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Is it better to spread out credit card debt to multiple cards or have it on one?

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Is it better to spread out credit card debt to multiple cards or have it on one?

I have
Chase Freedom CL 2500
Cap One Platinum CL 2000
AmEx Cash Everyday CL 10,000
Discover It Chrome CL 9,500
So I recently applied for and got the AmEx with 0% interest for 14 months for balance transfers.  I moved over ALL balances from my cards and my wife's cards to it.  Now I'm sitting at $4,354 balance (ALL on the AmEx).  I'm on a mini "spree" to get more CL, so I (even more recently) applied for and got the Discover mentioned above.
Now I'm at 18% TOTAL Utilization (across ALL cards), but since all of it is on the AmEx, I'm at 43.5% Utilization within the single card.
My question is, should I eat the cost of doing ANOTHER partial transfer from the 43.5% full AmEx to the Discover (which ALSO has 0% interest on transfers) to spread out the balances and get both the Discover and the AmEx below 29% within each card?   Within 6 months, I will have my total utilization below 9%, working my way to 1%.

A little background, in a little over 2 years I want to get a mortgage.  I'm at 689 FICO-8 and 665 Vantage.   The credit increases, adding nearly 20K of CL, and SIGNIFICANTLY dropping my overall utilization, were only 2 weeks ago and have NOT "hit" yet with any CRAs.  I also took out a Self Lender loan recently.  So I am looking to raise my score, hopefully to 760 before my 2 year goal.  So, my score increases do NOT have to be within the next few months.  

Message 1 of 5
4 REPLIES 4
SBR249
Established Contributor

Re: Is it better to spread out credit card debt to multiple cards or have it on one?

Utilization has no memory. So the hit that you take with a higher than normal utilization will disappear as soon as the balance is updated with the CRAs. Unless you were looking for more credit in the next 6 months and absolutely need to optimize your scores I wouldn't eat another transfer fee just to tamp down that util. Just garden for 6 months, pay down your balances as planned and all will be shiny. 

Message 2 of 5
xaximus
Valued Contributor

Re: Is it better to spread out credit card debt to multiple cards or have it on one?

Personally, I would hold off on any other apps for now and bring the utilization down. I would guess that's holding your scores back easily 20-50 points if you are at 43% util. You are above 2 thresholds so that is definitely impacting your scores.


Scores - All bureaus 770 +
TCL - Est. $410K
Message 3 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Is it better to spread out credit card debt to multiple cards or have it on one?

Agreed, lower utilization doesn't decrease overall debt. Something Mortgage companies look at, and consider more important than utilization.

Message 4 of 5
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: Is it better to spread out credit card debt to multiple cards or have it on one?


@Anonymous wrote:

I have
Chase Freedom CL 2500
Cap One Platinum CL 2000
AmEx Cash Everyday CL 10,000
Discover It Chrome CL 9,500
So I recently applied for and got the AmEx with 0% interest for 14 months for balance transfers.  I moved over ALL balances from my cards and my wife's cards to it.  Now I'm sitting at $4,354 balance (ALL on the AmEx).  I'm on a mini "spree" to get more CL, so I (even more recently) applied for and got the Discover mentioned above.
Now I'm at 18% TOTAL Utilization (across ALL cards), but since all of it is on the AmEx, I'm at 43.5% Utilization within the single card.
My question is, should I eat the cost of doing ANOTHER partial transfer from the 43.5% full AmEx to the Discover (which ALSO has 0% interest on transfers) to spread out the balances and get both the Discover and the AmEx below 29% within each card?   Within 6 months, I will have my total utilization below 9%, working my way to 1%.

A little background, in a little over 2 years I want to get a mortgage.  I'm at 689 FICO-8 and 665 Vantage.   The credit increases, adding nearly 20K of CL, and SIGNIFICANTLY dropping my overall utilization, were only 2 weeks ago and have NOT "hit" yet with any CRAs.  I also took out a Self Lender loan recently.  So I am looking to raise my score, hopefully to 760 before my 2 year goal.  So, my score increases do NOT have to be within the next few months.  


You will gain absolutely nothing down the road from doing a balance transfer, so no you should not.

 

What you should do now is (a) stop applying for credit and (b) pay everything down.

 

That would be the way to position yourself for your mortgage application.

 

 


Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 703 TU 704 EX 687

Message 5 of 5
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