Advice

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't close any more until you get them all paid down a bit more.

So, right now you have $1450 in credit at 90%. That means your balance is around $1300. If you pay off the cap one taking you to $950 ish, your overall utilization will drop to 65%. A pretty significant change. If you then close that card, you are right back to 90%.

The goal is to get the overall utilization down. That will help your score a good deal. As you pay a few more cards down and your score improves, you may be able to get increases on the other cards. Then consider closing it once your overall utilization/available credit can handle the hit.

My strategy would be to take the highest interest card and focus on paying that one down as my main focus. Then move to the next highest. While making regular payments on the other cards, of course.

[Anonymous]

@TheBrad Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Now, I'm wishing that I'd kept the Blaze opened for at least a couple of months while bringing the others up before closing it. Can I reopen it? Will this affect my credit if I do? Will this be a whole new application and term? I have shredded the card. I don't have the physical card with me.

Sometimes I think these credit policies are meant to keep people in debt - You can't use it too much and you can't close if you don't want to get too much into debt...

[xaximus]

Definitely need to bring UTI down. There's a few thresholds that it looks like your hitting which is keeping your score down.

The thresholds are 8.9%, 28.9%, 48.9%, 68.9%, 88.9%. If you're close to 90% then you're hitting all 5 thresholds, that alone can be a drop of anywhere between 40-80 points. I would definitely bring your UTI under 8.9% and once it's down, it may be worthwhile to look into another card. My advice would be to pay down all of your cards and depending on what your score is after that (also, if you have any baddies). I would look into another card that may give you a higher CL for the time being.

[HeavenOhio]

Blaze is a lousy card from a predatory bank. It's not worth keeping just to protect your score. Your other cards are from good banks. They're not going to cause issues other than the secured card not unsecuring.

[CreditInspired]

@emtwo wrote:
Sometimes I think these credit policies are meant to keep people in debt - You can't use it too much and you can't close if you don't want to get too much into debt...
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I want to try and change your mindset for future positive use of your credit cards. Honestly, credit is not to keep people in debt. Start thinking of your credit card as a debit card. You’re using the credit card’s grace period to buy what you want today. But then, like a debit card, you know you can only buy what you can afford to pay off. So in essence, you can use your card as much as you want too. It’s just that it has to be paid off quickly vs. running up the balance.

Also, if you had very, very low UT and closed every card but one, you would not have had a huge drop in scores.

It takes time to learn this and we’ve all been there.

GL2U

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My utilization on all cards is very high. All close to 90%. I'm getting my scores from credit wise and credit karma.

Discover IT CL $500

Amazon CL $500

Quick Silver CL $600

Capital One Platinum CL $350 (oldest)

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My advice would be not to close anything. Just pay them all down.