Fix Score Easy/Slow Way: Pay CC?

[SouthJamaica]

---

@MsMoneypeso wrote:

More data points:

AU on a handful of CC with high limit and low/0 balance. 

Many personal CC with balance, many 90%+ utilization. 

AAoA: 4.8 yr, oldest 26.7 (as an AU)

Current EX utlization 3%. 

EX F2 Issues:

• High credit usage
• Seeking Credit
• Short account history (current mortage June 2021)
• Accounts with balances

---

What? There are accounts with 90% utilization?  That has to end before applying for anything.

If those accounts are paid down to 48% there will be a score boost.  If they are paid down to 28% there will be an even bigger boost.

[SouthJamaica]

---

@MsMoneypeso wrote:

The overall usage per EX is 3%. 

The usage on many of the CC that have been paid and not yet posted, or haven't yet been paid is 90%+. 

Our strategy has just been to pay the CCs that are due soonest, check score, lather, rinse, repeat.

---

I'm sorry, but I truly do not understand your first three posts.

You say all accounts which were coming due were paid off.

Then you say that many accounts have 90%+ utilization.

This makes absolutely no sense.

[MsMoneypeso]

We paid off the first set of CC that were due, then the next. We're on the last set of CC due since we started this mission. 

Yes, the target is AZEO and we plan to hit that by next week, but some of them won't post until the following week. A few CC are from 70-95%.

EX8 is +40, from 659 @Anonymous% to 699 @ 3%

EX2 663 -> 659, wrong direction

I'm hoping EX2 will bump up, but seems to be slower than EX8.

[SouthJamaica]

---

@MsMoneypeso wrote:

We paid off the first set of CC that were due, then the next. We're on the last set of CC due since we started this mission. 

Yes, the target is AZEO and we plan to hit that by next week, but some of them won't post until the following week. A few CC are from 70-95%.

EX8 is +40, from 659 @Anonymous% to 699 @ 3%

EX2 663 -> 659, wrong direction

I'm hoping EX2 will bump up, but seems to be slower than EX8.

---

Thanks for clarifying.

Yes, EX 2 works in a more "bumpy", less gradual, way than EX 8.

But if you're increasing zero balances and getting rid of the high utilization balances, you'll pick up points.

[jmw1]

Bottom line AZEO:

One card with a balance no greater than 8.99% of the that card's credit line but at least $1. This card needs to report to all three bureaus. Don't assume any particular card reports to all three bureaus.

All other cards have to be zero. No exceptions. Not even $1. You have to account for interest and fees that will post on the next statement date beforehand or the statement balance will be greater than zero. You probably need to overpay the card to below zero to prepay the interest and fees.

[MsMoneypeso]

So, a negative balance doesn't hurt? It would count the same as a zero balance?

[Ilinferno]

---

@MsMoneypeso wrote:

So, a negative balance doesn't hurt? It would count the same as a zero balance?

---

Correct, last month I had a credit on my Navy Fed card due to overpayment and it just reported as $0.

[JFox418]

I think a list of accounts with balances, credit limits, and due dates would help everyone in the thread and give you a more accurate solution. Maybe note which ones have updated already and are you checking actual FICO scores? Most accounts aren't going to update on reports until a week after due dates.

If you have the money to pay off all the account balances then that is %100 the best option like everyone has mentioned. Pay them all off and leave one account with a balance less than %8 of CL. I was approved for a new mortgage 2 years ago with pretty high balances but otherwise a clean report and it wasn't too hard to get approved with a good rate. Not having balances will definitely get you the best score possible.

[MsMoneypeso]

OK, 4 weeks later....

We began at 11% utilization, down to 2%. We're still not AZEO, about 10 accounts that were zeroed out, haven't posted yet. 

Mortgage:

EQ5: 693 -> 737 (+44); TU4: 662 -> 709 (+47); EX2: 635 -> 725 (+90)

FICO 8:

EQ8: 629 -> 684 (+55); TU8: 655 -> 692 (+37); EX8: 659 -> 756 (+97)

Our goal was middle mortgage = 720, we hit that and when the others post we should way overshoot that. 

So the easy way of methodically paying off the next batch of accounts to close worked, fairly swiftly. But it sure seemed slow at the time. 

Thanks to everyone who contributed advice!

[SouthJamaica]

---

@MsMoneypeso wrote:

OK, 4 weeks later....

We began at 11% utilization, down to 2%. We're still not AZEO, about 10 accounts that were zeroed out, haven't posted yet. 

Mortgage:

EQ5: 693 -> 737 (+44); TU4: 662 -> 709 (+47); EX2: 635 -> 725 (+90)

FICO 8:

EQ8: 629 -> 684 (+55); TU8: 655 -> 692 (+37); EX8: 659 -> 756 (+97)

Our goal was middle mortgage = 720, we hit that and when the others post we should way overshoot that. 

So the easy way of methodically paying off the next batch of accounts to close worked, fairly swiftly. But it sure seemed slow at the time. 

Thanks to everyone who contributed advice!

---

Nice going   Yes when those 10 accounts hit zero you should be even higher. Just make sure 1 bank card account reports a balance before you pay it off.