I owe a &*^%-ton, which should I pay first? *HELP*

[annah]

I am totally confused on how to manage what I want to do. I've been working on dhs credit reports, getting him set up with some new accounts and whatnot in prep for a car loan. (we're 7 mo preggo with our 3rd, and NEED a bigger car, so it's urgent!)

Well, now I'm done with his, except for letting his age, and one more cc that I need to pif. So now, on to mine.

Quick history- filed bk in 05, discharged 01/06, started with rebuilder cards in mid-06, finally got up to the mid 600s in 07, got cap 1 card finally, with 1k limit, and JBR w/ 5K.

Thinking I was doing good, I closed my Orchard- 500 limit, and aspire, with 1k limit.  Had NO IDEA how bad it would hurt my scores, closing accounts with balances on them- I dropped all the way back to mid 500s- I think my highest now is a 575. (also had a late back in july, but it didn't hurt my score til I closed those accounts!)

Since I've been working on dh's credit, I've only been paying minimums on my cards- (they don't get paid down very fast that way!) and we had our car break down, and had to put it on plastic, so my cards are maxed. I also bt'd 2 of dhs cards over onto my cap 1 to get his score up faster, so cap 1 is maxed now too, but dhs are pif.

So: here's what I got:

1100- JBR, 5 k limit, already paying that down to 800 with the next payment

1k tribute- 1k limit

1450 cap 1- 1500 limit

900 hooters- 1 k limit

975 aspire- 0 limit (closed)

450 Orchard- 0 limit (closed)

My goal is partially to get the highest interest rates down first, and partly to have as few payments to make as possible, since we'll be taking on a car loan.

I've got about 2500 to pay down these cards, trying to decide just *which* to pay is the problem.

Now, here's what I was thinking about doing, please tell me if it's reasonable.

PIF aspire (975)

PIF Orchard (450)

Pay 550 on Tribute

Pay 450 on Hooters

That would drop me below 50% util on both the tribute and hooters. There's some type of bump below 50% right, or do I have to go down to 30%?

That would also remove 2 of the payments I have to make every month, both giving me more $ to put on the cards that are left, and completely removing the balances from the cards that are closed. Unfortunately that still leaves my cap 1 card close to maxed...

Is there another secret utilization bump somewhere, or is the first FICO increase I can hope to see at 50%?

[Anonymous]

I would definitely say UTI needs to get down on all the cards but i would work  on the ones with the highest APR cause they are costing you money--however getting all of them under 50 percent UTI is a start and then from there just continue to get them lower I have learned from on here that you want them to be in the range of 1-9 percent UTI --however I have been managing no more than 25-30 percent UTI (which I think is a great start for me-----gotta crawl before you walk--good luck in getting these cards down--i am sure once the new balance start reporting you will see better scores

[annah]

Yeah- I *really* screwed myself closing those accounts. I know better now, but it sure doesn't help.

I figured I'd have to settle for 50% for now. I was hoping that with the 2 paid off I could put more towards the others and get them paid faster.

My eventual goal, hoping for by the middle of 08, but probably not likely, is to get a better cc w/ higher limit. JIC we have another emergency and need to use a cc, so it won't be totally maxed. LOL I'd really like to toss the Tribute card too, since they have a high apr also. Hoping just to be left with Hooters, Cap 1, and a Navy Fed cc (and JBR too, since I love my credit limit there)

Thankfully I'm with Navy Fed, and they are supposed to offer good amounts. Too bad I didn't think of applying for a card with them when my scores were higher!

[annah]

anybody else have an opinion?

What's got me wondering here, is what will help me more. I can't afford to pif all of them unfortunately. But, would 1 card at 90%, and the others good, be better than all below 50%?

[fused]

Since you're unable at this time to pay most of this debt off, for the purpose of helping your scores, the trick is to have the fewest cards reporting util above 50%. Having any closed credit cards WITH balances can damage scores as well because even though they are closed, they still factor in util% calculations because they have balances. CCs closed without balances do not factor in util however. Since you are not apping soon you should be fine, just keep paying them.