Paying down credit card debt.

[Anonymous]

Good morning, 

I have several credit cards with high balances and high interest rates.

Would it be better for me to use my available cash to pay several of the cards to a 30% utilization, or to pay 2 of of them in full ?

Wanting to do what is best for my credit scores and trying to cut way down on my monthly payments.

Really wanting to get away from my high credit card debt.

[tcbofade]

Best for your scores, pay as many as possible to under 48% utilization...

Best for cash flow, pay off the two in full. 

You pick. 

[babygirl1256]

Greetings Snoopy71 . . . what are your card balances and what's the total amount of cash available? When I was in the same situation, I paid off my smallest balances first then progressed toward the larger balances and now I leep all balances under 5.5% utilization. Wishing you success in reducing your balances!!!

[Anonymous]

^^^ what she said.

OP, if you list out your cards, balances, and limits, as well as the amount you have to put toward them, we can help you strategize how best to divvy up the cash for the best effect on your scores.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Good morning, 

I have several credit cards with high balances and high interest rates.

Would it be better for me to use my available cash to pay several of the cards to a 30% utilization, or to pay 2 of of them in full ?

Wanting to do what is best for my credit scores and trying to cut way down on my monthly payments.

Really wanting to get away from my high credit card debt.

---

You've mentioned 3 conflicting goals, each of which requires a different approach:

1. "what is best for my credit scores"

2. "trying to cut way down on my monthly payments"

3. "wanting to get away from my high credit card debt"

And the first goal, "best for credit scores", has 2 different answers depending on which set of scores you want to improve (mortgage scores vs FICO 8's and 9's)

So basically there are 4 possible goals:

1. getting away from high credit card debt

2. reducing monthly payments

3. improving mortgage scores

4. improving FICO 8's and 9's

IMHO you should tell us which is your first priority, and then we can answer the question.

[calyx]

As a Finances > FICO type, I would say "pay down the highest APR balances first and work your way back down" to get rid of debt and increase cashflow.

But if you want the best score possible, you'd want to pay them down to their utilization threshholds (69/49/29/9%)