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WHAT CARDS TO PAY

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mgood
Valued Contributor

Re: WHAT CARDS TO PAY

Looking at your list,  you're both over 80%.

This is a major problem.  Expect to be balance-chased. Don't worry too much about that. You can rebuild the limits later. You need to reduce the debt NOW.



Starting Score: EQ8 680, TU8 713, EX8 701
Current Score: EQ8 771, TU8 766, EX8 775 as of March 28
Goal Score: EQ8 780, TU8 780, EX8 780

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AZE5 - 2% Utl - New Accts: 2/6, 4/12, 6/24
Message 11 of 17
SlideOrInsert
Regular Contributor

Re: WHAT CARDS TO PAY

I still say keep it simple and pay down all yours first, then avalanche his.

 

however, this gives both profiles some relief and a likely score jump. this crosses three utilization thresholds for every account except for his discover (but lowers it below maxed out).

HERSbalancelimitutilpmtutil
Discover4358450097-224347
Home Depot25172500101-134247
US Bank27030090-12947
Contintal Finance Reflex47050094-23547
Pay Pal19961700117-119747
Apple Card1335150089-63047
Blaze870850102-47147
1st Savings83085098-43147
Merrick500500100-26547
Amex10001000100-53047
Show Mastercard01000000
Lowes901037909
TOTAL142361623788-747242
      
HISbalancelimitutilpmtutil
Discover1400014000100-164688
Citibank30003000100-159047
Cap One Platinum1726180096-88047
Cap One Quick Silver13331250107-74647
Cap One Cash74075099-38847
Cap One Platinum10001000100-53047
JFCU15001500100-79547
Chase10001000100-53047
Khols220100022022
Home Depot3053500909
Amazon800800100-42447
TOTAL256242960087-7528

61

 

at that point, list all 23 accounts together by apr % and avalanche from there to minimize interest.

 

upgrade
9/2022
$30000
nfcu
8/2020
$20000
nfcu
12/2018
$30000
bofa
8/2016
$30000
citi
3/2016
$21000
discover
5/2014
$20000
chase
10/2007
$8900
Message 12 of 17
FireMedic1
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: WHAT CARDS TO PAY

With the graph you posted. Even the 1 AU you want to keep. Ditch for now.


Message 13 of 17
coldfusion
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: WHAT CARDS TO PAY


@FireMedic1 wrote:

With the graph you posted. Even the 1 AU you want to keep. Ditch for now.


This is the starting point. 

 

Next step is to clean up your own file - you will have enough cash to pay off all your outstanding debt.  If you get balance chased so be it; but regardless as to whether you get account closures or CLDs the net outcome will still be that you've reset yourself to a 0% utilization baseline.     Just as importantly, the amount of money you were paying each month toward your own debt can now all be redirected toward your partner's debt. 

 

Moving forward use the snowball method to attack your partner's debt although I'd lean in this case toward suggesting using the least-balance-first method to attack because of the number of cards.  Something perhaps along these lines:

 

Have your partner keep making their normal monthly payments on time on all accounts.   Put all your money each month toward the 1 card with the lowest balance.   

 

When that card is paid off, your partner will take all of the payment they were making each month toward the card just paid off and  instead apply it toward the remaining card that has the lowest balance; you would also apply your money torward that same card.  Once that card is paid off, continue up the ladder.   There is 1 caveat here in that I would first put $83 of your money toward their Quicksilver card to get its utilization down to 100%.

 

More specifically, pay off the Kohl's card first, then the Home Depot card, then Capitol One Cash, then Amazon, and so on. 

 

You'd be paying the same amount in total across all cards each month, but as a card is paid off the amount paid each month toward the card with the lowest balance will increase, which is why this is known as the snowball method. 

 

Again, be prepared to be balance chased for at least some of these cards regardless of the method you follow. 

 

 

 

 

 

(3/2024)
FICO 8 (EX) 846 (TU) 850 (EQ) 850
FICO 9 (EX) 850 (TU) 850 (EQ) 850

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Artist formerly known as the_old_curmudgeon who was formerly known as coldfusion
Message 14 of 17
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: WHAT CARDS TO PAY


@izach26 wrote:

$15K will be the Net -  the accounts are listed belowo

 

My Accounts are : 

Discover$4,358.00$4,500.00
Home Depot $2,517.00$2,500.00
US Bank$270.00$300.00
Contintal Finance Reflex$470.00$500.00
Pay Pal$1,996.00$1,700.00
Apple Card $1,335.00$1,500.00
Blaze$870.00$850.00
1st Savings$830.00$850.00
Merrick$500.00$500.00
Amex $1,000.00$1,000.00
Show Mastercard $0.00$1,000.00
Lowes $90.00$1,037.00

TOTAL                                 $14,236.00         $16,237.00

 

 

 

HIS Accounts are

Discover$14,000.00$14,000.00
Citibank$3,000.00$3,000.00
Cap One Platinum$1,726.00$1,800.00
Cap One Quick Silver$1,333.00$1,250.00
Cap One Cash $740.00$750.00
Cap One Platinum$1,000.00$1,000.00
JFCU$1,500.00$1,500.00
Chase$1,000.00$1,000.00
Khols$220.00$1,000.00
Home Depot$305.00$3,500.00
Amazon$800.00

$800.00

TOTAL:                               $25,624.00             $29,600.00


Phase 1:  You should pay each of your cards down to 28% of the limit, except that Lowes, US Bank, and Merrick should be paid to zero.

 

Phase 2:  After that, I can't say whether you should be taking care of your own file first or not, because I'm not in your life, but (a) if you want to use what is left over for your partner's file concentrate it on getting maxed out cards down to 78% of the limit and (b) if you want to use what is left over for your file, pay as many accounts as you can down to zero, starting with the smallest balances and working your way up.


Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 701 TU 704 EX 685

Message 15 of 17
Vuby22
Contributor

Re: WHAT CARDS TO PAY

My Accounts are :  PAY NOW88.9% UTIINT
Discover4,3584,5004664,001109
Home Depot2,5172,5003572,22363
US Bank270300102677
Contintal Finance Reflex4705003744512
Pay Pal1,9961,7005351,51150
Apple Card1,3351,500351,33433
Blaze87085013675622
1st Savings8308509575621
Merrick5005006844513
Amex1,0001,00013688925
Show Mastercard01,000 8890
Lowes901,037 9222
TOTAL14,23616,2371,87614,435356
      
HIS Accounts are     
Discover14,00014,0001,90412,446350
Citibank3,0003,0004082,66775
Cap One Platinum1,7261,8001691,60043
Cap One Quick Silver1,3331,2502551,11133
Cap One Cash7407509266719
Cap One Platinum1,0001,00013688925
JFCU1,5001,5002041,33438
Chase1,0001,00013688925
Khols2201,000 8896
Home Depot3053,500 3,1128
Amazon80080010971120
TOTAL25,62429,6003,41326,314641
      
  PAY NOW5,288  

 

You said that you are not maxxed but most of the cards are maxxed as far as FICO is concerned. If you pay $5300 per above you will see immediate impact as each card reports. (The last column is the likely interest you pay each month [.3/12*balance as a rough estimate] for default or penalty APR on those current balances.)

 

You cannot use your cards afterwards if you are serious about getting out of this situation. Debit only. I would put the rest of the bonus to yours until you are AZEO and then work on his using snowball. Good luck!


Message 16 of 17
RealEstateGuy89
Frequent Contributor

Re: WHAT CARDS TO PAY


@izach26 wrote:

My Partner and I, of 10 years  **NOT MARRIED** have a total of $39,860 in Credit Card debt Combined (Mine $14,236) (His $25,624)  none of the cards are late or over the limit. My Christmas bonus is $15,000 this year. Im looking for the smartest way to pay for the biggest score jump between the both of us. Im worried if we pay the Discover they will pull some shenanigans and lower the limit down to like $1000 or something - which will kill out utilization after paying such a large chunk. What do you guys sugget the best plan of action is?? 

 

Option 1 - Pay off my entire $14,236 off and get the best possible score I can get

Option 2 - Pay off  his and the Largest Card .....Discover\Im authorized user $14,000 Balance

Option 3 - Spread the Payments over all the accounts bring the utilization down over all accounts

 

 


If I was in your situation, I would pay off all of your accounts, except for one with a very small balance. After all of it is reported to the credit bureaus within 30 days, your credit scores should rebound nicely.

 

Then I would shop around and get a good personal loan at a decent rate, and then pay his credit cards down to below 47%. A while back I had a personal loan at LightStream for $20,000 at 7.99% and they are really good to deal with. The approval process was easy as well and I had the money ACH deposited the next day. Then once his balances are lower and report to the credit bureaus, he might be able to go and get a good personal loan to pay off the rest.

 

Having a personal loan reporting on your credit bureaus will help your scores in the long run. By spring time, you both could be out from underneath the high interest and on the road to recovery.  I wish you the very best of luck.

Message 17 of 17
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