How far should I pay credit cards down?

[Schultz4454]

Hello,
I have a general question. I currently have 1400 in credit card debt. The breakdown is below.
Chase Amazon $0 balance $500 credit limit
Kay jewelers $0 balance $2000 credit limit
Discover $1422 balance $1800 credit limit.
What should I do to maximize my credit score. I have the ability to pay the last one off without taking out a loan or something like that. Should I do that. When I ran the credit simulator it said if I pay that off completely it will increase my credit scores by 20 points. Any advice on what I should do? Thank you in advance.
Also, I have a small personal loan of $1200 and student loads of $6500. I want to buy a house in a couple month and need to raise my credit score by 10 points. Thank you again!

[Remedios]

Drop it below 9%. If getting a mortgage, let a small amount like $10.00 report right before the application 

There should be some points gained as that card is pretty close to being maxed out. How many come back really depends on the rest of your profile, negatives in particular (if any are present) 

[Schultz4454]

I do have a missed payment on mine

[Remedios]

I'm sure (as one can be) if you pay down that card, you will get those 10 points. 

Just let a small amount like $10.00 report on one card only. Older scoring models are neurotic when it comes to balances and number of cards reporting balances

I lose more than 15 points if more than one card reports even with  minuscule amounts, and crossing 9% is additional 10-15 points 

For comparison, there were no changes on Fico 8

[SouthJamaica]

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@Schultz4454 wrote:
Hello,
I have a general question. I currently have 1400 in credit card debt. The breakdown is below.
Chase Amazon $0 balance $500 credit limit
Kay jewelers $0 balance $2000 credit limit
Discover $1422 balance $1800 credit limit.
What should I do to maximize my credit score. I have the ability to pay the last one off without taking out a loan or something like that. Should I do that. When I ran the credit simulator it said if I pay that off completely it will increase my credit scores by 20 points. Any advice on what I should do? Thank you in advance.
Also, I have a small personal loan of $1200 and student loads of $6500. I want to buy a house in a couple month and need to raise my credit score by 10 points. Thank you again!

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Make sure to pay Chase and Kay off before any statement cut so they will report zero balances, and let Discover report a balance less than $100 before you pay it off. That will optimize your revolving utilization for the mortgage scores.

As to the loans, I would need to know the original loan amounts to tell you if there's any likelihood of anything you can do with those to improve your mortgage scores.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Schultz4454 wrote:
I do have a missed payment on mine

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Send verification letters to the bureaus about it. Sometimes that will cause it to be dropped from the reports.

[Remedios]

Or if verified, it will drop their score specifically 

I would not do any disputes prior to mortgage unless you have plenty of time for scores to recover should dispute not go in your favor 

While this may work with old debt currently assigned to collection, it almost never works with late payments on cards and loans. 

Reason for that is if debt is sold multiple times, paper train (or electronic) can get lost too, or was not provided to them when they bought the debt, hence being unable to properly validate it. 

Original lenders have this info, and not only that, but frequently will find other delinquencies that slipped through the cracks first time. 

Do not dispute legitimate info on your CR, it has potential to  hurt a lot. 

[Schultz4454]

Original loan amount is $1800. Also what do you mean “before the statement cuts”

[Remedios]

It means to pay down your balance before statement is ready, thus controlling how little is reported vs. just letting whatever you used report  

[Schultz4454]

So will my mortgage score move more than my fico scores when I pay this down?