poor credit due to high utilization

[Anonymous]

I currently have poor credit scores rranging from 570-630 depending on the source. I have four 30 day lates (one each on four different store cards) over the past 5 years, but a utilization of over 85%, which is what I know isteh main factor hurting my credit score. I occasionally request credit line increases and call the CC companys to request rate decreases, but am denied (understandably) each time because of poor credit scores. Is there anything else I can be doing to improve my score other than continue to make payments on time, and pay my balances down as quickly as possible? It has been extremely difficult to make higher than minimum payments despite a pretty bare bones budget and a second job due to daycare expenses. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I currently have poor credit scores rranging from 570-630 depending on the source. I have four 30 day lates (one each on four different store cards) over the past 5 years, but a utilization of over 85%, which is what I know isteh main factor hurting my credit score. I occasionally request credit line increases and call the CC companys to request rate decreases, but am denied (understandably) each time because of poor credit scores. Is there anything else I can be doing to improve my score other than continue to make payments on time, and pay my balances down as quickly as possible? It has been extremely difficult to make higher than minimum payments despite a pretty bare bones budget and a second job due to daycare expenses. 

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What are the limits and balances on each account?

[Anonymous]

Card__________Balance_____Limit

Chase Freedom    3935                4000

Chase Marriott       4735               4800

Chase Slate            2699               2800

CapOne MC             904                 1100

Barclay MC              4378               4700

Amazon                    971                 1080

store cards

Target                           0                   500

Macys                          0                    300

Loft                               0                    820

VS                                 0                   250

Kohls                            0                   600

totals                       17622          /19960

In addition, I have one car loan (with husband 8500 left from beginning 20k, federal student loan with a balance of 78,000 and a private loan with 14000 remaining, no lates or issues there

[AutoBot]

Look to be pushing 89% UTIl on those cards. Obviously the soone you get closer to 10% the better off your score will be.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Card__________Balance_____Limit

Chase Freedom    3935                4000

Chase Marriott       4735               4800

Chase Slate            2699               2800

CapOne MC             904                 1100

Barclay MC              4378               4700

Amazon                    971                 1080

store cards

Target                           0                   500

Macys                          0                    300

Loft                               0                    820

VS                                 0                   250

Kohls                            0                   600

totals                       17622          /19960

In addition, I have one car loan (with husband 8500 left from beginning 20k, federal student loan with a balance of 78,000 and a private loan with 14000 remaining, no lates or issues there

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To answer your first post after seeing this, pay down these balances if you can.. That will give you a good boost in scores if that is the goal and will help in getting your CLIs as you work on other aspects of your file.

[Anonymous]

Looking at these, I would do this if it helps. Pay and do NOT use the cards in this order... I know sometimes you may have to dip into your credit cards for neccesities, but if you could resist the temptations, it's easier to pay off. I was in a similar situation and changed my lifestyle around to pay off the debt. Just pay the lowest cards off first then tackle the high balance ones with the most interests. Also if possible, see if you could keep paying every week. This will significantly bring down the balance.

Card__________Balance_____Limit

4. Chase Freedom    3935                4000

6. Chase Marriott       4735               4800

3. Chase Slate            2699               2800

1. CapOne MC             904                 1100

5. Barclay MC              4378               4700

2. Amazon                    971                 1080

store cards

Target                           0                   500

Macys                          0                    300

Loft                               0                    820

VS                                 0                   250

Kohls                            0                   600

totals                       17622          /19960

[RobertEG]

Seeing a pattern of high % usage, a creditor reviewing your report will likely then take a peek at a third "column" that shows your minimum monthly payment requried on each.

That will be high for cards with high balances.

If you list a third column that shows min monthly payments and add them up, that will likely raise an eyebrow.

The point being that if the high utils were only on low limit cards, the concern might be much less.

However, if the sum of all minimum monthly payments is high, that indicates substantially increased risk of default if bad times should hit.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Card__________Balance_____Limit

Chase Freedom    3935                4000

Chase Marriott       4735               4800

Chase Slate            2699               2800

CapOne MC             904                 1100

Barclay MC              4378               4700

Amazon                    971                 1080

store cards

Target                           0                   500

Macys                          0                    300

Loft                               0                    820

VS                                 0                   250

Kohls                            0                   600

totals                       17622          /19960

In addition, I have one car loan (with husband 8500 left from beginning 20k, federal student loan with a balance of 78,000 and a private loan with 14000 remaining, no lates or issues there

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Yeah...Its not looking good. You've pretty much painted yourself into a corner here. Scores are just too low to get a 0% percent card with any useful limits, and also too low to get a personal loan to help consolidate. I would suggest continuing to pay them down, but work on getting the Cap One and the Amazon cards down first. Also you might be able to essentially take the Cap One card "out of the mix" entirely by "converting it" to a daily use card and cycling your monthly expenses through it.  See my thread on how to do that. If you can get those two cards reporting zero, you may free up enough to work the chase slate down so you can start using it in conjuntion with the Cap One card as your monthly expense cards.

Also see about getting rewards added to the Cap One card - if you're using it for all your expenses thats like giving yourself a 1.5% pay raise. It adds up pretty fast.

[RonM21]

Definitely bringing your utilization down will increase your scores in a hurry.

[Anonymous]

I'm working on throwing any extra money to the smallest balance to bring it down.. debt snowball if you will. I know these things take time, it is a very frustrating position to be in. 

I've tried GW letters in the past  (Kohls, Macys, VS) without much success. Is it worth trying again?

I find this unique payoff strategy very interesting Norman. I don't think I have enough bills that I could pay by card to make it work; however after the two small balances are paid off, it might be a different story.