Paying off cc or paying down a few

[Anonymous]

Good Morning:  I have 6 major cc's which are all pretty much maxed out ($2452($2500),$2983 (3000),$1453 (1500),$2498 (2500),$980 (1000), and $926 (1000)).  I am in the process of refinancing my home and have $6000 I can pay towards these cc's.  My question - Is it better to pay off 2 cc's completely and apply the rest to one of the cards or would it be more beneficial to pay towards all these to get them below 50%.  My credit scores are EQ-619, TU-563, EP-629.  I am trying to figure out which way will raise my credit score the most.  Thanks for your time and advice.

[Anonymous]

jusnic, didn't you ask that exact same question last week? Did you not get a satisfactory answer? Paying down all of your cards is a necessity, of course. how you give a weighted average application to the available funds to pay on each card is up to you.

You obviously need to pay on all of them, that's a given. Did you consider what I said last week? Good luck to you

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your advice.  I appreciate you taking the time to reply again.  I am getting conflicting advice from potential lenders (pay off 2 versus paying all down to under 50%) and just wanted more clarification from the board.

[Anonymous]

I believe that you have to consider all opinions, and judge for yourself the way to go, as all of us have different one's. The best way for you to go might be different that the way I'd handle it. But honestly, I think that paying off 2 cc's, and leaving the high balances on all the others, isn't the best choice.

[Anonymous]

Sylvia -- Thanks for the response but maybe J isn't understanding what you are saying. I am confused on what you are saying both on this post and to mine which you replied to in the CC area.

Not being mean or nasty, just not sure what you mean.

[fused]

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jusnic wrote:

Good Morning:  I have 6 major cc's which are all pretty much maxed out ($2452($2500),$2983 (3000),$1453 (1500),$2498 (2500),$980 (1000), and $926 (1000)).  I am in the process of refinancing my home and have $6000 I can pay towards these cc's.  My question - Is it better to pay off 2 cc's completely and apply the rest to one of the cards or would it be more beneficial to pay towards all these to get them below 50%.  My credit scores are EQ-619, TU-563, EP-629.  I am trying to figure out which way will raise my credit score the most.  Thanks for your time and advice.

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Pay all six cards down to <50% util. The trick is to have the fewest CCs reporting util >50%. You should a nice bump in your scores once the new balances report.

[Anonymous]

Take 2k, use it for CC...the rest invest in a high APY savings acct..use dividends (and also frugality) to pay down cards...in fact close the 2 accounts u paid off in the beginning.

[fused]

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misfit wrote:
Take 2k, use it for CC...the rest invest in a high APY savings acct..use dividends (and also frugality) to pay down cards...in fact close the 2 accounts u paid off in the beginning.

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Why? The OP wants to improves scores because they plan to refi, paying down all CCs to <50% is best. In fact they should pay down as much as possible after this 6K is used. There's no advantage to a high APY account in this situation, the OP is already paying outrageous finance charges and maybe even over-the-limit fees and high interest. Surely this will eat all of the dividends from any APY savings and then some. OP get rid of the debt first and this will surely raise your scores!

[Anonymous]

credit cards being used over 50% of the limit = a negative to your score.

credit cards being used 30-49% of the limit = a slight positive to your score.

credit cards being used 10-29% of the limit = a good positive to your score.

credit cards being used 0 or 1% to 9% of the limit = a big positive to your score.

i have read it is better to get them all below 50% than to have some max'ed and others paid off.

[RobertEG]

rrm, while the relative impacts on you rating, of course, decrease as %util decreases, I dont understand what meaning "positive" and "negative" have here.  That would imply some base for this category, and adding or subtracting from that base.  I dont belive that is the case.  Any util above 0% will logically have a negative impact on the total points available under the category of %util.  The negative impacts just drop from band to band, but are never "positive."