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Need help with a plan to pay down high utilization

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K-in-Boston
Credit Mentor

Re: Need help with a plan to pay down high utilization

I think that looks like a great start. If you can get those top two under 90% I think you would see some real score improvements in a few months which improves your chances of being able to shuffle the rest off to a BT card or two. With this payoff does that leave you able to cope with at least your minimums?
I know it seems dire, but I've been dealing with multiples of that for about 10 years and it's finally starting to disappear thanks to BT offers and not having everything at 20+%.
Message 21 of 198
MyLoFICO
Valued Contributor

Re: Need help with a plan to pay down high utilization


@K-in-Boston wrote:
I think that looks like a great start. If you can get those top two under 90% I think you would see some real score improvements in a few months which improves your chances of being able to shuffle the rest off to a BT card or two. With this payoff does that leave you able to cope with at least your minimums?
I know it seems dire, but I've been dealing with multiples of that for about 10 years and it's finally starting to disappear thanks to BT offers and not having everything at 20+%.

No, it doesn't but I have another plan for that. My son has approached me about moving in for a year so he can save money to buy a house. He makes better money than me and has agreed to pay me half his current rent (About $400 a month) which will help him and me a while lot. If that happens then I should be able to get more of these paid off or down to a maageable amount. And yes, it is dire. I am just glad I got into all this in great detail when I did. Any longer and it may not have been recoverable. 


Experian: 677 (28) | TransUnion: 697 (27) | Equifax: 684 (6)
Gardening as of: 1-23-2018
Updated 1-25-18
Message 22 of 198
noobody
Established Contributor

Re: Need help with a plan to pay down high utilization

Ramsey method is only for people with weak mind.

 

lesser card to make payment to, more card with zero balance are not good enough reason to use that method

 

I would:

 

payoff the account with interest bomb build in

 

pay the one with highest APR

 

pay rest accounts with minimum

 

when your score improve, get a decent BT card with 0% APR

 

EX819 1HP|TU797 1HP| EQ(Fico8 BankCard)841
Message 23 of 198
MyLoFICO
Valued Contributor

Re: Need help with a plan to pay down high utilization


@noobody wrote:

Ramsey method is only for people with weak mind.

 

lesser card to make payment to, more card with zero balance are not good enough reason to use that method

 

I would:

 

payoff the account with interest bomb build in

 

pay the one with highest APR

 

pay rest accounts with minimum

 

when your score improve, get a decent BT card with 0% APR

 


Normally I would agree. But using that method I have too many minimum's to be able to make a dent in the bigger interest cards. Otherwise, I would agree wholeheartedly. I do intend on getting a BT card if I can get a decent offer. 


Experian: 677 (28) | TransUnion: 697 (27) | Equifax: 684 (6)
Gardening as of: 1-23-2018
Updated 1-25-18
Message 24 of 198
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Need help with a plan to pay down high utilization

Here's my 2 cents.  I think your plan for paying down cards has the right priorities and having some income from your son will certainly help pay this down.  I would take a look at all of my spending and determine if your living beyond your means.  Trust me I am not judging, my wife and I were king and queen of living beyond our means before the recession and paid in a big way.  After a forclosure we lived for 5 years using no credit cards at all, no lines of credit nothing but a car loan.  In that time we took a major pay cut and had to pay a huge IRS lien but we pulled it off.  Now that we reentered the credit world and began rebuilding it is much easier to know how to use or not use credit.   If your income is not sufficient to pay this debt off then you may have no other choice.  That is a call you can make after looking at all of your income, spending and debt.  

Message 25 of 198
HeavenOhio
Senior Contributor

Re: Need help with a plan to pay down high utilization

MyLoFICO is looking at seven more cards reporting zero, which I think will be a huge help with his scores. That's 18 cards out of 24.

 

MLF, in addition to your currently planned payments plus this month's minimums, can you spare enough to pay Spark $200 and CapOne $360? That would get each of those cards down to a hair under 88.9%.

Message 26 of 198
sarge12
Senior Contributor

Re: Need help with a plan to pay down high utilization

I think the plan laid out by K-in-Boston is feasable, and would also throw in having a yard sale to sell off unused items in your house and throwing all that at these cards. In the future you need to be a strict transactor to the point it becomes habitual. You can with due diligence make credit cards into a profit making experience, while also getting very high credit scores. You are not the only one to learn this lesson the hard way by any means. At least you have stopped hiding from it and are working on a plan to recover. With the ridiculous APR of credit cards, they are very dangerous. Also if I were you I would be very cautious of predatory credit repair companies, they do soft pulls to get a list of those who are in a little trouble and then offer miracles that do not exist, making the problem a lot worse. I wish we could tell you it will be easy, but this like all lifes problems must be taken one step at a time. I can tell you that credit problems are very recoverable and once you truly get in a habit of PIF, life will be much better. I have actually filed both ch.13, and ch. 7 in my life, and have now had 800+ scores since 2010...you can do this!!!

TU fico08=812 07/16/23
EX fico08=809 07/16/23
EQ fico09=812 07/16/23
EX fico09=821 07/16/23
EQ fico bankcard08=832 07/16/23
TU Fico Bankcard 08=840 07/16/23
EQ NG1 fico=802 04/17/21
EQ Resilience index score=58 03/09/21
Unknown score from EX=784 used by Cap1 07/10/20
Message 27 of 198
redpat
Senior Contributor

Re: Need help with a plan to pay down high utilization

Maybe So-Fi for example, rates look like 5.70% - 12.99% for 3yrs / 7.07% - 14.24% for 5 yrs.  Close many of your cards and only keep 2-3 of them perhaps if they let you.  

 

25K payment at highest rate would be $584.82 per month 5yrs / $842.23 per month 3yrs.  They go out as for as 7yrs it looks like on their website @ 14.24% highest rate,

 

Nothing wrong consolidating and cutting back cards that you can't afford to use anyway.  Also, you can keep save some of your 10k.

 

Just a thought and good luck.

Personal Cards: Amex Plat | Amex Delta Res | CSR | Citi AA Exec Business Cards: Ink+ | Amex BGR
Message 28 of 198
AverageJoesCredit
Legendary Contributor

Re: Need help with a plan to pay down high utilization

Best of luck MyLo in tackling your debt. Glad you are getting some healthy good advice from our fico famSmiley Happy. Wish ya the bestSmiley Happy
Message 29 of 198
CreditInspired
Community Leader
Super Contributor

Re: Need help with a plan to pay down high utilization

I just want to add how impressed I am with this thread and all the productive and respectful responses that were given to OP, and also to you OP for sharing your predicament with us, and willingness to accept and/or implement the suggestions provided.

 

This entire thread is so different from a thread I read just last week where a member asked for help but at every turn, literally every productive response that was given by MyFICOers, was met with unbelievable negativity.

 

This is why I love the MyFICO family. You've been there, done that, and you are willing to share your experiences with others so that we all learn together.

 

Thank you for this.


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Message 30 of 198
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