Conflicting postings

[Anonymous]

Hi, I have been reading conflicting opinions on this topic; Should I pay all my cards to under 50% util or should pay down some to 0 first for an increase on so so scores

Thanks,

Fl teacher

[llecs]

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floridateacher wrote:

Hi, I have been reading conflicting opinions on this topic; Should I pay all my cards to under 50% util or should pay down some to 0 first for an increase on so so scores

Thanks,

Fl teacher

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The rule is, and has been been proven by others here, pay all CCs to 9% or less and let half of those report $0 and the other half report at least $1.

[Anonymous]

It really depends on what your short and long term goals are.

If looking for the most points in short term-

Are going to be making a major purchase soon

Saving $ 

Best thing to do is post all the Revolving accounts, balance, CL's, apr and how much you have to toss at it.  You will get slightly different answers as none of what we discuss on here is in stone- it is only basted on our experiance and the one's before us.

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floridateacher wrote:

Hi, I have been reading conflicting opinions on this topic; Should I pay all my cards to under 50% util or should pay down some to 0 first for an increase on so so scores

Thanks,

Fl teacher

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[Anonymous]

If it was me, I'd pay all the cards down below 50% or so evenly. Then, I'd focus on the highest-rate cards, and get those down to near-zero. Then I'd tackle the rest.

As far as leaving balances on how many cards, that's really splitting hairs. From what I've read here, your best bet is to have anywhere from one to half of your cards reporting a balance any given month. But the score gains from tweaking this variable are chump change compared to what you'll get by lowering utilization.

[Anonymous]

My opinions.

Possible best score action:
Being that your going to pay off what you can afford either way I'd focus on reducing the number of balances to 50% of total open trade lines. Another words if you have 10 accounts don't let more than 5 report a balance. Then I'd reduce all other cards below 50% UTL per card.

Possible best financial action:
I'd pay as much as I could to the highest interest account to help pay debt down faster in months to come. Less interest is more money to pay off debt faster!

[Anonymous]

Thanks to all, looks like I will make sure all cards are at or below 50% , pay off low cards as soon as can and then get over all utilization down to 9%. I do not want a cl decrease or my rates changed because of utilization.If you believe I should do something different let me know.

Citibank 1100/5400  12.50%

Discover 2200/2700  1.9%

Wamu 1400/2000 0%

Hsbc 900/1200 0%

Cap one 500/1000 0%

Sears 0/570 26%

Fl teacher

[marty56]

Another option is used to get out of debt where you pay mnimum payments all all cards except the one with the lowest balance and then pay as much extra as you can till it is paid off.  Then attack the next one.  This method is used by Dave Ramsey and my DMP company.

It may not give the best FICO results short term or save you interest long term but it may provide a motivation result ins seeing cards being paid off sooner which many people find is helpfull in getting out od debt.  I did.