Decreased my Utilization from 80% to 60% - Should I wait to Apply for Chase Slate, or Apply Now?

[leo222]

Hello,

Due to many factors, I haven't been in the best place financially in recent years. Lately, though, I've started making money again - I completely paid off my smallest card (AMEX), and, of the other two cards that I have balances/debt with, I paid about 30% of the balance of the highest balance (and highest APR) card. Overall, my utilization should have dropped from 98% to 70% (Edit: 80% to 60%)

Now, mind you, I have made these payments in the past 1-2 weeks, and they have not reflected in my credit scores yet - My score has not changed, as I checked it before the payments, and right now. I really want to apply to Chase Slate and/or Barclay's Card, because of the 0 balance transfer fees. My strategy was/is to pay a good chunk of my debt, allow my score to improve, and then to apply for a balance transfer, to finish off the rest (or as much of it as possible).

So again, I'm wondering if I should wait a month for my credit card companies to report the new balances, so my score will improve, or to apply right away?

Update: I downloaded my credit report after I started this thread, and the 98% util that I initially posted was incorrect. I had some accounts without debt/balances that I had not taken account of. It was/is closer to 80%, and my new credit utilization will about 60%, maybe even slightly lower.

[RSX]

I would wait until they appear.  

it shouldn't be much longer to wait, and you want the best chance at the BT.  

[Remedios]

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@leo222 wrote:

Hello,

Due to many factors, I haven't been in the best spot financially. Lately, I have started making some money - I completely paid off my smallest card (AMEX), and, of the other two cards that I have balances/debt with, I paid about 30% of the balance of the highest balance (and highest APR) card. Overall, my utilization should have dropped from 98% to 70%.

Now, mind you, I have made these payments in the past 1-2 weeks, and they have not reflected in my credit scores yet - My score has not changed, as I checked it before the payments, and right now. I really want to apply to Chase Slate and/or Barclay's Card, because of the 0 balance transfer fees. My strategy was/is to pay a good chunk of my debt, allow my score to improve, and then to apply for a balance transfer, to finish off the rest (or as much of it as possible).

So again, I'm wondering if I should wait a month for my credit card companies to report the new balances, so my score will improve, or to apply right away?

Thanks!

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You have to wait, because if CRAs have not updated yet, your improvement is not visible to lenders.

However, 70% utilization is still very high, especially if you have maxed out cards. I suggest you try and bring it down even further if you want to improve your odds of getting approved. 

[randomguy1]

You need to look up your actual FICO scores. With that utilization, there's a good chance you denied. If you get approved, they could grant you a very small cl which will be useless for BT. 

and yes wait for them to report. 

[leo222]

Thanks - Yeah I'll need to check my actual FICO score and utilization percentage. I just checked Discover's online FICO Scorecard, and they have my revolving utilization at 77% (instead of 98%). Sorry, still a bit new to this.

[CreditCuriosity]

90% is considered a max card.  I would try to get to 50ish% util then apply for a 0% card for best chances and limit if possible as 70% as echoed above is still very high and likely to scare some lenders

[Anonymous]

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@randomguy1 wrote:

... If you get approved, they could grant you a very small cl which will be useless for BT ...

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ditto

[CreditInspired]

Hi OP and welcome

Personally, I wouldn't even attempt to apply for a Chase or any other CC with your UT, even though you've lowered it. As others have said, it's still too high.

So that's your aggregate UT, what is your UT on each of your CCs. This should be your goal before applying  for new CCs or even CLIs. Work on getting your aggregate UT to <28.9. And if you have any individual CCs with high UT, work on getting those to <8.9%.

GL2U

[Anonymous]

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@CreditInspired wrote:

Hi OP and welcome

Personally, I wouldn't even attempt to apply for a Chase or any other CC with your UT, even though you've lowered it. As others have said, it's still too high.

So that's your aggregate UT, what is your UT on each of your CCs. This should be your goal before applying  for new CCs or even CLIs. Work on getting your aggregate UT to <28.9. And if you have any individual CCs with high UT, work on getting those to <8.9%.

GL2U

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Think you have the bolded portion of your comment reversed.

[Girlzilla88]

No I agree with them under 30% with individual under 8.9 but Ideally if they could get 8.9% across the board that would be LOVELY!