Strategy for paying off and increasing FICO

Tito1183 · ‎01-03-2019

I have $7K that I’m going to use to pay off CCs that we’re used when we moved into our house in Feb 2018.

Looking to make the biggest impact on my scores and hopefully be able to qualify for a BT offer once they update for the remaining balance.

Most recent scores:
Equ FICO 8 - 594 (9/29/18)
TU FICO 8 - 571 (11/11/18)
Exp FICO 8 - 560 (12/22/18)

Disco - 3750/3800 24.99%
PP MC - 1950/2000 24.99%
Best Buy Visa 1000/1400 27.24%
AMEX ED - 999/1000 - 0% 7/21/19
AMEX Cash - 997/1000 24.99%
Wayfair - 666/2000 - 0% 2/22/19
Chase FU - 496/500 - 0% 2/25/19

Total Balances - 9,858
Total Limit - 11,700
Utilization - 87.66

Thanks in advance.

Anonymous · ‎01-03-2019

Personally, I’d wipe out the biggest balances with the least wiggle room first. Disco, Amex Cash, and PayPal MC. Then I’d tackle the BB, Wayfair, Chase, and ED in that order. Other will say take care of the ones with the highest interest rate, that also is not a bad idea but I’d wanna see those bigger balances gone. It would make me feel better lol.

HeavenOhio · ‎01-03-2019

I'd pay off Wayfair, Chase, AMEX Cash, Best Buy Visa, and PayPal Mastercard. Pay $111 toward the AMEX ED, then put the rest toward Discover.

Wayfair and Chase have 0% ending. It's valuable to be able to pay that off before the end of the promo period and save the bother of having to restore your grace period. The AMEX ED payment is simply to make the card no longer maxed.

Anonymous · ‎01-03-2019

Yeah, that’s a good way of thinking too. That’s why I love MyFICO. So many people to give ideas others wouldn’t think of.

Heavenly is right, if I’m not mistaken, cards reporting maxed which is somewhere around 80% hold down your scores more.

Anonymous · ‎01-03-2019

You have very good advice in this thread. If I were in your shoes, I'd pay the one's with the highest APR down first and the one's with the zero percent last.

Anonymous · ‎01-03-2019

@Anonymous wrote:
You have very good advice in this thread. If I were in your shoes, I'd pay the one's with the highest APR down first and the one's with the zero percent last.

I agree with this, this will free up about $150 interest payments per month that can be used to further pay down the rest. I believe finances should come first, scores will follow sooner or later, you're very close to paying everything down without 3% BT fee.

Anonymous · ‎01-03-2019

@Tito1183 wrote:
I have $7K that I’m going to use to pay off CCs that we’re used when we moved into our house in Feb 2018.

Looking to make the biggest impact on my scores and hopefully be able to qualify for a BT offer once they update for the remaining balance.

Most recent scores:
Equ FICO 8 - 594 (9/29/18)
TU FICO 8 - 571 (11/11/18)
Exp FICO 8 - 560 (12/22/18)

Disco - 3750/3800 24.99% 3200
PP MC - 1950/2000 24.99% 1650
Best Buy Visa 1000/1400 27.24% 600
AMEX ED - 999/1000 - 0% 7/21/19 100
AMEX Cash - 997/1000 24.99% 850
Wayfair - 666/2000 - 0% 2/22/19 200
Chase FU - 496/500 - 0% 2/25/19 400

Total Balances - 9,858
Total Limit - 11,700
Utilization - 87.66

Thanks in advance.

my suggestion, if you can find 400 more, pay more to BB, wayfair.

HeavenOhio · ‎01-03-2019

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
You have very good advice in this thread. If I were in your shoes, I'd pay the one's with the highest APR down first and the one's with the zero percent last.
I agree with this, this will free up about $150 interest payments per month that can be used to further pay down the rest. I believe finances should come first, scores will follow sooner or later, you're very close to paying everything down without 3% BT fee.

As it turns out, three of the cards have the same rate. So it's a slam dunk to pay off Best Buy.

What's less of a slam dunk is my suggestion above to include Chase and Wayfair in this round of payments. But I think it's worth not turning on the interest spigot on those cards (along with not having to spend two statements resetting the grace period).

SlideOrInsert · ‎01-03-2019

I would do this:

	debt	payment	balance
disco	3750	3750	0
ppmc	1950	1950	0
bbvisa	1000	303	697
amexed	999	0	999
amexcash	997	997	0
way	666	0	666
chase	496	0	496

that leaves 2858 total debt. with a 0 balance, my discover offers me a standing BT offer of 0%/12mo (3% fee). I would BT bbvisa+wayfair+chase (1859*3%=~$86). now you are paying no interest. you do not say what you can afford to pay ongoing, but dump in as much as you can to pay off the 0% amexed / 0% disco BT before the expiration.

if that BT offer is not an option, I would do this:

	debt	payment	balance
disco	3750	2387	1363
ppmc	1950	1950	0
bbvisa	1000	1000	0
amexed	999	0	999
amexcash	997	997	0
way	666	666	0
chase	496	0	496

you do not say what you can afford to pay ongoing, but pay the minimums to disco/amexed, make two months payments of $248 to chase to pay off chase by the expiration. then budget to pay whatever it takes to pay off amexed in time and dump everything else you can into disco.