topic Re: Maxing a CC to pay for a personal loan in General Credit Topics

Maxing a CC to pay for a personal loan

pawesomegirl — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 01:08:54 GMT

Will my FICO score decrease if I accept a Flex Loan on my Citi Card with half the APR but maxes out the card if this loan will pay off a higher APR personal loan with Marcus?

Re: Maxing a CC to pay for a personal loan

dragontears — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 01:12:31 GMT

@pawesomegirl wrote:
Will my FICO score decrease if I accept a Flex Loan on my Citi Card with half the APR but maxes out the card if this loan will pay off a higher APR personal loan with Marcus?

Short answer: yes your score will decrease if you max out a card.

Revolving utilization is a very large piece of the FICO "pie"

Re: Maxing a CC to pay for a personal loan

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 01:13:59 GMT

While I can't say for certain , my initial thoughts are yes you'd see a decrease. Maxing out a single card will decrease your score as you're over the recommended utilization for accounts. You could also possibly see a decrease for the loan being paid off. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Re: Maxing a CC to pay for a personal loan

KatSoDak — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 01:27:19 GMT

Of course it will, just like a balance transfer utilizing most of your credit limit would affect your FICO score.

But as soon as you begin paying off the card monthly, you will see the score increase. Also, you can still ask for a credit limit increase during the time you are paying down the flex loan, whenever you are elligible. If granted, this will lower your utilization and increase your scores.

Will the Flex loan cut your interest in half or more, compared to the Marcus loan?

Re: Maxing a CC to pay for a personal loan

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 03:47:20 GMT

The chances of this move decreasing your score is better than average. The amount it would decrease your score depends on your before/after utilization on both the single card as well as your overall utilization.

This move could impact a score 5-10 points or could impact a score 70-80 points, as it would greatly depend on profile.

Re: Maxing a CC to pay for a personal loan

pawesomegirl — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 13:56:11 GMT

YES, it will. The Marcus loan is at 12.9% (best I could get with 785?) and the Citi Flex Loan is 6.99%! That's why I was wondering if/how much my score will go down if I "pay off" a loan but utilize an entire card balance to do it BUT with half the % ..........oy. What to do? The payments are less too!

Re: Maxing a CC to pay for a personal loan

Chad3304 — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 14:41:11 GMT

Have you gone to a local CU? I took out a personal loan with a 6.99% from a local CU. I would go that route before maxing out a card.

Re: Maxing a CC to pay for a personal loan

FlaDude — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 18:11:03 GMT

I'm a believer in Finances before FICO. Unless you need to maximize your score in the short term for some reason, I'd go with saving money option.

Re: Maxing a CC to pay for a personal loan

pawesomegirl — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 18:57:01 GMT

Thank you, I began getting too confused by the importance of each and lost my method of determing the best route. I wish I didn't even have to think about these but here I am.

Thank you!!

Re: Maxing a CC to pay for a personal loan

FlaDude — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 19:14:56 GMT

@pawesomegirl wrote:
Thank you, I began getting too confused by the importance of each and lost my method of determing the best route. I wish I didn't even have to think about these but here I am.

Thank you!!

I'm one of many here who have been in the same boat. Congrats on taking a step to get things paid down.