Credit with high loan balances

[fittiger]

I was wondering how much high loan balances might affect my ability to get approved for new prime credit cards.

I have a new mortage as of June 2012 $134K/$136K, an overbalance student loan $3250/$2600, and a decent balance student loan $36K/$46K.  I'm guessing the overbalance loan will probably hurt my chances, but what would happen if i consolidated the two student's into one?  How would that affect my age of accounts?  How would that affect my credit score?

I'm currently working on paying down my balances on Discover and CareCredit to less than 10% by June.  What are my chances of getting an AMEX BCP or SPG, a Chase Freedom and/or Sapphire Preffered, and/or a BarClayCard Ring?

The only baddie i have is a 30day on a closed Chase card from June 08.

Thanks,

Dustin

[Simply827]

Don't worry about the balances on your student loans. The balances on your credit cards are more important. Having a balance higher than your original limit is very common for SLs due to certain payment programs. I don't recommend consolidating your loans just to make it look under balance. It may or may not shorten your AAoA, it depends on how it's reported.If your AAoA is affected, that would cause your score to drop a little bit.

What are your scores looking like?

[Anonymous]

You should only consolidate your student loans if it will give you a lower interest rate or a lower monthly payment.  When it comes to credit, installment loan balances are pretty much meaningless except for debt-to-income ratio concerns.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You should only consolidate your student loans if it will give you a lower interest rate or a lower monthly payment.  When it comes to credit, installment loan balances are pretty much meaningless except for debt-to-income ratio concerns.

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+1

[fittiger]

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@Simply827 wrote:

Don't worry about the balances on your student loans. The balances on your credit cards are more important. Having a balance higher than your original limit is very common for SLs due to certain payment programs. I don't recommend consolidating your loans just to make it look under balance. It may or may not shorten your AAoA, it depends on how it's reported.If your AAoA is affected, that would cause your score to drop a little bit.

What are your scores looking like?

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As of 2/6/13, my FICO TU score was 656.  A lot has changed on my credit profiles since then.  My Discover balance was $7500 at the time, and my limit was only $8300.  This has been paid down to $3400 and the limit was increased to $10,300.  My Cap1 was maxed at $490/$500 and has been paid to $0.  I've also paid down another 100-200 on the CareCredit.  Most importantly, SM removed about 66 120+ lates from my reports (one loan was left out that was supposed to have been consolidated back in 2005).  I'm waiting for all this to report before I check my score again.  I know this doesn't help but my PLUS scores at that time were EX 682, EQ 684, TU 688.  

My current Credit Sesame score is 709, and my CreditKarma score is 688 with the Cap1 and SM updates only.  Oddly, my CK score didn't improve with this update.  

I'm planning to pay down all CC balances within $1000 cumulitive before applying for anything else.

[fittiger]

 

The only baddie i have is a 30day on a closed Chase card from June 08.

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Will this affect acceptance from Chase?  They closed this account on me in 2008 and I've just slowly paid it down.  I'm guessing they closed it based on high utilization, they never gave me a reason.  It was originally a WaMu card.

[Simply827]

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@fittiger wrote:

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@Simply827 wrote:

Don't worry about the balances on your student loans. The balances on your credit cards are more important. Having a balance higher than your original limit is very common for SLs due to certain payment programs. I don't recommend consolidating your loans just to make it look under balance. It may or may not shorten your AAoA, it depends on how it's reported.If your AAoA is affected, that would cause your score to drop a little bit.

What are your scores looking like?

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As of 2/6/13, my FICO TU score was 656.  A lot has changed on my credit profiles since then.  My Discover balance was $7500 at the time, and my limit was only $8300.  This has been paid down to $3400 and the limit was increased to $10,300.  My Cap1 was maxed at $490/$500 and has been paid to $0.  I've also paid down another 100-200 on the CareCredit.  Most importantly, SM removed about 66 120+ lates from my reports (one loan was left out that was supposed to have been consolidated back in 2005).  I'm waiting for all this to report before I check my score again.  I know this doesn't help but my PLUS scores at that time were EX 682, EQ 684, TU 688.  

My current Credit Sesame score is 709, and my CreditKarma score is 688 with the Cap1 and SM updates only.  Oddly, my CK score didn't improve with this update.  

I'm planning to pay down all CC balances within $1000 cumulitive before applying for anything else.

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Don't put too much stock in your scores from CK and CS, what matters is your FICO. Right now I'd say you're borderline for the Freedom, the others will require higher scores. Just continue to pay down your balances and get some more points.

[koalablue]

That's a pretty long time ago.  I wouldn't think it would affect acceptance from Chase if you've been paying on time since then. 

[fittiger]

Thanks