topic Re: Which card to pay off? 24% on both in Credit Cards

Which card to pay off? 24% on both

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Oct 2017 15:51:48 GMT

Hi all,

I'm catching up and paying off my debt but I want to be smart about it.

I have an option of paying off at least $4k so I'm looking at my two highest:

1. Capital One Venture at 23.99 - $4.3

2. Discover It at 23.99 - $3.8

Now, I'm in a pickle of paying off the Capital One Venture, & combining with my Capital One Venture One

What would be the best approach?

Re: Which card to pay off? 24% on both

HeavenOhio — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 21:47:49 GMT

If you combine your Capital One cards, which one do you want to end up with? If it's the Venture One, you'll need to bring the Venture's balance down to zero. If you want to combine into the Venture, that won't matter.

If you're concerned about scoring, we'd need a complete list of your cards and balances in order to come up with the best possible response. Without that information, my gut says that one more card reporting a zero balance might help you more than reducing the balances somewhat equally.

If you're concerned about your mental well-being, pay off one card entirely and get it out of your hair.

Re: Which card to pay off? 24% on both

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 22:03:19 GMT

I would take individual UTIs into consideration.

Re: Which card to pay off? 24% on both

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 22:09:49 GMT

Depends what your goal is, I suppose. For me, I'd want to optimize my credit score while eliminating interest, so I'd pay down each card equally as much as possible to lower your utilization. I also would not be charging anything on credit until I'm at a point I can pay in full each month.

Re: Which card to pay off? 24% on both

HeavenOhio — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 22:48:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I would take individual UTIs into consideration.

Both cards are below the 28.9% individual card threshold that would optimize one's score. And both cards have equal interest rates. And however you slice up the payment, overall utilization is going to end up the same. That leaves the number of cards reporting balances, unless further information from the OP suggests that there is something else to consider.

Re: Which card to pay off? 24% on both

K-in-Boston — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 22:55:48 GMT

Does your Discover it have any balance transfer options available on your online account? If so, pay it off completely and then transfer your CapOne balance to that at 0% with 3% fee or 4.99% with no fee depending on how long you think it will take to pay off. If you’re paying 20+% interest, saving all that money is a lot more important than any couple of points gained in a credit score for optimizing your balances reporting.

Re: Which card to pay off? 24% on both

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 23:00:37 GMT

@HeavenOhio wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I would take individual UTIs into consideration.
Both cards are below the 28.9% individual card threshold that would optimize one's score. And both cards have equal interest rates. And however you slice up the payment, overall utilization is going to end up the same. That leaves the number of cards reporting balances, unless further information from the OP suggests that there is something else to consider.

We have no idea what each uti is from the original post since no CLs were given. If for example his CLs were 10k for Cap One and 5k for Discover, he would obviously want to pay the Discover first down to a lower UTI.

Re: Which card to pay off? 24% on both

HeavenOhio — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 23:08:46 GMT

The subject line says "24% on both."

Re: Which card to pay off? 24% on both

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 23:12:40 GMT

@HeavenOhio wrote:
The subject line says "24% on both."

I could be wrong but I think that is in reference to both being at 23.99% APR, not UTI.

Re: Which card to pay off? 24% on both

HeavenOhio — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 23:17:51 GMT

Could be.

Either way, it appears that the OP has the budget to bring either card to zero if he'd like to.

By the way, I like K-in-Boston's balance transfer suggestion.

Re: Which card to pay off? 24% on both

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 23:37:12 GMT

My apologies for not clarifying, 24% APR on both cards.

CO: 8K limit

Discover it: 5K limit

Re: Which card to pay off? 24% on both

HeavenOhio — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 23:45:27 GMT

What other cards do you have, and what are their balances, limits, and APRs?

Re: Which card to pay off? 24% on both

K-in-Boston — Fri, 13 Oct 2017 01:29:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
My apologies for not clarifying, 24% APR on both cards.

CO: 8K limit
Discover it: 5K limit

Doubling down on my balance transfer suggestion given those balances and limits.

Re: Which card to pay off? 24% on both

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Oct 2017 01:38:57 GMT

@HeavenOhio wrote:
The subject line says "24% on both."

Thats the interest rate, not the utilization percentage. If the OP were referring to utlization %, the first question should be, what are the interest rates on these accounts.

Re: Which card to pay off? 24% on both

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Oct 2017 01:44:00 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
My apologies for not clarifying, 24% APR on both cards.

CO: 8K limit
Discover it: 5K limit

Doubling down on my balance transfer suggestion given those balances and limits.

Most definitely if the BT offers are available, if not, I would bring Discover down below 28% and throw the rest at Cap One.