Maxed CC Payment Strategy - How To Improve?

[MOSHIE]

Hello,

 I am currently in the process of paying down my CC balances down and the point of this thread is what is the most optimal/efficient way of doing so to avoid Balance Chasing?

So I will list my accounts in balance/limit format currently (based off this month) and then I will mention my plan on paying these down. My goal at the moment is to pay these down optimally for scoring and to minimalize balance chasing. I am planning to apply for an Auto Loan around second half of July - early August.

Here goes and thank you in advance!

1. Apple Card - 1370/1950 (70%)  - paid 580 and no CL change
2. AMEX - 773/2000 (39%) - payment arrangement w/ AMEX
3. Best Buy - 969/1000 (97%)
4. Capital 1 Platinum - 1493/1500 (100%)
5. Capital 1 QS - 1981/2000 (99%)
6. Discover - 1997/2000 (100%)
7. Discover - 2419/2450 (99%)
8. FNBO - 1000/1000 (100%)  - previously 2800 CL. Paid down 1800 and got CLD to 1000

Please note that none of these accounts are new. They have roughly the same age, which is about 3-4 years.

Now here is the plan that I am brainstorming:

1. Apple Card - 1370 (April) -> 0 (May)
2. AMEX - 773/2000 (April) -> 738/2000 (May) - Monthly minimum $44/monthly
3. Best Buy - 969/1000 (April) -> 0 (May)
4. Capital 1 Platinum - 1493/1500 (April) -> 993/1500 (May) -> 493/1500 (June) -> 0 (July)
5. Capital 1 QS - 1981/2000 (April) -> 1481/1500 (May) -> 981/1500 (June) -> 0 (July)
6. Discover - 1997/2000 (April) -> 1497/2000 (May) -> 997/2000 (June) -> 497 (July)
7. Discover - 2419/2450 (April) -> 1419/2450 (May) -> 919/2450 (June) -> 419 (July)
8. FNBO - 1000/1000 (April) -> Minimum till July then PIF

Few things to note again: I reached out to Discover and Cap 1 to notify them of my payment plan with them respectively and they assured I wouldn't be seeing CLD but then again can't trust them either.

Regarding Apple Card: I paid down 580 to see if they would balance chase and they haven't reduced my limit. So I will try to PIF but I am worried it will suffer the same fate as FNBO.

But what do you think? Is the plan above TOO aggressive that it might trigger balance chasing?

What other methods would you propose?

All brains on deck!

Thank you so much!

[M_Smart007]

My thoughts,

You can never be to aggressive in paying down.

The longer you carry balances above 89% (BTW, above 89% is considered to be maxed out and your scores are taking a hit)

My thoughts are get as many as you can below 89% ASAP.

You really do not want other lenders to follow suite in CLD's (balance chasing)

Try to pay at least "double" the minimum payments.

You will get some good advice from others.

Good Luck!

[Kforce]

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@M_Smart007 wrote:

My thoughts,

You can never be to aggressive in paying down.

The longer you carry balances above 89% (BTW, above 89% is considered to be maxed out and your scores are taking a hit)

My thoughts are get as many as you can below 89% ASAP.

You really do not want other lenders to follow suite in CLD's (balance chasing)

Try to pay at least "double" the minimum payments.

You will get some good advice from others.

Good Luck!

---

^^^ I think this is good advise, if goal is to lessen chance of balance chasing.

Split your money across each as aggressive as you can.

Get each below 89

After all are below the 49% you can snowball or avalanche

Save money or simplicity

[markhs777]

Since you don't mention APR and the limits are relatively low you are probably paying high rates.

If you qualify you may be better off taking out  a personal loan and paying off the cards because you are concerned about balance chasing. You can always pay it off early if the opportunity arises.

[MOSHIE]

---

@M_Smart007 wrote:

My thoughts,

You can never be to aggressive in paying down.

The longer you carry balances above 89% (BTW, above 89% is considered to be maxed out and your scores are taking a hit)

My thoughts are get as many as you can below 89% ASAP.

You really do not want other lenders to follow suite in CLD's (balance chasing)

Try to pay at least "double" the minimum payments.

You will get some good advice from others.

Good Luck!

---

Thank you for your response. I'll adjust my plans to evenly spread out payments throughout all my accounts instead. 

[SouthJamaica]

---

@MOSHIE wrote:

Hello,

 I am currently in the process of paying down my CC balances down and the point of this thread is what is the most optimal/efficient way of doing so to avoid Balance Chasing?

So I will list my accounts in balance/limit format currently (based off this month) and then I will mention my plan on paying these down. My goal at the moment is to pay these down optimally for scoring and to minimalize balance chasing. I am planning to apply for an Auto Loan around second half of July - early August.

Here goes and thank you in advance!

1. Apple Card - 1370/1950 (70%)  - paid 580 and no CL change
2. AMEX - 773/2000 (39%) - payment arrangement w/ AMEX
3. Best Buy - 969/1000 (97%)
4. Capital 1 Platinum - 1493/1500 (100%)
5. Capital 1 QS - 1981/2000 (99%)
6. Discover - 1997/2000 (100%)
7. Discover - 2419/2450 (99%)
8. FNBO - 1000/1000 (100%)  - previously 2800 CL. Paid down 1800 and got CLD to 1000

Please note that none of these accounts are new. They have roughly the same age, which is about 3-4 years.

Now here is the plan that I am brainstorming:

1. Apple Card - 1370 (April) -> 0 (May)
2. AMEX - 773/2000 (April) -> 738/2000 (May) - Monthly minimum $44/monthly
3. Best Buy - 969/1000 (April) -> 0 (May)
4. Capital 1 Platinum - 1493/1500 (April) -> 993/1500 (May) -> 493/1500 (June) -> 0 (July)
5. Capital 1 QS - 1981/2000 (April) -> 1481/1500 (May) -> 981/1500 (June) -> 0 (July)
6. Discover - 1997/2000 (April) -> 1497/2000 (May) -> 997/2000 (June) -> 497 (July)
7. Discover - 2419/2450 (April) -> 1419/2450 (May) -> 919/2450 (June) -> 419 (July)
8. FNBO - 1000/1000 (April) -> Minimum till July then PIF

Few things to note again: I reached out to Discover and Cap 1 to notify them of my payment plan with them respectively and they assured I wouldn't be seeing CLD but then again can't trust them either.

Regarding Apple Card: I paid down 580 to see if they would balance chase and they haven't reduced my limit. So I will try to PIF but I am worried it will suffer the same fate as FNBO.

But what do you think? Is the plan above TOO aggressive that it might trigger balance chasing?

What other methods would you propose?

All brains on deck!

Thank you so much!

---

I think you should get everything down to 88%, then 78%, and so on, until you don't have any card over 48%. Then zero out the smallest account, then zero out the next smallest, and  so on.

And there's nothing you can do about the balance chasing. If it happens, it happens, so stop sweating it.

[Anonymous]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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And there's nothing you can do about the balance chasing. If it happens, it happens, so stop sweating it.

---

Right,  And (as I am sure you  know), balance chasing doesn't happen because you pay down cards, it happens when you pay down cards after the issuer has decided that there is an issue.   Those inclined to chase have probably already decided but the best way of *maybe* changing that is to show massively reduced utilization across the board.   So evenly reducing (if we are not looking at APRs) is a good approach.

[SaintMortichai]

Thank you for posting this thread. I have cc debt due to emergencies and wanted to see other strategies besides the snowball and avalance methods. Getting all cards below 89% first is simpler enough for me. I was working on getting all cards below 50% first and was finding it quite challenging and difficult. I was successful with some snowball methods as well, but starting smaller across all cards is a strategy I have not considered. Thank you everyone for your input. You've opened my eyes to another method and I believe it will greatly help!

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@MOSHIE wrote:

Hello,

 I am currently in the process of paying down my CC balances down and the point of this thread is what is the most optimal/efficient way of doing so to avoid Balance Chasing?

So I will list my accounts in balance/limit format currently (based off this month) and then I will mention my plan on paying these down. My goal at the moment is to pay these down optimally for scoring and to minimalize balance chasing. I am planning to apply for an Auto Loan around second half of July - early August.

Here goes and thank you in advance!

1. Apple Card - 1370/1950 (70%)  - paid 580 and no CL change
2. AMEX - 773/2000 (39%) - payment arrangement w/ AMEX
3. Best Buy - 969/1000 (97%)
4. Capital 1 Platinum - 1493/1500 (100%)
5. Capital 1 QS - 1981/2000 (99%)
6. Discover - 1997/2000 (100%)
7. Discover - 2419/2450 (99%)
8. FNBO - 1000/1000 (100%)  - previously 2800 CL. Paid down 1800 and got CLD to 1000

Please note that none of these accounts are new. They have roughly the same age, which is about 3-4 years.

Now here is the plan that I am brainstorming:

1. Apple Card - 1370 (April) -> 0 (May)
2. AMEX - 773/2000 (April) -> 738/2000 (May) - Monthly minimum $44/monthly
3. Best Buy - 969/1000 (April) -> 0 (May)
4. Capital 1 Platinum - 1493/1500 (April) -> 993/1500 (May) -> 493/1500 (June) -> 0 (July)
5. Capital 1 QS - 1981/2000 (April) -> 1481/1500 (May) -> 981/1500 (June) -> 0 (July)
6. Discover - 1997/2000 (April) -> 1497/2000 (May) -> 997/2000 (June) -> 497 (July)
7. Discover - 2419/2450 (April) -> 1419/2450 (May) -> 919/2450 (June) -> 419 (July)
8. FNBO - 1000/1000 (April) -> Minimum till July then PIF

Few things to note again: I reached out to Discover and Cap 1 to notify them of my payment plan with them respectively and they assured I wouldn't be seeing CLD but then again can't trust them either.

Regarding Apple Card: I paid down 580 to see if they would balance chase and they haven't reduced my limit. So I will try to PIF but I am worried it will suffer the same fate as FNBO.

But what do you think? Is the plan above TOO aggressive that it might trigger balance chasing?

What other methods would you propose?

All brains on deck!

Thank you so much!

---

[docbang]

Your SCORES are down! But game is NOT over, you can recover, IMO pay the smallest balance first, since you did not mention any APR, it gives you a sense of financial freedom (extra cash), stick to your plan and make it happen.  Try to avoid using your card, by the end of the year, you will see the HUGE difference.  It's so nice to see a great plan but you are the one who could make it happen.  You can do it.