I know high utilization affects your credit score big time and of course my two cards are close to the spending limit. I dont have any extra money to pay anything other than the minimum payment but I really want to apply for a home loan in a couple months and I'd like to get that down. Is there any other option for me? If I paid more than my minimum payment than I'd get behind on some bills and dont really want to have to play catch up like that. I thought about taking a small loan out of my 403K to try and get it down a little so that if I made a few big payments it might look better than paying the minimum payment. I'm not really sure what I can do. I just applied for a bunch of balance transfer cards and was denied and that impacted my score as well 
@Anonymous wrote:I know high utilization affects your credit score big time and of course my two cards are close to the spending limit. I dont have any extra money to pay anything other than the minimum payment but I really want to apply for a home loan in a couple months and I'd like to get that down. Is there any other option for me? If I paid more than my minimum payment than I'd get behind on some bills and dont really want to have to play catch up like that. I thought about taking a small loan out of my 403K to try and get it down a little so that if I made a few big payments it might look better than paying the minimum payment. I'm not really sure what I can do. I just applied for a bunch of balance transfer cards and was denied and that impacted my score as well
One would never take retirement money and put it on credit cards for any reason. If you cannot handle your credit card payments now how do you expect to handle a house payment, its more than just principle, interest, insurance and taxes you need to be able to afford several hundreds of dollars in repairs every month even though nothing may go wrong right away. IMO you are not in any position to purchase a home and I would be looking to increase income to pay off those cards. Good luck 
Sorry for the multiple posts... but really did I say I cant make my credit card payments? No I said I pay the minimum payment each month, never late and my payment history is rated A
@Anonymous wrote:I know high utilization affects your credit score big time and of course my two cards are close to the spending limit. I dont have any extra money to pay anything other than the minimum payment but I really want to apply for a home loan in a couple months and I'd like to get that down. Is there any other option for me? If I paid more than my minimum payment than I'd get behind on some bills and dont really want to have to play catch up like that. I thought about taking a small loan out of my 403K to try and get it down a little so that if I made a few big payments it might look better than paying the minimum payment. I'm not really sure what I can do. I just applied for a bunch of balance transfer cards and was denied and that impacted my score as well
My analysis is from your own words, sorry but that is what it is IMO, someone else may have a different idea for you. I call it as I see it.
All you can really do is pay what you can afford. Make sure you have the control to not use the cards then until they are carrying low balances. So if you have high balances and can only pay the minimum, you might have a suffering score for a little bit, but keep in mind the UTL is the easiest way to increase your score. A high balance yesterday will not affect a low balance today in scoring. It is a snapshot. So just pay down what you can and don't use the cards. ALso, if you are looking into a home mortgage anytime soon you should not app for new cards. They don't like to see HP on CRs. Good luck!
Starting Score: TU 629 6/2013
OP, don't get discouraged by others opinions. Only you know where you stand when it comes to a home purchase. I understand what you mean with high rent vs mortgage payments. It's much smarter to buy. My mortgage payment is cheaper than any rent I paid. Pay what you can and put the cards in a drawer. Good luck!!!
