help with paying down credit cards-

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

BTW, how do you plan to monitor your scores?  I can suggest a very low cost solution if that will help.

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I monitor my scores through this site and I have an account w. experian which shows my score at 626 and here its 621 and hasnt been updated yet...kinda odd

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Is your score that you get via Experian free?  You may be paying quite a bit of money each month for credit monitoring services that you don't need right now -- money that could go toward paying down your debt.

I can suggest a monitoring approach that would cost you a total of $32 between now and March.  That's not $32 per month, but $32 total for the five month period..  And it would include the cost of pulling all your mortgage scores in March.

If you are happy with your solution now, however, that's fine.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

BTW, how do you plan to monitor your scores?  I can suggest a very low cost solution if that will help.

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I monitor my scores through this site and I have an account w. experian which shows my score at 626 and here its 621 and hasnt been updated yet...kinda odd

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Is your score that you get via Experian free?  You may be paying quite a bit of money each month for credit monitoring services that you don't need right now -- money that could go toward paying down your debt.

I can suggest a monitoring approach that would cost you a total of $32 between now and March.  That's not $32 per month, but $32 total for the five month period..  And it would include the cost of pulling all your mortgage scores in March.

If you are happy with your solution now, however, that's fine.

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I am always up for saving money! please fill me in!

[Anonymous]

thank you!  I wasnt able to see the article. I look forward to keeping everyone updated on my journey

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

BTW, how do you plan to monitor your scores?  I can suggest a very low cost solution if that will help.

---

I monitor my scores through this site and I have an account w. experian which shows my score at 626 and here its 621 and hasnt been updated yet...kinda odd

---

Is your score that you get via Experian free?  You may be paying quite a bit of money each month for credit monitoring services that you don't need right now -- money that could go toward paying down your debt.

I can suggest a monitoring approach that would cost you a total of $32 between now and March.  That's not $32 per month, but $32 total for the five month period..  And it would include the cost of pulling all your mortgage scores in March.

If you are happy with your solution now, however, that's fine.

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I am always up for saving money! please fill me in!

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Lol..yeah, me too!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello Ashley!  It looks like you have a total current debt of $5078 and a total credit limit of $5250.  Is that right?

The best solution, given the amounts you describe on each card, is one that ends with the four small-debt cards paid off entirely ($0 balances) and the other two cards paid down as much as you can (but make sure that each card is under < 29% of its credit limit).

It doesn't matter exactly what order you do it in (what matters is the end result) but a simple approach would be to pick one smaller-debt card to pay off entirely each month.  And with the leftover money pay all the other cards down equally.

At the end of four months you will have four $0 balances, two cards under < 29%, and a total utilization of < 19%.  You will get a gigantic boost if you do that.

That focuses on your problem as given -- which is to think of it purely as a mental exercise in paying down debt and increasing your scores.  But... you are in fact doing that with a specific end in mind... namely buying a house very soon.

So bear in mind that there are other considerations.  For example, many realtors will want you to get a pre-approval letter from a bank before they will even begin help you look at properties.  If you try to get that pre-approval in a month or two from now, your scores may be sufficiently low that the letter can't be given or that the letter covers only a small dollar value (limiting your choice of properties).

Essentially you have got time constraints is what I am saying, owing to wishing to buy a house four months from when all your cards are maxxed out.  (At least I think that is your situation.)  You need to time to pay them down, time for the new balances to report, time to get a pre-app letter, time to look around for properties, time to negotiate a price and go under contract, and then time for the final underwriting.  Ideally you'd want to pay down all your debt before you do the other things.

Hope this helps.

PS.  Thoughtful advice from Newhis!

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thank you!!

you are correct in the count of my debt. From reading the forums I thought that would be the best course of action with paying them down. I plan to pay off most of the debt and leave the larger card from Capital one showing a small balance when I apply. I will have my debt paid down by mid February,  all of my cards will have been reported by then so I will have to wait till mid/late March to apply if my scores are appropriate at that time.. and I pray they are good enough for a FHA loan.

thank you again.

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I'd also like to add that unless you have done so recently, you should ask for a CLI. You may only be able to do so with Capital One but that is the most important. You might want to wait a couple months before trying so that your balance is lower when you do. If you try online and get declined, always call for reconsideration, that works for a lot of people. I know you are only allowed an increase every 6 mo., I presume that's per card, but you may want to look into it. You definitely want to do it with the larger limit card. A credit increase will lower your utilization rate, as well as increase your available credit.

Also, you may want to consider combining your Capital One cards. You won't be eligible until the newest card is 6 mo. old, but that is in a few months. Even if you get declined for an increase, combining the 500 card into your 2000 card will give you a 2500 limit and still lower your utilization percentage. Even if you do get an increase on both cards, you may still want to consider it. It will show a card with a nice limit. It should also increase your AAoA a touch since the 500 limit card is one of your newest cards. Below is a good article that explains the pro's and con's of combining cards. You should take a look at it. Good Luck!!

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Lol..I'm sorry that's because I'm a space case and forgot to add the link!! Here it is..

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/combining-cards-credit-limits-1267.php

[Anonymous]

OK.  Here's the big idea.  You have a plan.  (Can't stress how awesome it is that you have a plan.  So many of us make decisions impulsively and almost at random.) 

You created that plan by first identifying your goal and your timeline and then creating a solution to meet that goal.  Your solution is: pay down off all my cards and leave a small balance on one.  Perfect.

Now here's the thing.  You have read enough to know that will help you.  A lot.  You know it will help you gradually as you do it.  You actually don't need to be pulling your mortgage scores every week to see that it will work.  Trust that they are going up.  They will be.  It's like growing underground vegetables like potatoes.  You don't actually need to constantly dig them up to know that the basic stuff of watering them and so is making them grow.

What you can and should be doing is pulling your reports.  You want to be looking at them around once a month to see that yes indeed my balances are going down.

You also probably want to see a FICO 8 score once a month that is showing you that indeed your score is going up.  There's a way to get that for free.

So a virtually cost free approach would be this:

      Sign up for Credit Karma (free)

      Sign up to get your monthly credit report from Experian (free)

Between these two you will have access to all three credit reports at no cost.  You can also use Karma to watch your Vantage scores go up steadily.  They rely on CC utilization much like FICO does and they have the same range.  Don't expect that the Vantage score is the same thing as the corresponding FICO mortgage score.  Of course not.  But use Karma to get steady emotional feedback of watching the Vantage numbers go up.  If they are going steadily up, so will your mortgage scores.

Also sign up to get your Experian FICO 8 score for free.  You can do this via Discover and you do not need to have an account with Discover to do it.

Finally, between now and April 1, you might choose to sign up for Credit Check Total.  For $1 they will give you all your reports and your three FICO 8 scores.  You can cancel with no obligation a few days later.  You could do this once or twice.  That's 1 or 2 dollars.

And in March, when all your reports show that you have achieved your CC balance reduction, then go to myFICO and sign up for the 3B monitoring service.  That will cost you $30.  That will give you all your scores including your mortgage scores.  Then you can cancel that.

That's a total of $32.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

OK.  Here's the big idea.  You have a plan.  (Can't stress how awesome it is that you have a plan.  So many of us make decisions impulsively and almost at random.) 

You created that plan by first identifying your goal and your timeline and then creating a solution to meet that goal.  Your solution is: pay down off all my cards and leave a small balance on one.  Perfect.

Now here's the thing.  You have read enough to know that will help you.  A lot.  You know it will help you gradually as you do it.  You actually don't need to be pulling your mortgage scores every week to see that it will work.  Trust that they are going up.  They will be.  It's like growing underground vegetables like potatoes.  You don't actually need to constantly dig them up to know that the basic stuff of watering them and so is making them grow.

What you can and should be doing is pulling your reports.  You want to be looking at them around once a month to see that yes indeed my balances are going down.

You also probably want to see a FICO 8 score once a month that is showing you that indeed your score is going up.  There's a way to get that for free.

So a virtually cost free approach would be this:

      Sign up for Credit Karma (free)

      Sign up to get your monthly credit report from Experian (free)

Between these two you will have access to all three credit reports at no cost.  You can also use Karma to watch your Vantage scores go up steadily.  They rely on CC utilization much like FICO does and they have the same range.  Don't expect that the Vantage score is the same thing as the corresponding FICO mortgage score.  Of course not.  But use Karma to get steady emotional feedback of watching the Vantage numbers go up.  If they are going steadily up, so will your mortgage scores.

Also sign up to get your Experian FICO 8 score for free.  You can do this via Discover and you do not need to have an account with Discover to do it.

Finally, between now and April 1, you might choose to sign up for Credit Check Total.  For $1 they will give you all your reports and your three FICO 8 scores.  You can cancel with no obligation a few days later.  You could do this once or twice.  That's 1 or 2 dollars.

And in March, when all your reports show that you have achieved your CC balance reduction, then go to myFICO and sign up for the 3B monitoring service.  That will cost you $30.  That will give you all your scores including your mortgage scores.  Then you can cancel that.

That's a total of $32.

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Thank you!! I have credit Karma and frequently check in for updates on my report. I had no clue about Credit Check Total or Discover!  Thanks again for the tips