Have you talked to any mortgage companies about your credit? Even if you get to a score of 620 you have late payments in the last 12 months that are going to be a struggle to overcome, especially with a repo on your record. I would meet with a loan officer, bring him your credit report and ask his advise on whether it's doable even with a 620. As far as paying debt down, what size consolidation loan can you get? The first cc's I would work on are those with the highest percent of utilization. Your best case scenario is to pay off all but 1 card and have that one card only report less than 9%
@WontHeDoIt wrote:So I've had a chance to pull together a table showing my credit utilization and boy is it HIGH! I am pasting in the table in hopes that I can get advice on where to attack it. I was planning on getting a consolidation loan from my credit union to pay DOWN these. How much do you think I need to request for the consolidation loan?
Also, doing this activity has already proven beneficial - one of my cc's is above the limit and I did not realize it.
Balance Limit MP Util %
Amex 300 2300 13.04 Pay In Full Each Month
Best Buy 3796 4000 126 94.90
PotteryBarn 1583.75 1890 79 83.80
BoA 4040 4500 161 89.78
Barclays 1714 2000 55 85.70
Chase 5311.57 5500 127 96.57
Capital One 2660 2625 92 101.33
NGFCU MC 6695 12,000 180 55.79 Installment Loan
JCP 2783 5800 90 47.98
Ahh, Data...this I can work with!
OK, so to start out, know that the different FICO utilization scoring breaks, both at the individual and aggregate level, start at 88.99% (above which is considered 'maxed out'), and occur at each 20% mark below that. Meaning you'll see gradual improvements as you drop each card and your total credit usage under 89.99%, 68.99%, 48.99%, 28.99%, and finally 8.99%.
So there is goal #1 - get each and every line under 89.99%
Next, you want to look at aggregate utilization - Goal #2: lower your aggregate utilization under the nearest threshold
you're currently at 71.11%, but following step #1 will put you at about 69.00%. For a few dollars more, you can get down under 68.99 aggregate.
So for the quickest hit, you'll need about $900 to bring your highest utilized cards down to the point where none are over 89.99%, and the aggregate is under 68.99%.
But here's the catch - none of this will affect your credit score until those lowered balances report to the credit bureaus, and that usually happens at the statement cycle. So depending on when your cards statements cut, you're looking at up to 30 days to get this done
Good Luck!
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Edit - and this is what I get for going too quickly and taking the data at face value without looking closely enough - you snuck an installment loan in there, and installment loans don't count (positively or negatively) toward revolving utilization.
So, your starting point is actually 77.54% aggregate util, and following step #1 (at the cost of about $860) will only get you down to 74.54%
You've got a long road ahead of you my friend - fortunately you've come to the right place, full of people (even overeager ones like myself) who are willing to help 