Understanding FICO® Scoring

[glaucus]

I have 8 credit cards that are all over 90% maxed. 4 are closed. To increase my score, would I be better to pay one card (an open one I assume) down to 0, or pay two or three of them down to under half? Thank you so much for your help!

[tcbofade]

First, I would suggest that you pay all eight of them under 90%, then all of them under 80%.

Once you have all eight of them under 80%, then start paying them OFF one at a time.

Good luck!

[GregB]

Very good advice. There might be a better path but it would require much more info.

[glaucus]

Thank you very much! I have tried so hard to understand how the score works and what I need to do to get the best change the quickest, but I seem to have more questions than ever before.

[Homeowner13]

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glaucus wrote:

Thank you very much! I have tried so hard to understand how the score works and what I need to do to get the best change the quickest, but I seem to have more questions than ever before.

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First of all nothing happens quickly with your credit score when it is going up. Remember that it takes time and good credit practices to change your score for the best. If you have no late payments your score will start to rise with the paying down of any of your cards. Having high CU on your cards = lower scores. Get your cards down. Remember your score takes into account your overall Credit Utilization as well as one cards Util. Good luck.