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I've been working on improving my credit, and I think I have a good handle on what I need to do. At the moment, my scores have dropped quite a bit, due to inquiries and new accounts. But, I haven't had a late payment or any other new negative info in over a year, and I should be in position for my score to rise from here.
I'm worried that some of my more major cards (Discover, Chase, HSBC/Cap One) might soft pull me before my scores recover, and decide to decrease my limits or close my acounts, thereby hurting my score further. I had this happen to me a couple of years ago, which is probably why I'm concerned.
I've been paying more than minimums, but on a couple of cards, my utilization is still about 79%. I made a concerted effort to definitely get everything under 80% to start with, and should continue to go down from there. My scores below reflect two accounts reporting with 91-95% utilization, so I hope they will improve when they update. My overall utilization in the below scores is ~58%, and will be ~53% after everything updates.
Should I be very concerned about possible AA or CLDs?
Also, I have a balance transfer opportunity which would get me 0% for 12 months, and would save me a little bit of interest (under $300 in a year). If I did it, the transfer card would be maxed. I could use it to drop all of my other cards under 70%, or to take three of them to zero. Should I use the transfer? If so, should I drop everything else under 70%, or zero out three of them?
Can you please list cards, balances, and interest rates? Also, what is the 0 bt last for and CL on it?
Finally how many other accounts with balances do you have outside of listed accounts such as mortgage and auto loans other credit cards etc.
The balance transfer opportunity is on the Discover card, and it would be good for 12 months, with a 3% fee. I could transfer about $1,400, and I'd save around $250 in total over the course of a year. Although $250 is $250, I'm not sure it's worth the hassle if it'll hurt my score a lot.
Here are my credit card accounts as of today that are open (with or without a balance) and closed (only ones with a balance).
Account | Status | Balance | Limit | Interest Rate |
HSBC/Cap One | Open | 5,062 | 6,405 | 19.99% |
Chase | Open | 2,909 | 3,800 | 0.00% |
First Niagara | Open | 1,690 | 2,800 | 20.74% |
Discover | Open | 1,659 | 3,200 | 16.24% |
Best Buy/Cap One | Open | 1,073 | 1,500 | 0.00% |
Chase | Open | 510 | 3,000 | 21.99% |
GECRB/WalMart | Open | 169 | 400 | 22.90% |
GERB/Care Credit | Open | 112 | 3,000 | 0.00% |
US Bank | Open | 70 | 1,000 | 21.99% |
Citi | Closed | 1,782 | 2,850 | 15.99% |
Webbank/DFS | Closed | 898 | 4,000 | 18.99% |
I also have on my reports:
2 mortgages
2 car loans
3 student loans
1 personal installment loan
Average age of accounts is 7 years 0 months, after all new accounts.