New here....

[Anonymous]

Hello, I've been reading these forums for about a week and have learned so much already so thanks to you!

I need some advice as to my best course of action. I need to purchase a new car. Here are my particulars:

Current FICO via score watch:665
No mortgage acct
Auto loan paid. 380$ is listed as "paid charge off" but has been paid since 2010.
Last car reported paid as agreed w/no late pymts
I have 3 CCs - Amazon chase2k limit
Chase Disney Rewards-1000 limit
cap one 500 limit
I was at 80% usage but just paid all off. 2 zero balances already reported but waiting on chase balance of $1203 to be reported at the first of March.

I have 3 closed accts with 60 day late and 1 120 day late baddies from 2008. All were paid off and closed. I have 4 other accts that are closed but were all paid as agreed.

I have had no late payments on any of my current cards, no public records or judgements. 2 credit pulls (car shopping). No new accounts.

What can I expect score boost wise when the last cc reports as paid and which direction should I look for car loan- credit union?

Forgive my choppy post, I'm on my phone. Thanks for any help, I'm new at this. I can provide more info if needed.
Cheers!

[dabrian]

score wise you would have been a little better off letting a small balance report on one card instead of paying them all in full. still though you should see a pretty significent increase going from 80% to 0% utilization which will obviously help with your approval.  

[Anonymous]

Why is leaving a balance on one card better? I'm still learning this score manipulation thing. Thanks for the response.

[Remember0]

Don't ask why. It's just how FICO behaves; no rational reason we can come up with.

You don't have to pay interest though. Just buy something for more than $1 on one card every month, let it report on your statement, pay it off. Should be interest free use of a credit card as long as you pay off the statement in full.