are about 600-620 range, but my equifax is 488!! not sure why such a drastic difference. 

---

Oh good! That is a nice amount if you can keep on doing it. If that is the case, pay all of your smallest ones off first. Then work on the other two.  Equifax might be reporting something that the others are not, such as your lates or different utilization. Are you sure you can consistantly pay that much on these until they are paid? If so, can you pay more?

Also, when you go to apply for that home loan, will you also have a 20% down payment saved? Can you hold off on the home buying a bit?

[rebuilding]

not sure I can hold out much longer on the house.  my fiance and her son moved in with me.  we are CROWDED.  I won't have 20% saved, felt it was better to keep paying more towards this debt and hope for a USDA loan.  I had a USDA loan on my last house.  my home credit was perfect. never late in 4 years.  and only one 30 day that I hope to get goodwill'd in the last 12 years of car credit.  just some stupid medical collections I am starting the HIPAA process on now and high utilization is my only score killers.

yes, I can and will pay at least this amount consistently.  with some larger chunks as I get more projects.

thanks again.