topic Re: Increase Score by Spreading Out Utilization?? in Rebuilding Your Credit

Increase Score by Spreading Out Utilization??

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 15:31:06 GMT

Hi all, I'm still so new to this "game" and am trying to figure out the best strategy for spreading out my balances while I work to pay them down. Here's where I'm at:

Amex Delta Gold: $6413 of $18,500 (35%) - AU on my DH's account
Amex Delta Reserve: $8607 of $9000 (96%) 29%APR
Chase Southwest: $1048 of $4200 (25%) 25%APR
Chase Freedom: $639 of $3500 (18%) 25%APR
Discover More: $0 of $2000 28%APR
Discover It: $0 of $8000 *brand new* 0% APR for 14 months including balance transfers, 3% balance transfer fee

Is there a better way to spread these out, or should I just leave them be and stay focused on paying down the balances (particularly mine & hubby's Amex's)? Thanks!

*edit to add: I am thinking about transferring half of the Amex Reserve to the new Discover It. But would it be smarter to have a small utilization of the Discover It for two months, request a credit increase, and THEN transfer the Amex Reserve balance?

Re: Increase Score by Spreading Out Utilization??

Remedios — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 14:55:16 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi all, I'm still so new to this "game" and am trying to figure out the best strategy for spreading out my balances while I work to pay them down. Here's where I'm at:

Amex Delta Gold: $6413 of $18,500 (35%) - AU on my DH's account
Amex Delta Reserve: $8607 of $9000 (96%) 29%APR
Chase Southwest: $1048 of $4200 (25%) 25%APR
Chase Freedom: $639 of $3500 (18%) 25%APR
Discover More: $0 of $2000 28%APR
Discover It: $0 of $8000 *brand new* 0% APR for 14 months including balance transfers, 3% balance transfer fee

Is there a better way to spread these out, or should I just leave them be and stay focused on paying down the balances (particularly mine & hubby's Amex's)? Thanks!

BT Amex Delta Reserve to new Disco, it's maxed out. Has there been CLD on it yet?

That 29%, is that penalty apr?

Re: Increase Score by Spreading Out Utilization??

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 15:21:16 GMT

No credit line decrease, but I did have it maxed at one point. I think the 29% APR came into play once it maxed out. I'm definitely considering moving a chunk from the Amex Reserve to the New Discover It (I was approved this week, haven't even gotten it in the mail yet) but moving things around makes me nervous.

Discover charges a 3% balance transfer fee...does that just get added to my statement? Also, any recommendations on how much to transfer? I don't think getting the Discover too close to the max would be smart, but then again it is 0% for 14 months.

Re: Increase Score by Spreading Out Utilization??

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 15:22:44 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Hi all, I'm still so new to this "game" and am trying to figure out the best strategy for spreading out my balances while I work to pay them down. Here's where I'm at:

Amex Delta Gold: $6413 of $18,500 (35%) - AU on my DH's account
Amex Delta Reserve: $8607 of $9000 (96%) 29%APR
Chase Southwest: $1048 of $4200 (25%) 25%APR
Chase Freedom: $639 of $3500 (18%) 25%APR
Discover More: $0 of $2000 28%APR
Discover It: $0 of $8000 *brand new* 0% APR for 14 months including balance transfers, 3% balance transfer fee

Is there a better way to spread these out, or should I just leave them be and stay focused on paying down the balances (particularly mine & hubby's Amex's)? Thanks!

BT Amex Delta Reserve to new Disco, it's maxed out. Has there been CLD on it yet?

That 29%, is that penalty apr?

Agreed, in the short term transferring half of the Amex Delta Reserve balance to the new Discover card would lower your overall utilization. You are carrying a lot of CC debt, are you able to start paying some of that down?

Re: Increase Score by Spreading Out Utilization??

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 15:25:51 GMT

I am chipping away at it. This is actually an incredible improvement from where I was at (about a year and a half ago all cards were just about maxed out).

Re: Increase Score by Spreading Out Utilization??

radfam — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 16:54:53 GMT

I would move some of that 96% utl to the new card. Anything over 90% is considered maxed out. I would move it to try to not have AA CLD from AMEX.

Re: Increase Score by Spreading Out Utilization??

Remedios — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 17:21:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
No credit line decrease, but I did have it maxed at one point. I think the 29% APR came into play once it maxed out. I'm definitely considering moving a chunk from the Amex Reserve to the New Discover It (I was approved this week, haven't even gotten it in the mail yet) but moving things around makes me nervous.

Discover charges a 3% balance transfer fee...does that just get added to my statement? Also, any recommendations on how much to transfer? I don't think getting the Discover too close to the max would be smart, but then again it is 0% for 14 months.

Your Amex is maxed out and you're paying 29% interest. Right now, you really need not worry about scoring.

You are going to have a maxed card either way. The smart thing is not to pay 29% in interest and possibly save that amex card.

Re: Increase Score by Spreading Out Utilization??

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 20:06:25 GMT

So I've been crunching numbers all day, and here's what I am considering doing. I have balance transfer offers on my Chase Freedom, my Discover More, and my Discover It (all are 0% interest for 12-14 months, 3% fee)

Amex- Bring down to $4400 of $9000 (49%)

Chase Frdm- Increase to $939 of $3500 (27%)

Southwest- No change. Stays at $1048 of $4200 (25%)

Discover More- Increase to $500 of $4000 (25%)

Discover It- Increase to $3000 of $8000 (38%)

Then I have scrubbed my finances and taken a look at how hard I can start hitting monthly payments. Especially the accounts that will be at 0% APR for the next 14 months. If I can stick to this plan, in 12 months I could bring my total debt down from ~$10,000 at 37% utilization to ~$2400, resulting in a 9% total utilization.