@Red1Blue wrote:
Here is the credit limit / balances for some of my cards. I have $8k in Cash and about $21K in balances. How should I pay them and what is best way to
Nordstorm: 9200 / 6600
Sandtandar: 11800 / 10400
Chase: 5000 / 1954
Citi: 4900 / 1954
PNC: 2700 / 1505
I am planning on paying them all with in the next 6 months. But I also want to keep an eye on my scores and try to bring them up soon. Should I pay down the balances on Nord / Santandar or pay off other cards to 0 balance and save on interest. Any suggestions?
Are the Nord and Santander 0% interest cards? If not, I am unsure why you have a choice between paying them down or saving on interest. Won't paying down the N and S save you interest too?
Your top priority IMO needs be getting the S and N down to < 69%. That will sharply reduce the risk you may be running of S taking adverse action against you due to the very high utilization. Less than 79% is probably enough but I'd make it 69% just to be sure.
You mention wanting to improve your scores. Do you plan to apply for credit in the next six months? If not, then I think score improvement should be your lowest priority. The reason being of course that in 180 days all your CC debt will be paid off and your scores will be great.
Once you get the S down it's just a matter of style. From a cold dollar and sense perspective the logical thing is to use the rest of your 8k to pay down any cards that have a much higher interest rate than your lowest interest rate cards. That strategy will save you the most money.
On the other hand, you may get an emotional high from paying off an entire card, and that's important. You need emotional reinforcement. So do whatever feel best. You are going to be paying everything off anyway, so just order the payments however you like.
Do be sure to be paying substantially more than the minimum payment on every card regardless.
