Credit util

[Anonymous]

Hello,

My current FICO scores are 745, 746 and 733. I have about $36,000 in credit card debt where I usually pay about $1700-$2000 per month. I'd love to get a personal loan for a lower rate as my average rate now is 16%. My util is currently 49%

When I've tried those soft pull online prequalified sites, I've either been declined or receive high offer rates. I'd like to get my scores a little higher before I actually apply at a bank/CU and would like to know if reducing my util by late August will help my score? I guess I could probably get it to 47-48% 

no negative information on file and make $100k

thanks 

[Anonymous]

Getting to 47-48% will get you through a scoring threshold and should add 10ish points to your score. It likely isn't your scores though, it's the fact that your DTI is 36% on the basis of the CC debt alone, not including any mortgage or car payment or any other obligation that would push it even higher. Especially in our current lending climate, you may need to pay things down a good bit more before the loans become available, regardless of the fact that you'd be transferring that chunk of your DTI, not increasing it.

[Anonymous]

Thanks....my actual minimum credit card payments are about $850 per month. I just try to pay extra to get the balance down. I'll see what happens next month. 

[LakeLife]

Have you looked into Lending Club or another similar consumer finance company?  You could definitely reduce your interest rate, and wipe out all that CC debt in one shot with a payment much lower than what you're making right now and have it paid off in 36 months.  Yes, your credit will take a small hit due ot the CF loan, but it will go up quite a bit after your UTIL goes to 0.