need guidance on paying down cards

[lindel]

what about banana republic and  barclays

[NRB525]

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@lindel wrote:

Good evening! I am trying to maximze my score quickly and I have about 2k. Please advice on how to distribute these funds.

Amazon 1791/3500

QS 1220/1300

Journey 1028/1050

Barclays 1217/1300

Walmart 1651/3500

QVC 1152/2000

Banana Republic 2400/3500

NFCU secured 590/600

Chevron 757/815 ( this count decreased from 2000/815)

Macys 290/500 ( CLD FROM 600 to 500)

the other half of my cards have 0 balances or very very small amounts. Please advise. Thanks in advance!

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Since the highest APR appears to be the Barclay (not sure if that's the case or those four were only BT cards) pay the Barclays off completely, let it sit to zero for a statement print, so you are sure the interest cost has stopped, then use that card and that card only for regular spend charges. Always PIF the Barclays. no balance carry on that card any more.

The Chevron card, I'm guessing that has a high APR also? If so, pay that to zero as well.

Your goal right now should not be to improve score. Repeat, your monthly interest cost is your main concern, not any FICO games. Get the Barclay and Chevron cards to zero so they can be used for PIF, Do.Not.Charge.Any.More on the other cards, just pay as much as you can on any remaining cards.

Macy's wants you to pay to zero, that is the message from the CLD. So, pay it to zero. It will be the next easy win. Then do not use the Macy's card. Put it in the sock drawer. You don't need anything from Macy's right now, until the rest of your cards are paid down.

QVC? Sell your TV. You don't need to buy anything from QVC.

Banana Republic? Your closet must be absolutely full. No more using that card.

Walmart? You've been running up daily spend and not paying it at the end of the month, am I right?

Over $10k of maxed out credit card debt. Time to knuckle down and pay this off. Again, don't worry about FICO scores. With these balances, you aren't going to be apping any time soon, so your FICO score is absolutely irrelevant. You need to save cash and just pay.

FWIW, I was in a somewhat similar situation in 2008-2009, with $116k of open balances owed, so I know a thing or three about cutting back spending to get balances paid down, dealing with CLD, and not worrying about FICO scores.

Good luck!

[lindel]

thanks every one for the tough love. lesson learned about the credit cards.

[takeshi74]

Highest APR is the way to go to avoid interest, however, you have 5 cards in your OP that are maxed (i.e. over 90%) and all but one are well over 50%.  You've already been CLD'ed.  At this stage your focus should be on avoiding further AA which will make matters worse for you.  Revolving utilization isn't just a scoring factor.  It is a risk factor as well.

You need to get your maxed cards down ASAP.  Once they're down to, say about 60%, then think about prioritizing based on APR.

Scores are the least of your concerns at this point.  You won't be applying for anything until you get everything down.  Get all balances paid off first.  Then you can think about scores.  However, you also need to address whatever it was that got you in this mess in the first place.  Budget and stick to it.  Ensure that you have a liquid reserve and do not rely solely on credit cards for emergencies.

Set up a spreadsheet with current balances and limits.  Set up a column to calculate current utilization.  Add a column for estimated payment.  Add a column for balance after payment.  Add a column for utilization after payment.  Total the estimated payment column and play with the numbers to work on getting utilization down as quickly as possible with the $2K you have.  It looks to me like you should be able to just about get all cards to 60% with $2K.  That's just a start though.  60% is still very high and you need to continue to bring them down as quickly as possible to avoid further AA.

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@NRB525 wrote:

Macy's wants you to pay to zero, that is the message from the CLD.

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 AA isn't just a matter of the account itself.  One's credit profile (i.e. other accounts) matter as well.

[Anonymous]

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@lindel wrote:

Good evening! I am trying to maximze my score quickly and I have about 2k. Please advice on how to distribute these funds.

Amazon 1791/3500

QS 1220/1300

Journey 1028/1050

Barclays 1217/1300

Walmart 1651/3500

QVC 1152/2000

Banana Republic 2400/3500

NFCU secured 590/600

Chevron 757/815 ( this count decreased from 2000/815)

Macys 290/500 ( CLD FROM 600 to 500)

the other half of my cards have 0 balances or very very small amounts. Please advise. Thanks in advance!

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There are times when you might want to boost your scores, because you have an event coming up. Could you let us know why you want your scores boosted, and what your timeline is? It would also be helpful if you updated the original post with your APRs for each of the cards and, if possible, the minimum payments. 

First and foremost, you must make minimum payments on all of your cards. None of these improvements will matter at all if you take 30 day lates for nonpayment.

Second, I would pay off the highest dollar amount of cards. In your case, this would probably be the Chevron and Barclays cards, assuming that your $2k is after minimum payments. This should allow the grace periods of those cards to reset. You then must pay those cards in full to keep from paying interest on those cards. Your excess can continue to be used to pay down the other cards. 

If you need your scores to rise more rapidly than the fastest paydown of your cards, you should bring the utilization down incrementally. Bring everything down to 90%, then 75%, then 50%, then 30%, etc. You'll pay more in interest this way, but you'll probably get a faster immediate boost to your scores (although it will take longer to fully boost your scores because of the higher interest charges).

[lindel]

Thanks everyone. He reason for the card usage is I had about 3 major emergencies back to back. Also as to why I want the score to rise, 1) it's been at a stand still and 2) I would like to buy a condo this year mortgage score is 620. I only have a collection on my report that has been paid off but Collection agency won't update and they certainly want remove them. They are the meanest company I have ever come across and a judgment that is satisfied it's due to come off in June my state won't remove. Just need to get credit card balance down. Thanks

[lindel]

Bank cards was used for emergencies. Banana republic card son used to buy suits for his internships. He paid me back that the source of the 2k.

[bdhu2001]

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@NRB525 wrote:

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@lindel wrote:

Good evening! I am trying to maximze my score quickly and I have about 2k. Please advice on how to distribute these funds.

Amazon 1791/3500

QS 1220/1300

Journey 1028/1050

Barclays 1217/1300

Walmart 1651/3500

QVC 1152/2000

Banana Republic 2400/3500

NFCU secured 590/600

Chevron 757/815 ( this count decreased from 2000/815)

Macys 290/500 ( CLD FROM 600 to 500)

the other half of my cards have 0 balances or very very small amounts. Please advise. Thanks in advance!

---

Since the highest APR appears to be the Barclay (not sure if that's the case or those four were only BT cards) pay the Barclays off completely, let it sit to zero for a statement print, so you are sure the interest cost has stopped, then use that card and that card only for regular spend charges. Always PIF the Barclays. no balance carry on that card any more.

The Chevron card, I'm guessing that has a high APR also? If so, pay that to zero as well.

Your goal right now should not be to improve score. Repeat, your monthly interest cost is your main concern, not any FICO games. Get the Barclay and Chevron cards to zero so they can be used for PIF, Do.Not.Charge.Any.More on the other cards, just pay as much as you can on any remaining cards.

Macy's wants you to pay to zero, that is the message from the CLD. So, pay it to zero. It will be the next easy win. Then do not use the Macy's card. Put it in the sock drawer. You don't need anything from Macy's right now, until the rest of your cards are paid down.

QVC? Sell your TV. You don't need to buy anything from QVC.

Banana Republic? Your closet must be absolutely full. No more using that card.

Walmart? You've been running up daily spend and not paying it at the end of the month, am I right?

Over $10k of maxed out credit card debt. Time to knuckle down and pay this off. Again, don't worry about FICO scores. With these balances, you aren't going to be apping any time soon, so your FICO score is absolutely irrelevant. You need to save cash and just pay.

FWIW, I was in a somewhat similar situation in 2008-2009, with $116k of open balances owed, so I know a thing or three about cutting back spending to get balances paid down, dealing with CLD, and not worrying about FICO scores.

Good luck!

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+1 

In addition, cut up your Macy's, QVC, Journey, and Banana Republic card. When they renew, you'll get new cards and in the meantime you won't be tempted. On the norm do you pay more than the minimum? Pull out a spread sheet and make a budget.  List all your expenses including funds for fuel, food, & util.  

How much extra do you have, after necessities to spend on credit?  Enter your bills into "Mint" of debt software and develop a plan.  Do not charge until everything is paid off. When I state do not charge, I mean that Barclay's & Chevron are PIF.  You only charge for necessities on those cards and when you do, you have funds in the bank to immediately PIF for every new charge.  When you charge on those cards, you go to your bank's bill-pay & send the payment for the exact amount.  

After you work with this budget for two months, you should have a realistic figure of how much extra you have to pay toward your credit.  If you can't manage to do this, then you need to re-access your budget and your lifestyle.  If you belong to gym, cut the expense.  You get hair & nails done, stop.  You meet friends & eat out once per week, it's not in your budget.

Good luck to you!

[Anonymous]

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@lindel wrote:

Good evening! I am trying to maximze my score quickly and I have about 2k. Please advice on how to distribute these funds.

Amazon 1791/3500

QS 1220/1300

Journey 1028/1050

Barclays 1217/1300

Walmart 1651/3500

QVC 1152/2000

Banana Republic 2400/3500

NFCU secured 590/600

Chevron 757/815 ( this count decreased from 2000/815)

Macys 290/500 ( CLD FROM 600 to 500)

the other half of my cards have 0 balances or very very small amounts. Please advise. Thanks in advance!

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This is only my opinion here, but OP specifically stated he is trying to maximize his score quickly by paying off debt with 2k. IMHO this is not a question of APR it's a question of fico and debt...So here is my suggestion and what I would do in your situation.

You didn't list the cards with small balances, but I would pay those to 0 and either cut them up or sock drawer them. Fico likes to see some 0 balance cards. Make sure to check for AF's that might post during this process if you don't monitor your debts electronically.

Next, with that 2k I'd do the following. Send 800 to Barclays and QS to get them below 30 percent, 500 to NFCU to get it below 30 if you have any left I’d put that toward either Journeys or Chevron. Don't be surprised if you get balance chased before all this settles out.

I'm going to make another possibly unpopular suggestion. You have relatively small balances here, figure out how much you can afford to pay each month on credit card bills. Pay the minimums on all cards that don't have a 0 balance and any extra put toward your SMALLEST balance. Once that's 0 sock drawer or cut it up and move to the next CC. The reason I suggest this, is being mired in debt can seem insurmountable. Knocking out small debt first can give you the momentum and self-esteem you need to tackle that card that may take you a few years to pay off. This is how I somewhat painlessly paid of 43,000 in a few years with below average income.

You can absolutely do this. It isn’t hard, it isn’t even unusual, it’s just a matter of deciding that this is what you want to do and mathodicly making it happen.

[lindel]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions