Help! I am in debt!

[Anonymous]

My husband and I are trying to get approved for a construction loan, ideally by the fall.  Currently we have about 38,000 in debt.  About 28,000 is CC debt, and the other 10,000 is student loan debt.  My fico score is 645 and my husband's is 601.  I know that we need to get atleast up to 700+ to be approved for much of anything, especially with the way the economy is right now.  I am not really concerned with the student loans, but the CCs are a bit ridiculous.  Other than this, we have no rent or mortgage, only utilities and CC debt. Our cars are also paid for.  Any suggestions?  Should I focus on paying off lower balances, or pay down all balances to get the credit to balance ratio lowered.  Help!

BOA $6620/$7000

BOA $4738/$5500

BOA $3371/$5000

Chase $989/$2000

Wells F. $5913/$6500

Chase $2321/$3000

Cap. 1 $1511/$2000

[Anonymous]

Some prefer to tackle the debts with the highest interest rates first. Others prefer to tackle the accounts with the lowest balances so they get that "high" from having an account paid off to keep them motivated to move on to the next.

Whichever way you tackle it, you must remember that when you pay one card off, that doesn't free up some money. Take whatever you were paying on that card and use it to pay extra on another.

If your min. payments plus the extra you are paying adds up to $500 a month, you should always put that much against CC debt until they are ALL paid in full, don't decrease it as accounts with balances decrease.

[Anonymous]

Her'es some motivation for you - you are at 76% utlization - if you get a majority of that paid down to say 20% - you might be able to get 40-50 points on your credit scores... obviously these numbers will vary by a number of factors, but imagine the interest rate you would get then!