How do I increase my scores when I have large balances on several cards?

[Anonymous]

Hi.  I went a little crazy with balance transfer offers.  I now have several large balances that are very close to the credit limits.  I owe about 70K total in credit card debt (on 5 cards) and my HELOC is close to being maxed out.  I have one or two 30 day lates over a year old on dept. store cards.  My scores were around 605, but I cleared up some discrepencies and my score is now 627.

I plan on paying the cards down/off next dec. but cannot make a significant dent this year.  I have two car leases that are up this year and need to release the cars.  My income is sufficient enough to support all my debt.  Is there anything I can do in the interim to increase my scores?  Also, do you know if car dealerships look strictly at fico scores or do they take my overall financial picture into consideration?  I have great lease rates right now and I would hate to have my current fico score effect the type of car I lease.

Any suggestions would be truly appreciated!

[Anonymous]

---

jamaraz wrote:

Hi.  I went a little crazy with balance transfer offers.  I now have several large balances that are very close to the credit limits.  I owe about 70K total in credit card debt (on 5 cards) and my HELOC is close to being maxed out.  I have one or two 30 day lates over a year old on dept. store cards.  My scores were around 605, but I cleared up some discrepencies and my score is now 627.

I plan on paying the cards down/off next dec. but cannot make a significant dent this year.  I have two car leases that are up this year and need to release the cars.  My income is sufficient enough to support all my debt.  Is there anything I can do in the interim to increase my scores?  Also, do you know if car dealerships look strictly at fico scores or do they take my overall financial picture into consideration?  I have great lease rates right now and I would hate to have my current fico score effect the type of car I lease.

Any suggestions would be truly appreciated!

---

I have no idea what they use for an auto lease. I know that they have auto-enhansed type of FICO for buying a car.

The best advice I can give is to pay down as fast as you can on CC debt.  You can try for 1 or 2 new CCs  but im not sure whice ones. They would help with your UTIL if they had high CL  but im not sure that you could get them.

Go to the CC thread & check out the info.there. They usually have a better idea on who pulls what CRA and what CLs they are giving.