HELP ADVICE - Paying down 3 basically maxed out cards - strategy for maximizing score.

[Anonymous]

I had built my score to over 700. When covid hit I ended up maxing all 3 of my small cards and dropped to 600. Now at 621 and 623 respectively. One is secured and the other two are not. I have money to pay them all off complete. However my question is should I do that or will I negate score progress. In other words... will I get more score if I pay 1 off this month, 1 next month etc... or should I pay each down a certain amount each month. I want my score to go up the highest amount possible even if that means doing it slower. Im worried if I paid one card off say my score jumps 15 points. Would it jump just the same 15 points if I paid all 3 off at once? So should I spread it out. Whats my best strategy?

Credit one - limit $400.00 current balance $275.00
First Progress (secured) - limit $200.00 current balance $153.00
Capitol One - limit $500.00 currently Maxed.

What should I do? 

P.S. I have a dell financial card 2500 limit at 2100 but to expensive to pay off. So gonna make a.double or triple payment. 

Also:

Side note. I have 4 affirm loans going. 

Affirms
Four total loans
Total = $2111.45

Lull = $66.74 a month - total owed = $599

American Muscle = $35.08 a month - total owed = $315.62

Amain Hobby = $121.83 a month - total owed - $487.08

ProAudio = $41.72 a month - total owed = $709.32

Is it better to pay one of these off? Ive never seen a positive score jump or any movement from finishing an affirm. 

[AllZero]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I had built my score to over 700. When covid hit I ended up maxing all 3 of my small cards and dropped to 600. Now at 621 and 623 respectively. One is secured and the other two are not. I have money to pay them all off complete. However my question is should I do that or will I negate score progress. In other words... will I get more score if I pay 1 off this month, 1 next month etc... or should I pay each down a certain amount each month. I want my score to go up the highest amount possible even if that means doing it slower. Im worried if I paid one card off say my score jumps 15 points. Would it jump just the same 15 points if I paid all 3 off at once? So should I spread it out. Whats my best strategy?

Credit one - limit $400.00 current balance $275.00
First Progress (secured) - limit $200.00 current balance $153.00
Capitol One - limit $500.00 currently Maxed.

What should I do? 

P.S. I have a dell financial card 2500 limit at 2100 but to expensive to pay off. So gonna make a.double or triple payment. 

Also:

Side note. I have 4 affirm loans going. 

Affirms
Four total loans
Total = $2111.45

Lull = $66.74 a month - total owed = $599

American Muscle = $35.08 a month - total owed = $315.62

Amain Hobby = $121.83 a month - total owed - $487.08

ProAudio = $41.72 a month - total owed = $709.32

Is it better to pay one of these off? Ive never seen a positive score jump or any movement from finishing an affirm. 

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@Anonymous   Finances over FICO. If able, pay off those 3 smaller cards:

1. To stop paying interest fees.

2. Regain your grace period if available.

Your FICO scores are a snapshot in time. Your scores will recover quicker if you reduce your revolving accounts utilization immediately. Prolonging the utilization reduction is hurting you financially. You can pay now or stretch it out for years and the end FICO score should be the same if all else is equal on your credit profile. What is not equal is the extra amount paid in interest fees.

You will see score increase with reducing your revolving (credit card) utilization.

Your installment loans are a different scoring metric and behave a little bit differently scorewise compared to revolving accounts. Make your required payments. If funds are available, pay extra, after you take care of the revolving accounts first.

[AllZero]

I would recommend reading the below from ABCD2199
The Truth about Credit Card Utilization
My 11 Rules to Credit Rebuilding
FICO Score: What to pay down first?

From Birdman7
General Scoring Primer and Version 8 Master Thread rev.5.17.20

[Jnbmom]

@Anonymous 

I agree pay those off asap if you have the means . Scoring should never be ahead of your finances .

[blindambition]

Pay them off. Leaving small balance to report. That will help scores rebound tremendously.

[KJinNC]

To pile on:

If you can afford to do so, pay all of the cards off today, leaving a small balance on one whenever a statement is about to cut.

There is no accumulation effect regarding balances. If your balances are higher compared with your credit limit, it will hurt your score at the time the score is calculated. If your cards are maxed out all year and then all paid off, your score will be the same as if they were paid off the whole time. If your cards are paid off all year and then you max them out, your score will be the same as if they were maxed out all year. There is no memory of this factor in FICO 8.

Note that there will be no effect on scoring until the statements cut, so, there may be up to a one-month lag effect if you pay today depending on statement dates.

As for the loans, I'd just make sure to keep them current. JMO, good luck!

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I had built my score to over 700. When covid hit I ended up maxing all 3 of my small cards and dropped to 600. Now at 621 and 623 respectively. One is secured and the other two are not. I have money to pay them all off complete. However my question is should I do that or will I negate score progress. In other words... will I get more score if I pay 1 off this month, 1 next month etc... or should I pay each down a certain amount each month. I want my score to go up the highest amount possible even if that means doing it slower. Im worried if I paid one card off say my score jumps 15 points. Would it jump just the same 15 points if I paid all 3 off at once? So should I spread it out. Whats my best strategy?

Credit one - limit $400.00 current balance $275.00
First Progress (secured) - limit $200.00 current balance $153.00
Capitol One - limit $500.00 currently Maxed.

What should I do? 

P.S. I have a dell financial card 2500 limit at 2100 but to expensive to pay off. So gonna make a.double or triple payment. 

Also:

Side note. I have 4 affirm loans going. 

Affirms
Four total loans
Total = $2111.45

Lull = $66.74 a month - total owed = $599

American Muscle = $35.08 a month - total owed = $315.62

Amain Hobby = $121.83 a month - total owed - $487.08

ProAudio = $41.72 a month - total owed = $709.32

Is it better to pay one of these off? Ive never seen a positive score jump or any movement from finishing an affirm. 

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Pay all the revolvers off now.

Let at least one report a small balance each month before you pay it off.

As to your loans, you will receive a FICO 8 and FICO 9 scoring bonus when you get the aggregate installment utilization (i.e. total balances divided by total original loan amounts) down to 9% or less.

[Anonymous]

Pay off as much as you can. Then come middle of next month when the next stimulus hits take the entire thing and pay off all the cards and some of the Dell one. Then moving forward only put what you can pay off on the card. You are lucky that you are trying to do it right with a low amount. Most people have 5 to 20k in credit debt when they get to the Oh S!@# moment.

[Anonymous]

Echoing the advice above. 

Since the CCs you have are accuring interest you should pay them all off or down as much as you can. The best way to getting the most out of your profile is AZEO, all zero except one. You only need 3 revolvers and a SSL to get the best FICO score for your profile. That said @AllZero is correct.  Finances over FICO. When your finances are good that's when you look at your FICO and say what can I do to make it better. Your utilization alone is hurting your score by at-least 10-15 points. Pay Capital One first. You don't want a card maxed out. Carrying a balance and paying interest will never increase your score unless of course you're practicing AZEO and not paying interest.

I'd pay Credit One $100. $260 Capital One. $65 First Progess. $200 for Dell Financial. This should create a small boost in points because every card except for Dell Financial will be under 49% percent ULT. 

[shadanat]

FYI -- The Affirm loans only report to Experian. So tackling the credit cards will give you results across the board.