topic Re: Next move! Advice appreciated. in Credit Cards

Next move! Advice appreciated.

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 20:52:57 GMT

Long story short. I have always been bad with money and credit. Filed BK 3 times. Yes. 3. So this time I am doing it right. Slowly rebuilding my credit. Last BK was in 2011, like most of the rest of the USA. I have done a pretty decent job of it so far, but am wondering about the next steps. My starting score was below 500 and now sits around 650-680 depending on who you ask. I was injured and had to take 6 months off work, and ran up some of my cards, and am now diligently paying them off/down and am looking to decide what I want to do next...combine, close, etc. My goal is a 800+ credit score (probably not possible until the BK comes off in a couple years). So here are the cards and lines I have now:

Care Credit - $500 (vet bills) bal $200 (will be paid off next week)

Kohls - $300 (bal 0)

Lane Bryant - $660 (bal $200, will be paid off in 3 weeks)

TJ Maxx - $300 (bal $200, will be paid off in Nov)

Fingerhut - $1200 (bal $400) will be paid off in Dec

Shell - $400 (bal 0, paid off every month, only used in emergency)

Overstock $660 (bal $500, work in progress, paying $100 mo)

Walmart $800 (bal $700, work in progress, paying $100 mo)

Paypal Credit $2000 (bal $1000 work in progress, paying $150 mo)

Lend up Visa $2000 (bal $1500 work in progress, paying $150 mo)

Capital One Platinum $500 (bal $450, work in progrss, paying $100 mo)

Capital One Quicksilver One $4000 (bal $3500, work in progess, paying $150 mo)

Credit One Visa $1200 (bal $1000 paying $100 mo)

Credit One Mastercard $650 (bal 400, paying $100 mo)

BofA secured card $500 (bal $400, paying $30 mo)

So now my thoughts. Thinking that once I get this paid down which fortunately will happen quickly that I need to close/combine, but want to do it without hurting my FICO as much as possible. I am thinking that if I just pay off the department store cards, fine. No big deal. Same with paypal, fingerhut, etc. Leave them open but unused. Now for the hard ones.

I have had the Cap1 Plat for 3 years. I have asked for an increase twice and been denied both times. In the mean time, I was approve for the QS1 at $2k and had 3 increases in 2 years. Thinking I should pay off the platinum and combine accounts. My question is if I do that, will the QS1 go to a $4500 limit or will it stay at $4000 and basically just close the platinum? I can eat the annual fee for now, kinda making me mad that they won't even go up $100 on the platinum lol

Credit one. Yeah, they suck. But if I close them, I take a large part of my credit availability away. Any ideas? Does a couple thousand at my level even matter that much for the FICO score?

BofA. This card gives me vapors. Or hives. I was offered it at one point and never took it. A few months later, when I decided to rebuild my credit ( I went 3 years on a cash only basis), I applied and they denied me (even though I have banked with them for over 30 years...). A week later they preapproved me lol I sent them $200, they gave me a $500 line. Three years later...no $200 back. No credit increase. No credit offers..nothing. I am not sure if I should pay it off, close it and ask for my $200 back or if I should pay it down to about $200 and use it once a month for a pizza and just keep it at that level until they give me back the cash lol

Thanks for any opinions and input!

Re: Next move! Advice appreciated.

CreditInspired — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 21:52:56 GMT

Hi OP and welcome to MyFICO,

IMHO, you have far too many accounts with balances and as you note too many retail cards.

Recommendations:

1. Set a goal of following the AZEO method—all credit cards at 0, except one. And that one should be at less than 8.9%.

2. In this list of all your cards, determine which ones have the highest APR and start paying them off—not just down. If it’s easier to pay off the low balance CLs first, then do that.

3. When one CC is paid off, take those payments and add to the payment on the next CC on your list.

4. If those are not your FICO scores, they’re no good.

5. Since your UT is so high and almost every card has a balance, I don’t think you’re going to see a CLI anytime soon.

6. Realize rebuilding does not mean having tons of CCs. Just having 3 prime cards, long positive credit history, low UT, low inqs over 24 months, and following the AZEO method are the factors that are going to get you closer to 800. Keep in mind that a creating a great credit profile is a marathon, not a sprint.

7. IMHO, if you don’t corral your present behavior, I’m scared you will be headed to BK 4.

8. Any cards you close, you will still have the history for 10 years. However, because your UT is so high, you may want to keep CCs with high limits open so as not to make your UT worse.

So, the good news is that you realize you have to pay these debts off.

GL2U

Re: Next move! Advice appreciated.

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 22:01:57 GMT

Thank you! Since those cards will report for 10 years then I will definitely close those accounts as I pay them off. I got kind of credit happy when I finally got approved, and then realized I was going down the same old road. I am thinking I will keep the dept store cards open for now, but with zero balance and then work on the majors.

My thought is to get rid of both credit one cards, keep Lend up and Quicksilver (combine the platinum when allowed). Once I get to that point, I will decide what to do with that silly BofA card. And then close the department store cards.

Thanks for clarifying my thoughts. With the research I had done, I thought this might be the way to go, but just wanted some advice.