@accjohn1990 wrote:I have a card that has a predatory rate policy that is retroactively charging interest at 29.9% soon. The cost will be about $700 overnight. I can pay it off in full, but I would have to allow other cards utilizations to go up to almost 50%. With the one card at 0% overall utilization should be around 25%-30%. What will this do to my scores? Will I have any chance at cli's on the cards left at ~50%. It will be a while before I want to bring all cards below 30%
When you have something that is that predatory, you have to put economics first, and pay it off ASAP. It will probably hurt your scores, but it's only in the short term. Try for the CLI's first.
Finances over FICO. Pay that predatory card off (and close it too while you're at it, I'd say), and don't worry about your other cards. 50% util isn't good, but it's not the end of the world. I don't think your lenders will mind too much as long as you are making good progress on the paydown afterwards.
