Your utilization is hurting you big time.
733/1000 = 73% utilization
436/700 = 62% utilization
433/500 = 87% utilization
375/1500 = 25% utilization
Overall utilization = 53% (1977/3700).
When I pay down utilization, I would pay down everything to the same percentage. Say, for example, I had $500 to pay everything down with, and the minimum payment was 3% on each card. I'd start with that, then divide the rest so it would get the higher-util items paid down.
This will seem like a lot of work, but if you have a spreadsheet, it'll help, and you can re-use it.
Column A: amount owing
Column B: credit limit
Column C: % utilization (amount owing / credit limit)
Column D: value in column A * value in column C (for the first item, that would be 538)
Column E: Amount you have to pay * value in column D / sum of column D (e.g. 500 * 538 / 1217 = $221 for first item)
So if you paid on your cards:
$210 -> new util = 52%
$106 -> new util = 47%
$147 -> new util = 57%
$37 -> new util = 23%
----
$500 (total)
If you had $200 to pay down with, the amounts and new util would be:
$84 -> new util 65%
$43 -> new util 56%
$59 -> new util 75%
$15 -> new util 24%
Make sure you always pay at least the minimum (it's a little harder on the lower-util cards; my own spreadsheet is more complicated, but this should give you the idea).
Ideally, you want to get the util as low as possible; I believe the typical utilization is around 27%.
Message Edited by Skiffy on 03-17-2007 12:35 AM