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Between recent mortgage inquiries and using credit cards to finance a larger downpayment for a priveate mortgage from my boss, my scores have dropped from the 730s and 740s to 693, 688, and 693.
I have a couple cards that I rarely if ever use that keep sending me offers to raise my credit limit by several grand. I'm wondering if I do this (assuming there is no credit inquiry), will it help my scores at all?
I have 9 cards with a total credit limit of $111,100 and total balances of $52,436 as follows:
Discover $8,585/$10,700
Citi Thank You Pref. $2,867/$3,000
Cit Simplicity $9,051/$16,000
US Bank AMEX $13,664/$14,000
BOA Visa $18,269/$26,000
All of them except the Citi Preferred have 0% interest. I'm planning on paying off the Discover before the introductory rate expires in August. However, I need to get my score high enough by December to be able to qualify for a balance transfer card to transfer my Citi Simplicity card before it goes from 0% - 24%.
Thanks. Just to clarify, this is an unsolicited offer from a card I already have and rarely use not for a new card from them. I'll have to duble check, but I believe they said before that there would be no inquiry put on my report and that all they needed was updated info. from me. Even after any increase this card will continue to sit in my drawer becuase they don't have any worthwhile rewards.
@Anonymous wrote:Thanks. Just to clarify, this is an unsolicited offer from a card I already have and rarely use not for a new card from them. I'll have to duble check, but I believe they said before that there would be no inquiry put on my report and that all they needed was updated info. from me. Even after any increase this card will continue to sit in my drawer becuase they don't have any worthwhile rewards.
Hi crazycanaler,
It would be good to get an increase as it will slightly lower your overall credit utilization. You are still very high on a few of your current cards though. For example, on a couple of your cards you are almost maxed out, and this hurts your score. The only things you can do about that are:
1. Pay down those cards to less than 30%.
2. Increase the limits of those cards, and hopefully without any hard pulls.
I would caution you though from personal experience to not go overboard by using the cards more, especially if you are not paying them off. 0% is always a good thing, but not so good when there is a max on a credit line limit.
@Anonymous wrote:Between recent mortgage inquiries and using credit cards to finance a larger downpayment for a priveate mortgage from my boss, my scores have dropped from the 730s and 740s to 693, 688, and 693.
I have a couple cards that I rarely if ever use that keep sending me offers to raise my credit limit by several grand. I'm wondering if I do this (assuming there is no credit inquiry), will it help my scores at all?
I have 9 cards with a total credit limit of $111,100 and total balances of $52,436 as follows:
Discover $8,585/$10,700
Citi Thank You Pref. $2,867/$3,000
Cit Simplicity $9,051/$16,000
US Bank AMEX $13,664/$14,000
BOA Visa $18,269/$26,000
All of them except the Citi Preferred have 0% interest. I'm planning on paying off the Discover before the introductory rate expires in August. However, I need to get my score high enough by December to be able to qualify for a balance transfer card to transfer my Citi Simplicity card before it goes from 0% - 24%.
Yes it willl help your scores a bit, since your utilization is high.
@Anonymous wrote:Between recent mortgage inquiries and using credit cards to finance a larger downpayment for a priveate mortgage from my boss, my scores have dropped from the 730s and 740s to 693, 688, and 693.
I have a couple cards that I rarely if ever use that keep sending me offers to raise my credit limit by several grand. I'm wondering if I do this (assuming there is no credit inquiry), will it help my scores at all?
I have 9 cards with a total credit limit of $111,100 and total balances of $52,436 as follows:
Discover $8,585/$10,700
Citi Thank You Pref. $2,867/$3,000
Cit Simplicity $9,051/$16,000
US Bank AMEX $13,664/$14,000
BOA Visa $18,269/$26,000
All of them except the Citi Preferred have 0% interest. I'm planning on paying off the Discover before the introductory rate expires in August. However, I need to get my score high enough by December to be able to qualify for a balance transfer card to transfer my Citi Simplicity card before it goes from 0% - 24%.
If you can, I would work on getting the UTI on all of the cards listed under 50%, then shoot for 30%, and then lower. You should start to see your scores rise again, once UTI is under better control.