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I had a few credit cards that were near maxed out, and after reading some posts here, I decided to try and increase those limits.
Ashley's CL was $4,000. Increased to $6,000 (SP) Balance $0 - Util 0%
Lowe's CL was $8,500. Increased to $10,000 (SP) Balance $2805 - new util 28%
Discover CL was $2,100. Increased to $4,100 (SP) Balance $1997.29 - new util 48%
Care Credit CL was $5,500. Increased to $8,000 (SP) Balance $3373 - new util 42%
Credit Union CL is $1,000. (Did not request a CLI because would result in a hard inquiry/new application?) Balance $689. Was around 75% but got it down to 68%
Best Buy CL was $1,200. Increased to $5,000 (AU.. was a hard inquiry but on my husbands CR) Balance $1032- new util 20% (0% APR until February)
Chase CL is $3,500. Did not request a CLI because of a hard inquiry. Balance $3340. util is 95% (now the only one at Maxed out)
*Then I wanted a new travel based card so I applied for Capital One Venture One and got approved for CL $1,000. A little less than I was hoping/expecting for, but still happy I got approved. Keeping this paid in full each month. Rewards is 20,000 bonus for spending $1,000 in 3 months which I will have through groceries/gas/and buying our house heating fuel (already have the money saved up to pay in full)...
Total amounts owed $13,248 | Total Credit: $38,600 | Utilization 34.31% (used to be around 49%)
Paying these credit cards down/off:
1. I thought about getting that Chase down to the 89.9% utilization first. Which would be $230 dollars. The minimum payment is $79. I would have this accomplished by the end of this month.
2. I should have an extra $800-$1,000 in October. Should I:
A. pay the Credit Union one down to 48.9% utilization, and the rest of the money towards Best Buy, which would result as that card utilization as below the 8.9%?
B. pay off all of the Credit union Card or all of the Best buy card?
I don't really plan on getting any new credit in the near future, so I guess it's not really important for scores to go up fast in the near future. Just kind of want rid of these balances.
Since Best Buy is 0%, pay the minimum while you pay everything else down. I would start with Chase.
Nicely done, Z! Congratulations on all of your successful CLI.
I agree making Chase a priority -- they are known to "balance chase" accounts with high utilization.
Good luck.
You successfully CLI'd most of your cards and earned another roughly 12k in available balance, nice!
Good job! I agree about Chase. Keep up the good work!
Slight tweak to the advice you are getting so far. Yes to paying down any cards that are above 87%, then paying down all cards to under 67%, then all cards to under 48%, and so on -- with the exception of a 0% card which should not be a priority for paydown as long as it is below 67%.
But I would not make the bare minimum payment on any card. Always pay at least $2 more than the MP. Paying only the MP is a flag for high risk in the internal metrics of many CC issuers, and can increase the chance of balance chasing.
@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:Since Best Buy is 0%, pay the minimum while you pay everything else down. I would start with Chase.
I disagree. Most store cards aren't really "0% APR" they are "no interest if paid in X months" and if you don't pay it back within that amount of time they go back to day 1 and charge an absurd interest rate, usually 25-30%.
Therefore I would divide the current balance by the number of months remaing on the promotional financing offer and pay a little more than that every month.
Yes this is the 0% if paid in full by February. That's why I was kind of thinking about focusing on paying that balance off as soon as I could. If not, it would be about 24%.