Drop Utilization = Get the card you want!

[Anonymous]

I recently did this, and it worked wonders!!!  I had about 60% utilization on my cards, I decided to get a personal loan (close to same % I am already paying) and get the cards all down to $0.  After this I waited 2 months, had my score jump up by 30 points, BAM now i got 2 cards that I wanted.  I just am not charging anything untill the loan is paid off... I hope this helps someone that is on the edge of "pulling the trigger" but needs some extra points!

[Anonymous]

you got a personal loan to pay off the cc?

[Repo-ed]

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@Anonymous wrote:

you got a personal loan to pay off the cc?

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So long as she puts noting else back on those cards, until after she PIFs the loan, her plan of action does make sense.

[Anonymous]

Does it? In that case, I could take a loan out at lets say 10 percent, to consolidate 2 credit cards at variable rates, how is that any different than doing a balance transfer?

[Anonymous]

jetsfan, it shows up as an installment loan; not a revolving account with UTI.  My score went up after everything reported (even the loan). I went from a 652 to my now 685, just staying away from my cards untill the loan is paid off.  It worked for me, maybe do some google search on the subject; I just know from my exp from just a couple months ago (This helped me land my Visa Signature from NFCU).

[Anonymous]

Also the "blanace transfer" if you can limbo it correctly (have one report before the other) You could actually for a few days have the lowerd Utilization.  Just matters when they report. Card a (2k) reports on the 5th (you transfer on the 2nd) to card b ($0 - 2k now).  Card B doesn't report the new balance untill say the 20th, you now have 2k less UTI on your report.  Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

thanks for the info. where did you go for the loan?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I recently did this, and it worked wonders!!!  I had about 60% utilization on my cards, I decided to get a personal loan (close to same % I am already paying) and get the cards all down to $0.  After this I waited 2 months, had my score jump up by 30 points, BAM now i got 2 cards that I wanted.  I just am not charging anything untill the loan is paid off... I hope this helps someone that is on the edge of "pulling the trigger" but needs some extra points!

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Congrats!  Do you think you can qualify for the Chase Slate 0% APR for 15 months with no transfer fee to pay off the personal loan?

[Anonymous]

Why not just pay off the debt, before seeking more credit? 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Why not just pay off the debt, before seeking more credit? 

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I agree, slightly.

In this case, the loan the OP took out makes financial sense. It'll come out to "savings" from less interest paid for the original CC's. Let's just hope the earlier trend of building up 60% utilization doesn't rear its ugly head again.

BTW, there should be a disclaimer to the OP's message stating that dropping utilization doesn't ALWAYS equal getting the card you want. You could have a 1% utilization, but if you have 15 negatives, you probably aren't getting the card you want. So in any case, it's a YMMV situation.