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Best avenue for lowering CC usage percentage.

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Best avenue for lowering CC usage percentage.

Only carried the 1K due to the wife forgetting to make the extra payment. Only debt we have is Mortgage.

Message 11 of 16
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: Best avenue for lowering CC usage percentage.


@Anonymous wrote:

My story starts with the financial suffered in the financial crisis. My wife and I had a businesses that tanked, couldn't pay mortgage. Long story short, I short sold the house, and filed chapter 7. This was Dec. 2012. We closed the businesses, I went to the oil field in ND to rebuild the empire, and my wife went back to school to become an accountant (which we paid cash for).


Due to the fact I went into the oil field and making plenty of money, and being sour at myself about CC's and the BK, I paid cash for everything and never got back into the CC rat race. I'm now wishing I did, but oh well, have to start somewhere.


After the BK my credit history is as follows.
- Received a $25K loan in 2015 for a vehicle and paid it off in 16 months.
- We bought a house in 2016 and lived in it for 2 years, sold it and bought another house. Never late on a mortgage payment since the Chapter 7 BK.
- I applied for a Capital One Venture in Sept. 18 and received a $10K SL.  That was increased in Oct. 19 to $14,500.
- I applied for a Capital One Spark for Business in Feb. 19 that has a SL of $10K.
- All CC paid on time and most of the time we pay them off in full. Currently have about 1K that we are carrying over and that will be paid off by the end of the month (Jan 20). My current credit usage is around 25-29% month to month.

- I have one collection ding that should have never been sent to collections. I have disputed this over and over and it appears it is going to be removed from my Experian finally. Still working on the others.


Currently my scores are :
Experian - 685
Equifax - 716
Transunion - 715

I am now looking for advice from you on the following.

1 - Increase my FICO score
2 - lower my CC usage % overall

 

Current credit card usage.

 

I use the Venture card to pay for all of our living expenses with the exception of the mortgage (anyone know a trick around that?). We are trying to build points for free airline travel yearly. We spend about 4-5K month on it. I had a small business (closed now) which is why I got the Capital One Spark for business. This spending limit does calculate on my SL total. I use this card for my current new job travel expenses. I get cash back on that card and spend about 2-5K a month on that. I always have about $6-8K on my cards of $24,500 available, so I'm about 28-32% utilization.

 

My current plan for lowering credit utilization % is to apply for another rewards card to up my available SL. I will let the CO Spark sit idle since it has no annual fee and begin to use a new rewards card for work. I am black balled from AMEX because they were included in my ch 7. I tried for the Chase Reserve but they want to see more payment history. Which card would you guys suggest and is this even the right route to go? I've considered trying to find a rewards card for my wife and having the living charges go on that card, whic would lower my CC utilization %. But I'm shooting at any idea right now.

 

What should be my plan for my FICO score? 


1. Forget about Chase, due to the bankruptcy.

2. You may think Amex has you blackballed but unless you're sure, you might want to test the waters with them. They forgive after a while.

3. If you're looking for a Cash Rewards card, Bank of America has a good one.

4. If you're looking for a travel card, the Citi Premier card is good.

5. If you want a good low fee, low interest card, I would suggest PenFed, NFCU, Unify FCU.


Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 701 TU 704 EX 685

Message 12 of 16
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: Best avenue for lowering CC usage percentage.


@kerplunk wrote:

OP, some general financial advice: don't pursue rewards until your debt is paid off (or you aren't paying interest on debt).


Very good point.


Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 701 TU 704 EX 685

Message 13 of 16
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Best avenue for lowering CC usage percentage.

Can non-Military join PenFed?

 


@Gmood1 wrote:
I'd recommend joining Penfed. Wait until the Penfed Pathfinder Amex comes back online before you do.
Looks like their updating the rewards on the card at the moment.
That's if you want a Travel CC that runs on the Amex network.

 

Message 14 of 16
Gmood1
Super Contributor

Re: Best avenue for lowering CC usage percentage.

@Anonymous
Sure, no military affiliation needed to join Penfed. The site will walk you through how to join.
Message 15 of 16
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Best avenue for lowering CC usage percentage.

Cool. Thanks!

 


@Gmood1 wrote:
@Anonymous
Sure, no military affiliation needed to join Penfed. The site will walk you through how to join.

 

Message 16 of 16
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