You want 28.9% util or less. <8.99% is ideal and is the lowest threshold for the most points. The dont use more than 30% of your CL is hogwash. You can charge what you want. Then when statement cuts you want it to report preferably less than 8.99% and then PIF to aviod payment interest. Total util is the same. Let the banks pay you to use the cards. Dont pay them interest and then lose out on your profit for your wallet. Simple.
Since you have 2 cards. Never have both show 0 util. You lose points. Have 1 report $10 at statement date and then pay in full. Congrats on your rebuild.
@Anonymous wrote:My wife and I have been working diligently on repairing our credit. We pulled our reports and I have finally paid everything negatively impacting us! It took longer than I wanted but hey, it's done. When we started this process which was only 3 months ago or so I came to the forums to get some advice on how I should pay some of the baddies on our CR's. The information that the community provided was very helpful.
Getting our credit back on track is something that we had to do but also wanted to do. Now we are in a waiting game to see where our scores go. While everything is paid, it has not come off our reports yet. I think that is the hardest part of rebuilding, waiting for things to be removed and or reported as PIF if not PFD. I did ask the creditors that were negative on how it was going to be reported.
The part I don't like is how much a medical bill can hurt your score. When you have insurance and they only decide to pay a portion of the bill instead of all of it, by the time you realize that you owe a dr bill, boom, it's collections. It may only be $5 here and $20 there, but they add up quickly. The majority of things negatively impacting us was medical. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a denial because of "too many derogatory remarks on your report". Call the MD office and tell them you will pay them directly in full and if they would recall the collections.
Some of the advice given to me was take care of the highest interest stuff first. I went a different path. Since the few cc's that were in collections weren't charging interest any longer, I paid all of the small things first. I was able to remove 80% negative that way as opposed to only 5% negative. My thinking may be off on this but I figured that having more items removed was more beneficial than only a couple. It appeared to have worked in my favor that way. Either way, we are on our way to better scores.
I still have a question and from what I can find, there are varying answers regarding cc untilization. I understand that 30% or less is favorable. I only have 3 cards totalling $1000. Is the 30% per card or is it 30% across the board? I have seen various sites stating different things. We are trying to use 2 of the cards and then pay them off as soon as the charge shows on the card so as not to get charged interest if possible. The other card I will be using to pay 2 bills on auto pay and then pay it off as soon as the charge hits. The bills would be in the neighborhood of 400.00 and the cc limit is 500.00. Would I be better off not using the card for the bills and just leave the autopay directly from my bank account and making small purchases with all 3 cards such as gas? I do understand it depends on when and how they report. I am looking to get the biggest bang for my buck so to speak.
Another way from gdale6 to get med collections removed if the above doesnt work:
1. Call the OC and see if insurance can be billed, (or-rebilled), collections ultimately paid by insurance get removed per new rules that came from CRAs settlement with 22 state AGs. If not then
2. see if you qualify for Charity Care, if not then
3. ask that they recall the collection in exchange for full payment
4. Send the reporting CA a PFD offer
5. Google the HIPAA Process and contact its creator for help, this process cannot be discussed in any forum of myFico.