By how much would my scores go up after paying cards?

[xazilizax]

I have a Capital One card with a $1000 limit.  It was maxed out, so I paid $500 on it to bring down the balance.  I then decided to just pay it down some more so I paid another $400 less than 2 weeks after paying the $500.  Now, my balance is down to $48....FINALLY!!!!!  I'm trying to fix my credit for my own good and also because I want to purchase a home in the near future.

I also have a $300 limit card, which I also paid down.  The new balance on that is now about $20.

By how much do you think my scores will increase?

[llecs]

Assuming you were at $950 (guessing) and went to $48 on the $1000 CL and the other from $250 (guessing) to $20, then combined you went from 92.3% to 5.2%. Not bad...congrats! Do you have any other CCs? Do you have any closed CCs reporting a balance, including any charged-off CCs reporting a balance? Do you have any LOCs, HELOCs, etc.? Those would factor in.

When you pull your FICO reports, does utilization show in any of the negative reasons? If so, which number (slot)? If showing, then util is a big drain and you can see big gains. If not showing, then util isn't that big of a deal and the gains would be less.

[xazilizax]

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@llecs wrote:

Assuming you were at $950 (guessing) and went to $48 on the $1000 CL and the other from $250 (guessing) to $20, then combined you went from 92.3% to 5.2%. Not bad...congrats! Do you have any other CCs? Do you have any closed CCs reporting a balance, including any charged-off CCs reporting a balance? Do you have any LOCs, HELOCs, etc.? Those would factor in.

When you pull your FICO reports, does utilization show in any of the negative reasons? If so, which number (slot)? If showing, then util is a big drain and you can see big gains. If not showing, then util isn't that big of a deal and the gains would be less.

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You assumed correctly on those high limits I was at on those 2 cards.    The interest rates on them are super high too, so I'm relieved to have taken care of them.

--I do have 1 other credit card that is still opened.  The limit on that one is $1700, but my balance is $1489.  The interest is at 14%. I'll be working on this one next.
--I do have 3 closed accounts whose balances are under $400 now. I had put those in the CareOne repayment program many months ago.Hmm, 2 of those accounts show an Open status on my report though and I thought they were closed.

-- I have a State tax lien that was put on my credit report (grr!) for $1500.00. I now have an installment payment arrangement for it, but I guess I need to pay this off completely cause it might affect getting a mortgage loan.

--I have a couple other accounts which have been closed for a while now and those balances are at $0. 

--I have a charge-off Bank of America credit card account with a high balance of $6742. Every month, the nice debt collector (ha) calls me and I pay $20/month until I can afford to settle.

--I have one other charge-off account for $1,800, but I settled for $525 and that will be paid off the end of this month.

--I have a million Salie Mae loans, but they are currently in deferment. I will be in school another 1 1/2-2 yrs.

I know all of the above sounds bad, but at least I am trying to take care of them and fix my credit, since I am hoping to purcahse a home sometime next year. I'm not focused on Sallie Mae right now though.

[llecs]

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xazilizax wrote:

--I do have 3 closed accounts whose balances are under $400 now. I had put those in the CareOne repayment program many months ago.Hmm, 2 of those accounts show an Open status on my report though and I thought they were closed.

--I have a charge-off Bank of America credit card account with a high balance of $6742. Every month, the nice debt collector (ha) calls me and I pay $20/month until I can afford to settle.

--I have one other charge-off account for $1,800, but I settled for $525 and that will be paid off the end of this month.

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Aside from the one other credit card and the two mentioned at the start of the thread, the above could also be factored into your CC utilization assuming they are also CCs. If you are interested in knowing the score impact from paying down those two CCs, you need to consider the above too. They are factored in IF they report a balance and IF they report a CL. Sometimes a "high balance" can be substituted for the CL, but it isn't that common. If FICO sees util as a big deal it'll list it as a negative reason and you can do the math to see which accounts still factor in and which do not. Paying down those two CCs likely won't have an impact on score, but they'll save you money. And if you got one or both to $0 and report that way, then I do predict a score bump.

[xazilizax]

Thanks llecs.

I'm on a roll in trying to take care of business and I feel really good about it, so some kudos to me from me.  he he

[Jazzzy]

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@xazilizax wrote:

I have a Capital One card with a $1000 limit.  It was maxed out, so I paid $500 on it to bring down the balance.  I then decided to just pay it down some more so I paid another $400 less than 2 weeks after paying the $500.  Now, my balance is down to $48....FINALLY!!!!!  I'm trying to fix my credit for my own good and also because I want to purchase a home in the near future.

I also have a $300 limit card, which I also paid down.  The new balance on that is now about $20.

By how much do you think my scores will increase?

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You have paid these down really well...if I were you I would go ahead and finish them off. Get them both to zero. You have other credit card balances, so you don't need to show a balance on these two for any reason. And remember, you need to figure out when your cards report...is it at statement cut? end of month? Knowing the reporting cycle helps if you are getting close to applying for a loan and want to maximize your score.

I find that I can always get a bit of a score bump when I show fewer cards reporting a balance. You don't need these tiny balances showing and might get some benefit from zeroing them out.

[xazilizax]

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@LynetteM wrote:

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@xazilizax wrote:

I have a Capital One card with a $1000 limit.  It was maxed out, so I paid $500 on it to bring down the balance.  I then decided to just pay it down some more so I paid another $400 less than 2 weeks after paying the $500.  Now, my balance is down to $48....FINALLY!!!!!  I'm trying to fix my credit for my own good and also because I want to purchase a home in the near future.

I also have a $300 limit card, which I also paid down.  The new balance on that is now about $20.

By how much do you think my scores will increase?

---

You have paid these down really well...if I were you I would go ahead and finish them off. Get them both to zero. You have other credit card balances, so you don't need to show a balance on these two for any reason. And remember, you need to figure out when your cards report...is it at statement cut? end of month? Knowing the reporting cycle helps if you are getting close to applying for a loan and want to maximize your score.

I find that I can always get a bit of a score bump when I show fewer cards reporting a balance. You don't need these tiny balances showing and might get some benefit from zeroing them out.

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How do I figure out when my cards report?  Yea, that would help me to know when it would show up cause I know my credit report updates on the 18th of each month. I am registered with creditkeeper.com so I keep track of my entire report and 3 scores every month.  I'll go ahead and pay those small balances down to 0.

Thanks for the adice.

[MattieNumNums]

When I paid off my card my credit score went up 5 poinst.