Advice needed! Which plan of attack do I take?

[SLR72689]

Alright y'all. I finally got myself a second job on top of my full time job because I'm so ready to have my credit cards & car paid off! Now that I have this second job, the checks from it are ONLY going towards a credit card or my car payment. My question is, which I should apply it to first?  What would benefit my credit score the most?

I still plan on making my (what I call normal) payments for each with my full time job check like I have been doing. The second job checks are all extra that is going towards the debt. The extra checks are ranging so far 200-300 a check every two weeks. Yay for a minimum wage part time job. I have already paid off two credit cards!

Here is what I have left to pay off:

Ally Car Loan: $3298 left to pay off. $300 a month payment.

First Financial Bank Charged Off Card: $4657. $125 month payment.

Best Buy Credit Card: $629/$1350.

Capital One Credit Card: $597/$2250. 

My first thoughts were to pay my car off first because that is my largest payment but I'm not sure if thats the best route to take. But now I'm wondering do I pay my credit cards off first? Do I attack the charged off card? Do I split it and pay a little to each?

Any thoughts or opinions welcomed!! 

[newmomnewme]

congrats on the 2nd job!!! I am not a self-proclaimed credit pro, but I would take the following steps: 

1. Pay the Best Buy down to $0

2. Pay the Capital One below $300

3. Keep paying Charged Off Card- Can you work out a better deal with them?? --Maybe PFD in a few months? Do you get a tax refund?

4. Keep paying your car loan (it is a good TL right?)

Best of luck, you are on the right track!!!!  

[SLR72689]

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@newmomnewme wrote:

congrats on the 2nd job!!! I am not a self-proclaimed credit pro, but I would take the following steps: 

1. Pay the Best Buy down to $0

2. Pay the Capital One below $300

3. Keep paying Charged Off Card- Can you work out a better deal with them?? --Maybe PFD in a few months? Do you get a tax refund?

4. Keep paying your car loan (it is a good TL right?)

Best of luck, you are on the right track!!!!  

---

I do get a tax refund, last year it was around $2000 because I also got some money back from school & what not... this year it probably will not be as high but I'm guessing will be $1000+. 

Right now the deal I have with them is what it is because at the time all I could afford is $125 a month. At the time I called to start paying on the CO, they told me they do not do PFD. I was planning on using my full tax refund to go towards my car payment. Every 6 months I have to call 1FBUSA (CO) to agree to my payment plan so in January I will have to call and set it up again so when I call I will inquire about what more I can do with it.

*EDIT* Since I've been paying on my CO, my credit score has gone up every month more so than it used to. I've seen some people get bad trade lines deleted and it drops their score because of AAoA and whatever other factors may be involved. So I am slightly worried that having this deleted would cause more harm than good. I opened it in 2007.

[titanofold]

Yes, I would NOT get ahead on the car loan. As long as that's a positive trade line, it is helping you a lot, and the longer history you can make on it will only help you more down the line. The CO is probably affecting your utilization and/or DTI the most, so I'd pay more on that, maybe apply the refund to that. Then work on the CCs.

[SLR72689]

I do have some lates on my car loan... Last late will be two years ago in February.

If I'm going to use it towards my CO along with my refund, do y'all think it'd be best to save my checks now and those + my refund ask for a settlement offer on the CO? Settlements scare me because I don't want them coming back at me with a 1099 the next tax year. I could easily have the CO paid in full in 12 months or less with my second job checks on top of my monthly payment to them. I'm willing to pay in full if its not gonna come back to bite me in the ass later. Lesson learned!!

[RobertEG]

I would pay down the charged-off card first.

I would presume that, being in default, you are paying by far the highest APR on that debt.

I would not want that debt referred for collection or sold.

It may improve your chances of securing a GW deletion of that major derog once paid.

It will result in quicker removal of unpaid, delinquent debt from your CR, which can be a killer upon a manual review.

Remaining balance on a installment loan is scored very low, and would not be my priority, particularly since the APR is also presumably much lower than that on any of the CCs, and particularly the CC that is at its defualt APR.