Trying to help a friend ULTI question.

[fltn]

Ok she has 15 accounts. Right now 7 of them have balances. Her total ULTI is 21%.

She just had her hours cut at work and can only pay the minimum payments but she also wants to try to raise her scores.

So should she BT some of the accounts to condense down to 3 accounts.  Leaving 12 accounts reporting zero and 3 reporting 60%-70% or just leave as it.

What would best help her score wise. She can pay the min on all 7 accounts right now so she doesn't need a BT to have less money going out but I think it would help to pay the extra min payments to only 3 accounts and having less cards with a balance would be better score wise. Am I right? Advice please.

[emptypockets]

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@fltn wrote:

Ok she has 15 accounts. Right now 7 of them have balances. Her total ULTI is 21%.

She just had her hours cut at work and can only pay the minimum payments but she also wants to try to raise her scores.

So should she BT some of the accounts to condense down to 3 accounts.  Leaving 12 accounts reporting zero and 3 reporting 60%-70% or just leave as it.

What would best help her score wise. She can pay the min on all 7 accounts right now so she doesn't need a BT to have less money going out but I think it would help to pay the extra min payments to only 3 accounts and having less cards with a balance would be better score wise. Am I right? Advice please.

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In my opinion, I would try to BT to a few cards, to save on interest. If she had hours cut at work, and can pay only the minimum, the total amount she owes will not be going down. I also think it is sort of a toss up in terms of score to have many accounts reporting a balance vs a higher balance on a few. If it was me, I would forego trying to raise my score at this time, and try to get all the cards condensed down to a few. Just in case her situation (with fewer hrs at work) lasts longer than she anticipates, it makes no sense to tie up money paying a bunch of minimum payments.

If possible, she should try to get CLI's on a few cards before doing the BT, so the Util on those cards will be lower than the anticipated 60-70%

[fltn]

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@emptypockets wrote:

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@fltn wrote:

Ok she has 15 accounts. Right now 7 of them have balances. Her total ULTI is 21%.

She just had her hours cut at work and can only pay the minimum payments but she also wants to try to raise her scores.

So should she BT some of the accounts to condense down to 3 accounts.  Leaving 12 accounts reporting zero and 3 reporting 60%-70% or just leave as it.

What would best help her score wise. She can pay the min on all 7 accounts right now so she doesn't need a BT to have less money going out but I think it would help to pay the extra min payments to only 3 accounts and having less cards with a balance would be better score wise. Am I right? Advice please.

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In my opinion, I would try to BT to a few cards, to save on interest. If she had hours cut at work, and can pay only the minimum, the total amount she owes will not be going down. I also think it is sort of a toss up in terms of score to have many accounts reporting a balance vs a higher balance on a few. If it was me, I would forego trying to raise my score at this time, and try to get all the cards condensed down to a few. Just in case her situation (with fewer hrs at work) lasts longer than she anticipates, it makes no sense to tie up money paying a bunch of minimum payments.

If possible, she should try to get CLI's on a few cards before doing the BT, so the Util on those cards will be lower than the anticipated 60-70%

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I agree. Plus less min payments will/should actually give her more money to put towards principle, even if she ended up only paying $10-$15 extra per card once she has less accounts. I say every little bit counts.

But after I get some more replies I will forward this to her to make the best choice for herself.

Thank you for your reply.

[myjourney]

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@fltn wrote:

Ok she has 15 accounts. Right now 7 of them have balances. Her total ULTI is 21%.

She just had her hours cut at work and can only pay the minimum payments but she also wants to try to raise her scores.

So should she BT some of the accounts to condense down to 3 accounts.  Leaving 12 accounts reporting zero and 3 reporting 60%-70% or just leave as it.

What would best help her score wise. She can pay the min on all 7 accounts right now so she doesn't need a BT to have less money going out but I think it would help to pay the extra min payments to only 3 accounts and having less cards with a balance would be better score wise. Am I right? Advice please.

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In her current situation I would worry more about the payments VS scores 

And this is why scores are going to suffer either way because Fico scoring will pick up on the large balances be it one two or three cards and with UTL over 70% on any card you'll be dinged for each card scoring wise.

So she has to decide based on these factors 

1) are the BT fees worth the move.... Increasing balances again 

2) can she just leave the balances were they are and make payments and how long before she's able to increase payments 

[fltn]

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@myjourney wrote:

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@fltn wrote:

Ok she has 15 accounts. Right now 7 of them have balances. Her total ULTI is 21%.

She just had her hours cut at work and can only pay the minimum payments but she also wants to try to raise her scores.

So should she BT some of the accounts to condense down to 3 accounts.  Leaving 12 accounts reporting zero and 3 reporting 60%-70% or just leave as it.

What would best help her score wise. She can pay the min on all 7 accounts right now so she doesn't need a BT to have less money going out but I think it would help to pay the extra min payments to only 3 accounts and having less cards with a balance would be better score wise. Am I right? Advice please.

---

In her current situation I would worry more about the payments VS scores 

And this is why scores are going to suffer either way because Fico scoring will pick up on the large balances be it one two or three cards and with UTL over 70% on any card you'll be dinged for each card scoring wise.

So she has to decide based on these factors 

1) are the BT fees worth the move.... Increasing balances again 

2) can she just leave the balances were they are and make payments and how long before she's able to increase payments 

---

It could be 6 months before hours come back. We live in a very touristy area. Right now the area will be shut down again until mid July for the fall leaf season.

[myjourney]

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@fltn wrote:

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@myjourney wrote:

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@fltn wrote:

Ok she has 15 accounts. Right now 7 of them have balances. Her total ULTI is 21%.

She just had her hours cut at work and can only pay the minimum payments but she also wants to try to raise her scores.

So should she BT some of the accounts to condense down to 3 accounts.  Leaving 12 accounts reporting zero and 3 reporting 60%-70% or just leave as it.

What would best help her score wise. She can pay the min on all 7 accounts right now so she doesn't need a BT to have less money going out but I think it would help to pay the extra min payments to only 3 accounts and having less cards with a balance would be better score wise. Am I right? Advice please.

---

In her current situation I would worry more about the payments VS scores 

And this is why scores are going to suffer either way because Fico scoring will pick up on the large balances be it one two or three cards and with UTL over 70% on any card you'll be dinged for each card scoring wise.

So she has to decide based on these factors 

1) are the BT fees worth the move.... Increasing balances again 

2) can she just leave the balances were they are and make payments and how long before she's able to increase payments 

---

It could be 6 months before hours come back. We live in a very touristy area. Right now the area will be shut down again until mid July for the fall leaf season.

---

Comes down to how much the BT fees are and how much she can save 

Are any of the cards under $0% Long term?

[fltn]

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@myjourney wrote:

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@fltn wrote:

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@myjourney wrote:

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@fltn wrote:

Ok she has 15 accounts. Right now 7 of them have balances. Her total ULTI is 21%.

She just had her hours cut at work and can only pay the minimum payments but she also wants to try to raise her scores.

So should she BT some of the accounts to condense down to 3 accounts.  Leaving 12 accounts reporting zero and 3 reporting 60%-70% or just leave as it.

What would best help her score wise. She can pay the min on all 7 accounts right now so she doesn't need a BT to have less money going out but I think it would help to pay the extra min payments to only 3 accounts and having less cards with a balance would be better score wise. Am I right? Advice please.

---

In her current situation I would worry more about the payments VS scores 

And this is why scores are going to suffer either way because Fico scoring will pick up on the large balances be it one two or three cards and with UTL over 70% on any card you'll be dinged for each card scoring wise.

So she has to decide based on these factors 

1) are the BT fees worth the move.... Increasing balances again 

2) can she just leave the balances were they are and make payments and how long before she's able to increase payments 

---

It could be 6 months before hours come back. We live in a very touristy area. Right now the area will be shut down again until mid July for the fall leaf season.

---

Comes down to how much the BT fees are and how much she can save 

Are any of the cards under $0% Long term?

---

One card she just got with a 0% BT with no fee.

other 2 have 3% transfer fee.

If she could get her scores up then maybe she could get an installment loan. She mentioned that. I think she said her scores were 650ish across all 3.

[parkman]

I pretty much agree with what others say. I also have a card at around 90% (essentially maxed out,) due to a balance transfer, and I didn't take too much of a hit, if any at all, on my score.

I say do it so that she only had a handful of payments to worry about. Also, if she wants to BT an amount or amounts higher than her current CL on a particular card, have her call and be transparent with the creditor, and ask for a CLI. Companies love balance transfers due to the BT fees they collect and may be willing to increase the credit line to accommodate the BT, as they will collect a higher fee due to the percentage.

[myjourney]

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@fltn wrote:

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@myjourney wrote:

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@fltn wrote:

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@myjourney wrote:

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@fltn wrote:

Ok she has 15 accounts. Right now 7 of them have balances. Her total ULTI is 21%.

She just had her hours cut at work and can only pay the minimum payments but she also wants to try to raise her scores.

So should she BT some of the accounts to condense down to 3 accounts.  Leaving 12 accounts reporting zero and 3 reporting 60%-70% or just leave as it.

What would best help her score wise. She can pay the min on all 7 accounts right now so she doesn't need a BT to have less money going out but I think it would help to pay the extra min payments to only 3 accounts and having less cards with a balance would be better score wise. Am I right? Advice please.

---

In her current situation I would worry more about the payments VS scores 

And this is why scores are going to suffer either way because Fico scoring will pick up on the large balances be it one two or three cards and with UTL over 70% on any card you'll be dinged for each card scoring wise.

So she has to decide based on these factors 

1) are the BT fees worth the move.... Increasing balances again 

2) can she just leave the balances were they are and make payments and how long before she's able to increase payments 

---

It could be 6 months before hours come back. We live in a very touristy area. Right now the area will be shut down again until mid July for the fall leaf season.

---

Comes down to how much the BT fees are and how much she can save 

Are any of the cards under $0% Long term?

---

One card she just got with a 0% BT with no fee.

other 2 have 3% transfer fee.

If she could get her scores up then maybe she could get an installment loan. She mentioned that. I think she said her scores were 650ish across all 3.

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Are there any cards that do SP CLI that could get high enough to handle a large BT 

[parkman]

Citi, GE, Capital One, and AMEX do soft pulls.