Juggling priorities... help me think.

[tcbofade]

Way too long of a story to post... suffice to say that we're going to have some dollars left over at the end of the month. 

I've spent all of 2018 throwing dollars at existing debt to bring down total monthly expenses....they're still a bit high, but getting better every month. 

No lates, no baddies... utilization is a bit high right now... 41%, but will drop to 26% or so after some large payments (that got made today) post.

Do I continue to pay OFF individual accounts to save dollars each month, or is it time to start spreading it out a bit and reducing individual balances?  Nothing is over 89%, but several are over 70%.

Do I spend the extra dollars making sure that no account is reporting over 69% (and thus boost my Fico scores), or do I spend the extra dollars paying OFF individual accounts increasing my monthly cash flow?

There is no correct answer here and I know that... please DO share your thoughts tho. 

[Anonymous]

Unless you plan to app for something in the near future, I would not worry about FICO scores and continue to pay down based on financial sense, the scores will take care of themselves sooner or later, just make sure to pay more than the minimum on individual accounts on the back of the line.

[Anonymous]

I agree with om87. The credit score has fleeting value -- only meaningful when your apping. Eliminating debt has more lasting value. 

Congrats! on your progress so far. 

[Anonymous]

I agree with the other folks.  My only slight tweak is I would try to get all cards at under 67%.  And additionally I would always pay at least $2 more than the minimum payment on every card.

Getting all cards at under 67% and always making more than the MP are strategies that will substantially reduce the chance of being balance chased.  And they are very easily incorporated into any other strategy that makes you happy (snowball, avalanche, etc.)

[tcbofade]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I agree with om87. The credit score has fleeting value -- only meaningful when your apping. Eliminating debt has more lasting value. 

Congrats! on your progress so far. 

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Thank you.  That's what I needed. 

Thank you to everyone else as well, I believe that I'll be able to pay OFF another account or two at the end of August.

[SouthJamaica]

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@tcbofade wrote:

Way too long of a story to post... suffice to say that we're going to have some dollars left over at the end of the month. 

I've spent all of 2018 throwing dollars at existing debt to bring down total monthly expenses....they're still a bit high, but getting better every month. 

No lates, no baddies... utilization is a bit high right now... 41%, but will drop to 26% or so after some large payments (that got made today) post.

Do I continue to pay OFF individual accounts to save dollars each month, or is it time to start spreading it out a bit and reducing individual balances?  Nothing is over 89%, but several are over 70%.

Do I spend the extra dollars making sure that no account is reporting over 69% (and thus boost my Fico scores), or do I spend the extra dollars paying OFF individual accounts increasing my monthly cash flow?

There is no correct answer here and I know that... please DO share your thoughts tho. 

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My suggestion would be to get everything down to 58% or less, then apply the snowball method: pay off lowest balance first, then next lowest, and so on. As CGID pointed out, pay something more than the minimum on all of the others.

[tcbofade]

The end of August has arrived, and I just paid off THREE accounts!    (which will improve monthly cash flow by $200 or so!)

...also was able to do some balance transfer magic that should result in zero accounts reporting over 68% by 01 October.

Hoping for a nice boost in my Fico 8 scores.