Best action for FICO improvement

[tripletmom]

I have seven revolving accounts.  I have paid three down to zero.  Three of the remaining four have utilization above 90%.  For the best FICO improvement should I focus on paying another one down to a zero or paying the three to below a 90% utilization?

[bettercreditguy1]

We need more information. What are the amounts borrowed vs credit limits, what are the apr's, etc.

[tripletmom]

Account     Balance    Limit           APR

GAP            $0                $2800      24.99%

HD              $0                $3000      25.99%

Lowes       $0                $5000       24.99%

Cap1         $2223         $3000       11.90%

Citi             $2722         $3000       16.99%

Disc         $12173       $12400      15.99%

AE Blue   $36101       $37200      15.24%

[bettercreditguy1]

I would probably begin by payin on the Amex as it is at 95% utilization.

[bettercreditguy1]

Additionally, what is your short term goal/need, then how about your long term needs?

[tripletmom]

Short term goal is to improve FICO score (675) and look attractive for auto CLI on my existing cards to help % UTL.  Long term goal is to pay off the debt and purchase a second home in Hawaii for retirement.

[Quips]

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@tripletmom wrote:

Short term goal is to improve FICO score (675) and look attractive for auto CLI on my existing cards to help % UTL.  Long term goal is to pay off the debt and purchase a second home in Hawaii for retirement.

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I would pay off the Citi first for 2 reasons - 1) highest interest and 2) will get you $0 balances on more than 50% of your revolving accounts so that should help your FICO.

Next I would work to get Disc and AMex down as much as possible (higher int rates and both are considered "maxed out") You will see a small  uptick in your FICO with getting them down under 90% and an even bigger jump if you can get them each (and your total Util) under 50%. 

Good luck

[maiden_girl]

I would advise of a balance transfer to one card. It's not really helping you much if you're only paying the minum on each account with several different APRs. It's almost as if you aren't paying down anything.

[marty56]

The BT is a bad idea since you would need to get either a new CC or a very large CLI on one of the existing CCs which are all near maxed out.  If you can only afford to make the minimum payments on the CCs, the BT will make it worse as well since it is unlikely you could PIF it in time to make the term deadline.

Your only goal at this point is to get out of CC debt.  The fastest way to do that would be to enter a DMP program which will most likely reduce your interest on the CCs and thus get you out of CC debt faster.

[jamie123]

We really need just a bit more information to provide you with accurate advice.

How much money do you currently have to pay off these debts?

How much money do you have available per month to pay these cards down?

Without knowing the answer to those two questions we are not able to give you accurate advice.

The one thing I will tell you is that you need to get ALL your cards below 90% ASAP! Like today! Having balances so close to your CL is a DANGER OF DEFAULT warning to creditors. Your creditors are probably watching your balances more than you are at this point. When you run balances that close to your CL you become a prime candidate for credit line decreases as you pay the balances down. I would suggest paying these down over a few months for that reason even if you have the money to PIF.