New here & could use some advice

[Heckmonkey]

Hello everyone I'm a bit late to the credit fico game! I'm 39 years old. Have 2 credit cards one from capital one/a jeweler w/ a 3000 dollar limit (1100 paid off) & the other from cap one w/ a 300 dollar limit that I just use & pay each month however I just make sporadic payments on sometimes 100 sometimes the minimum, sometimes pay it all off. My question is my score is at 663 below are my issues w/ my credit the other problem is I have a high interest rate of 22% & annual fees on both cards & would like to do something about that yet dont know anything about changing credit cards or looking to consolidate credit. So I'm wondering what recommendations y'all would make to help me build up my fico & credit. My longest history of credit is 8 years & I have one collection medical for 1400 bucks oh & I do have student loans but I'm still in college so those haven't started yet. I'm wondering if I should put it all on one card? Or should i boost my 300 dollar card up for a higher credit line?? the 300 always seemed so childish like lenders would see a 300 limit & scoff at that. So I'm not sure what to do I'm not much of a credit guru? & usually just buy w/ cash. Below are the current issues. Thanks for any advice.

You have a public record or collection on your credit report.
You have a short credit history.
You've made heavy use of your available revolving credit.
You have a recent public record or collection on your credit report.

[llecs]

I'd focus on repair before improving your existing credit. You'll find as the baddies are taken care of, you FICO will increase and you'll get approved for bigger/better credit. Also taking the time for repair will increase your length of credit history and that'll help too. Check out the Rebuilding your Credit board for more info on repair.

On your cards, pay all of them to $0, except for one, and get the one to report a balance of under 9% of the CL. You'll find that if you were to app again in the future, the reason #3 will disappear and that'll improve future odds. Sounds like you applied when balances were too high. On the APR, your interest can effectively be 0%. Just pay it off before each statement.

Your SLs are ok as is.

[Heckmonkey]

How do u get the credit company to report a balance? Sorry I'm just not sure how that works. Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.

[llecs]

Lenders report once per month. With CCs in particular, they report only once per month and they will report the balance you had on their statement date (typically...there are a couple of oddballs out there). So, if you want $0 to report, make sure your payment clears prior to the statement date. You can look at your statement history and have an idea of that date. So whatever is reporting on your statement, it will also appear on your CR. Your credit reports will typically update that statement balance beginning 2-3-4 days from the statement date.