Advice on paying credit card off

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have 3 revolving accounts:
First Premier 500- 100%utilization
Milestone- 300- 90% utilization
Fingerhut-400-80% utilization

Should I pay First Premier and Milestone completely off and keep Fingerhut at 9% or should I keep like 25.00 balance on First Premier and Fingerhut?

I'm buying a house next year!
Ex 606 EQ 593 TU 615

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Pay two of the three cards to zero and leave them there.  Then keep the remaining card reporting a small balance each month ($10, $15, whatever).  Allow the statement to print with a positive balance and then pay it in full after the statement prints.

The "zero" cards can and should be used once every 4-5 months just to keep them active, but you can pay them back to zero almost immediately.

When in 2018 do you guess that you'll buy a house?

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Hi,

I have 3 revolving accounts:
First Premier 500- 100%utilization
Milestone- 300- 90% utilization
Fingerhut-400-80% utilization

Should I pay First Premier and Milestone completely off and keep Fingerhut at 9%

Yes

or should I keep like 25.00 balance on First Premier and Fingerhut?

No

I'm buying a house next year!

Best of luck in your new home

Ex 606 EQ 593 TU 615

Thanks

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[Anonymous]

Thank you. I'm looking to purchase June 2018.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thank you. I'm looking to purchase June 2018.

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Do you currently have an open installment loan?  If not you'll want to consider the SSL technique and do so very soon if it makes sense to you.  Generally when applying for a mortgage you don't want any applications for credit in the year leading up to it, so apping for anything else (outside of a SSL) should be avoided.

In the meantime you just want to continue with the AZEO technique outlined by CGID above.  Adopting a pay in full philosophy now and not carrying any balances will look very good around a year from now when you are considering that mortgage app.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I would pay off Finger Hut and Milestone and leave the small balance on the First Premier since it has the largest credit limit and you can use it anywhere.  If you leave Finger Hut with the balance, then you are really only using it to buy things that you don't necessarily need.