Do I need to move some of my credit around?

[BCH]

First of all, let me say for feeling maxed out, I must be doing okay cause my FICO is 707.  But I want to reposition myself to refinance the house and car if rates drop again.  We bought a house 1 1/2 yrs ago with fico of 780, but the house had a lot of expenses, and I should've ran everything through as a 2nd mtg, as I had 20% down.  

What I need to know now is if I need to move some balances from some of my cards.  This is were I am sitting:

                       Balance Limit 

Sears MC          $2600 $3800

Discover            $6400 $6600

Countrywide       $4400 $4600

Dept Store         $1350 $1500 

LOC                  $7300 $7500 

Citi                    $870 $11,560   (just had two auto CLI, probably cause I haven't used the card in a long time, and just started paying 50% more than the minimum $20 pmt) 

I would apply for another card to help my utilization, but I don't think getting another $2500 card will help much.  

If there is a card that would match my CITI limit, then it would be more worth applying.  Either way, I am not charging on any cards, now that we are through the pesky Christmas season, so  every month will get better.

With FICO, does it matter that some of my cards are maxed out versus all the cards, including CITI being at 69% utilization.  I know I want to be under 50% utilization, but nothing I can do other than applying for more credit.  What would you do if you were in my shoes?

Thanks 

[marty56]

Welcome to the forum.  If you could PIF all cards except 1 and have that reporting a balance of 9% or less, your score would be in the high 700's and if you have no major derog info on your CR , could be above 800.

I am not a fan of moving debt around and using secured debt to pay unsecured debt but others may chime in here.  My point is that if you could pay down your debt, your scores would be well over the range to get the best rates.

[llecs]

FICO looks both at individual utilization and overall utilization.

If I was in the same situation (and I am...went a couple months recently without $$), I would skip the loans or new CCs and focus on paying down the debt. Getting a loan or another CC won't reduce your debt. If anything, it adds an extra payment each month. In my case, I hunkered down, cut my lifestyle a little, avoided touching savings, stopped using CCs, and have recently reduced my CC debt from 90%-95% (approx $14k) down to 65%. I have a long ways to go, but by the end of the year, I'll be CC-debt-free without adding new CCs, loans, etc., which can harm your history.

[BCH]

I do not mean open a new car loan or add any more debt.  What I meant was refinance the house and car loan already existing if interest rates fall soon.  Most of the debt on the CC's is for home improvement purchases, rather than living expenses.  We are in the country and knew buying the house that we would need an efficient heating and cooling system, and I was comfortable carrying a $10,000 revolving debt level versus having a fixed 15 year loan, as the revolving debt gets paid off quicker than fixed debt.  Then our septic system went out, and added a lot of extra debt that we hadn't planned for just 6 months after buying the house.  I don't even have the actual credit cards now that we made it through Christmas.  I didn't know if it would be advantageous to move  anything over 50% on several of the cards to the Citi card up to <50%   ??  

I don't want to apply for another card, and have no late payments ever, a 10 year credit history, and only one inquiry on my Equifax report(for a cell phone a year ago)  If there was a credit card that would likely match the Citi credit line, I would possibly apply for that, but I don't want to hassle with anything for a $2500 credit card.

[haulingthescoreup]

Since these were (we hope) one-time expenses associated with home maintenance and improvement, I'd look into a HELOC (home equity line of credit.) The only expenses that I have on my HELOC are home improvement and tuition. You don't want to be tempted into shoving over non-related CC debt.

If you do a HELOC, you'll want to have the credit limit at $40K or higher, or it will be counted as revolving, and you'll be hurt just as much. You might be able to get away with a CL as low as $30K, but we know that $40K will work.

Anything over 85% is maxed out for your CC's. So if you're looking at a minimum amount to move over, I'd plan on getting everything at 49% or less. But if you know that you won't run your cards up, I'd get everything over that you can. hth