Snowball Negatively Affecting My Score?

[Anonymous]

Right.  The OP isn't far from crossing that threshold with some payments, but that threshold won't be crossed simply from the credit line increases.

[Anonymous]

I think it got lost in the above posts, but I also signed up for the Discover It card, I can transfer my balances with no fee (until Feb) and 0%apr for 14 months. They approved me for a line of $8,400. This will help me pay offsome of those balances without adding on any interest. According to my excel sheet I have, my balace is $13,631 and a limit of $51,100 (27% utilization). But now my Discover balance will be high, so I need to pay that down ASAP.

[Anonymous]

You have to decide if avoiding interest is worth the FICO penalty due to a high reported utilization on one card or pay more in interest and keep utilization under 40% on cards with balances.

[HeavenOhio]

Aren't the possible indivicual card thresholds at at 28.9% and 48.9%?

OP, good work on getting the Discover card. As ABCD says, it's up to you to decide how you want to use it. But do make it a point to pay substantially more than the minimum each month just so Discover will know that they're eventually going to get their money.

[Anonymous]

Yup below 29% and below 49%. Swear I typed 50% but who knows pre coffee.

Posting high utilization is fine if you can pay it down quicker than the minimum. Just be aware that carrying high utilization over time on one card may get you adverse action by other lenders who monitor your credit monthly or quarterly so don't run high utilization on more than one card!

[Anonymous]

Thanks! I'll try to pay down the Discover quickly.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks! I'll try to pay down the Discover quickly.

---

Don't get anxiety over it if it's the only card you're reporting a balance on, but I would definitely try to NOT post any new balances on other cards at all right now.  If you use other cards for rewards or whatever, try to pay them back to $0 before the statement date so they don't report any balance.

This is just to keep your profiles as clean as possible!  My rule is generally don't build new debt if you have old debt to pay, even if it's at 0% interest.  It has served me well during rebuilding.

[HeavenOhio]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
Yup below 29% and below 49%. Swear I typed 50% but who knows pre coffee.

Posting high utilization is fine if you can pay it down quicker than the minimum. Just be aware that carrying high utilization over time on one card may get you adverse action by other lenders who monitor your credit monthly or quarterly so don't run high utilization on more than one card!

---

Touch-typing the number keys can yield surprises. I do that frequently.

I think the OP is likely OK in the adverse action department. Her scores are good, she hasn't seen any AA so far, and things have only gotten better. Still, it doesn't hurt to be cautious.

[Anonymous]

Yeah AA is totally unlikely but with lenders tightening due to more chargeoffs happening, why poke the bear? Even tho lenders are knifing risky borrowers, they're still treating non risky borrowers well, as OP saw with a hefty Discover approval with a solid BT deal!

OP can roll that new high limit card into other high limit cards once their utilization is way down.