Most of my cards are maxed out, which should i pay off first?

[Anonymous]

Hey guys, i just recieved a 3k bonus from work and i have a bunch of credit cards near max, was wondering what is the best route in paying them off and if i should keep some sort of balance on to keep it in the 10-20 percent range.

Amazon Visa- $686/700

Chase Freedom-$482/500

Chase Slate-$990/1000

Paypal-$1700/1800 no interest

Amazon Store-$500/600 no interest

Best Buy Store-$1200/1000

Macys Store-$500/700

NFL Extra Point Barclays-$508/500

Also thanks in advance and would appreciate any tips to help build my credit even further its a 640 atm

[Anonymous]

Pay off the highest interest, which are the dept stores and other similar.

[bdhu2001]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey guys, i just recieved a 3k bonus from work and i have a bunch of credit cards near max, was wondering what is the best route in paying them off and if i should keep some sort of balance on to keep it in the 10-20 percent range.

Amazon Visa- $686/700

Chase Freedom-$482/500

Chase Slate-$990/1000

Paypal-$1700/1800 no interest

Amazon Store-$500/600 no interest

Best Buy Store-$1200/1000

Macys Store-$500/700

NFL Extra Point Barclays-$508/500

Also thanks in advance and would appreciate any tips to help build my credit even further its a 640 atm

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First and foremost pay off the cards where you went over balance.  2nd, don't get into the cycle of charging up cards just because you have 0% interest.  I'd pay NFL, Macys, Best buy and Amazon. Then I'd put the remaining on whichever card has the highest interest.

As you move forward, get every card to less than 50%, then pay off based on highest interest. Be sure to put a budget together & only charge things you can PIF each month. If you can't afford to PIF, then don't purchase.  Save up & charge  the purchase after you have the funds to PIF.

[tufa4311]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey guys, i just recieved a 3k bonus from work and i have a bunch of credit cards near max, was wondering what is the best route in paying them off and if i should keep some sort of balance on to keep it in the 10-20 percent range.

Amazon Visa- $686/700

Chase Freedom-$482/500

Chase Slate-$990/1000

Paypal-$1700/1800 no interest

Amazon Store-$500/600 no interest

Best Buy Store-$1200/1000

Macys Store-$500/700

NFL Extra Point Barclays-$508/500

Also thanks in advance and would appreciate any tips to help build my credit even further its a 640 atm

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You are basically at 100% UTIL - while having a UTIL between 1-9% (which is where you want to be) is important, you need to have priorities. Your priority needs to be to get your debt down, way down. First I would say to stop using your credit but I don't need to say that becuase you have no more credit to use (thank goodness). Take the 3k and, as already mentioned, pay down your high interest accounts first. Second, depending on how long it'll take you to pay the balance I would suggest looking into a consolidation loan - however, it worries me that this would just open you up to using more of your credit again.

To simplify:

1. Take 3k, pay off high interest accounts

2. Don't use the credit you open up with that 3k and drive it back up again (this is more important than what you do with the 3k)

3. Consider a consolidation loan

4. Double check and ensure those those accounts are interest free and not just interest deferred

5. when you've brought your debt down cancel all your accounts and live on cash. Kidding, sort of...Usually I would be less strict but I'm pretty sure that your Amazon, Best Buy, and Macy's accounts were not run up due to an unexpected medical emergency or the like. Obv don't cancel your accounts but try not to spend money you don't have.

6. Keeping a 1-9% UTIL is a strategy to maximize your credit score and squeeze out every last point. Being at 640 you are not in a place where you need to worry about that. When you have put yourself in a position to worry about that, then, yes, keep it at 1-9%.

[Anonymous]

thank you guys very much,and  yeah just went sorta crazy over the holidays. The macys and best buy card, i havent used for a few months just been making min payments on them. Which hasnt put a dent on em at all, and i finally got a decent steady job so hopefully i can knock em all out in the next 3 months and minimize my spending. Would you guys suggest i close any of the accounts once i free them up or would that hurt my credit?

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey guys, i just recieved a 3k bonus from work and i have a bunch of credit cards near max, was wondering what is the best route in paying them off and if i should keep some sort of balance on to keep it in the 10-20 percent range.

Amazon Visa- $686/700

Chase Freedom-$482/500

Chase Slate-$990/1000

Paypal-$1700/1800 no interest

Amazon Store-$500/600 no interest

Best Buy Store-$1200/1000

Macys Store-$500/700

NFL Extra Point Barclays-$508/500

Also thanks in advance and would appreciate any tips to help build my credit even further its a 640 atm

---

As others have mentioned it is best to focus on paying off your highest interest rate cards. I would add that to avoid potential adverse action (AA) such as a credit line reduction, you want to  pay down balance on cards that have extremely high utilization (dropping all balances to 80% of CL is a benchmark that might be a good starting point) 

Below is a summary on one option for using your $3000 to pay down CC debt. Strategy for paydown based on:

1) Reducing utilization on individual cards to a maximum of 80%

2) Paying off store cards that are assumed to be high interest rate (BB, Macy and NFL)

3) Then paying down the Chase Slate to 75% UT and use the remaining ($54) to paydown the Amazon Visa card which brings it below 75% UT.

	Credit Limit	Current Balance	@Balance @ 80% CL	Pay req for 80%	Additional pay	Final Balances
	$700	$686	$560	$126	$54	$506
	$500	$482	$400	$82	$0	$400
	$1,000	$990	$800	$190	$60	$740
	$1,800	$1,700	$1,440	$260	$0	$1,440
	$600	$500	$480	$20	$0	$480
	$1,000	$1,200	$800	$400	$800	$0
	$700	$500	$560	$0	$500	$0
	$500	$508	$400	$108	$400	$0
Total	$6,800	$6,566	$5,440	$1,186	$1,814	$3,566
					Aggrergate UT	52.4%

Good luck

[takeshi74]

Start with revolving utilization as a priority to avoid adverse action.  Once you get your cards down to a certain point then focus on interest.  All but 2 of your cards are maxed (>90%) and need to be brought down ASAP.  2 are over 100%.

Set up a spreadsheet -- something like what Tom has done -- to form your strategy.  Set up balances, limits, current revolving utilization, planned payment and utilization after payment to help you in making your decisions.

Make sure you're budgeting and sticking to it and not spending money that you do not have or else you will not make progress.

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@Anonymous wrote:

if i should keep some sort of balance on to keep it in the 10-20 percent range.

1 balance reporting at 10% or less is the least of your concerns at this point.  You need to focus on reducing your revolving debt as quickly as possible.  You do not need to carry a balance for scoring purposes.  Don't conflate report and carry.  They are 2 entirely different things.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Also thanks in advance and would appreciate any tips to help build my credit even further its a 640 atm

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We would need more info on your credit profile to provide such recommendations.  What is the score you're referencing?  Which model & which CRA?  Keep in mind that for most models you have a score with each CRA.  Your report data with all 3 CRA's matters.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey guys, i just recieved a 3k bonus from work and i have a bunch of credit cards near max, was wondering what is the best route in paying them off and if i should keep some sort of balance on to keep it in the 10-20 percent range.

Amazon Visa- $686/700

Chase Freedom-$482/500

Chase Slate-$990/1000

Paypal-$1700/1800 no interest

Amazon Store-$500/600 no interest

Best Buy Store-$1200/1000

Macys Store-$500/700

NFL Extra Point Barclays-$508/500

Also thanks in advance and would appreciate any tips to help build my credit even further its a 640 atm

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Amazon 350

Chase Freedom 250

Macys Store 200

NFL Extra Points300

Amazon Store 250

Best Buy Store750

Chase Slate 550

PayPal 350

[Kevin86475391]

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@Thomas_Thumb wrote:

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As others have mentioned it is best to focus on paying off your highest interest rate cards. I would add that to avoid potential adverse action (AA) such as a credit line reduction, you want to  pay down balance on cards that have extremely high utilization (dropping all balances to 80% of CL is a benchmark that might be a good starting point) 

Below is a summary on one option for using your $3000 to pay down CC debt. Strategy for paydown based on:

1) Reducing utilization on individual cards to a maximum of 80%

2) Paying off store cards that are assumed to be high interest rate (BB, Macy and NFL)

3) Then paying down the Chase Slate to 75% UT and use the remaining ($54) to paydown the Amazon Visa card which brings it below 75% UT.

	Credit Limit	Current Balance	@Balance @ 80% CL	Pay req for 80%	Additional pay	Final Balances
	$700	$686	$560	$126	$54	$506
	$500	$482	$400	$82	$0	$400
	$1,000	$990	$800	$190	$60	$740
	$1,800	$1,700	$1,440	$260	$0	$1,440
	$600	$500	$480	$20	$0	$480
	$1,000	$1,200	$800	$400	$800	$0
	$700	$500	$560	$0	$500	$0
	$500	$508	$400	$108	$400	$0
Total	$6,800	$6,566	$5,440	$1,186	$1,814	$3,566
					Aggrergate UT	52.4%

Good luck

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This is a great strategy and exactly what I'd recommend. After you make your payments, as others have said, make it a top priority not to rack up anymore debt. When paying off the rest of your debt focus on paying off the highest interest first. The payment recommendations in the spreadsheet above will go a long way toward solving your utilization problems and you should see a score spike just from that. BUT don't even worry about your credit score right now because the last thing you should do is apply for anymore credit until you're completely paid off. So in essence your score won't even matter till then. Just focus on making on-time payments and knocking out your debt as quickly as possible. Make sure it doesn't gradually creep back up. It should only go in one direction after you make your 3K payment: down.

Good luck and congrats on the new job and bonus! :-)

[degs138]

As much as getting your balances down on all your cards I would only be concerned about saving the maximum amount of money and paying off your balances.  I would pay off your highest interest first.  Try to get a few of your accounts paid off.  Put future money on all your other accounts from highest APR until each account is paid off.  If your two accounts that are 0 interest I would wait to pay those off last.  You shouldn't be worried about increasing credit scores until you need credit.  You don't seem to need credit if you can't pay off the accounts you have.

Once you're out of debt make a plan, use cards that you can pay off and utitlize the rewards points for.  Credit cards should save you money and earn you vacations.  Then you'll get more out of the credit you will eventually will be building.