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Thank you for reading my post. Please Advise...
I know you always pay the highest interest rates first. If I have 5 cards that have the same rates, but with different balances. What is the best way to pay them to increase my FICO score quicker.
I think I should target each card by getting them below 10% first, before paying one off at a time.
Would this be the best plan to get score increases? Or does it really matter, because the credit ratio available to debt is the key.
I still think the 10% below each card first is the better way to go.
Thanks again, really looking forward to everyone input.
Some people go with the lowest balance first, so you can snowball the payment into the next lowest card.
I'd target the card with the lowest balance first, then the next lowest. This way the number of monthly payments gets reduced quickest and less money is wasted making minimum payments only.
@Anonymous wrote:I'd target the card with the lowest balance first, then the next lowest. This way the number of monthly payments gets reduced quickest and less money is wasted making minimum payments only.
+1
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I'd target the card with the lowest balance first, then the next lowest. This way the number of monthly payments gets reduced quickest and less money is wasted making minimum payments only.
+1
Just to clarify, this is a good tool because it makes it seem like you are making progress more quickly, but there is no difference financially between paying off multiple cards of the same interest rate by spreading the payment equally between the cards versus paying more agressively toward the card with the lowest balance first. Assuming you have a set amount to apply toward the cards each month, it's the same no matter how you divide the payments. Some people feel motivated by seeing that they are chunking away at one balance and then moving on to the next. But there's no waste involved no matter how you split it up.
The only time that it would make a difference is if you later were to have a cashflow problem, it would be easier to manage fewer minimum payments than multiple minimum payments. But assuming the same amount of money to apply toward those balances each month, you'll pay them off in the same amount of time no matter how you divide the payments.
To answer the scoring question, I don't know, and I think it would be pretty difficult to predict. I'd probably pay cards off completely rather than trying to leave 10% or less balances, if for no other reason than that it would simplify things, and I expect the difference in score to be fairly minimal between the two options.
I suppose you are right, thanks for pointing that out. I guess I've just always thought that would be the strategy I'd take.
@Dino76 wrote:Thank you for reading my post. Please Advise...
I know you always pay the highest interest rates first. If I have 5 cards that have the same rates, but with different balances. What is the best way to pay them to increase my FICO score quicker.
I think I should target each card by getting them below 10% first, before paying one off at a time.
Would this be the best plan to get score increases? Or does it really matter, because the credit ratio available to debt is the key.
I still think the 10% below each card first is the better way to go.
Thanks again, really looking forward to everyone input.
1. pay the one with the highest utilization based on CL vs Balance. especially if any of them are over 70% used, a flag that fico notices.
2. also pay some on the lowest balances at the same time or at least after you pay down cards over 70% UTILs
3. still pay more than minimum payment, don't want your credititors to see you making only the minimum payments. I'm sure some internal scoring methods track actual payment vs minimum payment.
@Dino76 wrote:Thank you for reading my post. Please Advise...
I know you always pay the highest interest rates first. If I have 5 cards that have the same rates, but with different balances. What is the best way to pay them to increase my FICO score quicker.
I think I should target each card by getting them below 10% first, before paying one off at a time.
Would this be the best plan to get score increases? Or does it really matter, because the credit ratio available to debt is the key.
I still think the 10% below each card first is the better way to go.
Thanks again, really looking forward to everyone input.
Can you list the cards you are talkign about and:
-APR
-Balance
@jamesdwi wrote:
@Dino76 wrote:Thank you for reading my post. Please Advise...
I know you always pay the highest interest rates first. If I have 5 cards that have the same rates, but with different balances. What is the best way to pay them to increase my FICO score quicker.
I think I should target each card by getting them below 10% first, before paying one off at a time.
Would this be the best plan to get score increases? Or does it really matter, because the credit ratio available to debt is the key.
I still think the 10% below each card first is the better way to go.
Thanks again, really looking forward to everyone input.
1. pay the one with the highest utilization based on CL vs Balance. especially if any of them are over 70% used, a flag that fico notices.
2. also pay some on the lowest balances at the same time or at least after you pay down cards over 70% UTILs3. still pay more than minimum payment, don't want your credititors to see you making only the minimum payments. I'm sure some internal scoring methods track actual payment vs minimum payment.
Is 70% one of the magic numbers? I keep seeing under 10% as very important, but that is not possible yet for those of us with big debt loads.