@Anonymous wrote:I am currently working on only a 7% utilization or less on each card.
What's your aggregate util?
You can pay off all of your balances except one, which you allow to report less that 8.9% of its respective limit. That'll reduce your aggregate util and number of cards with a balance so may give you a few points in the immediate term.
You say you have no time to garden but adding new accounts (and inquiries) isn't helpful-- how many new accounts in the past 12 months? What is the age of your youngest? How many scoreable inquiries (last 12 months) on each report?
What about derogatory information?
Closing cards won't help the scoring situation - it'll just result in a reduced total credit limit. However, if you want to rid yourself of the annual fees and extra-high interest - then close them. Just don't replace them right away - your accounts need to age.
Provide the requested info for additional advice.
The only scored data in your CR's that's really manipulable by the consumer for immediate gains are the balances on your revolvers. So, as per @thornback's post, you can do as much in that direction as your profile will allow by having one of your cards report a small balance while all of the others report $0. How much of a gain you'll see is profile-dependent, so it could be small or it could be decent, but it's probably not going to be enough to pull your scores up to the range that most prime lenders are looking for. Depending on what derogs you have, there may be strategies you could pursue to improve your scores through addressing them, such as offering PFD to collectors or undertaking goodwill campaigns for your lates, but that will depend on the details of your profile, which is one reason we need them to help you further.
Score simulators are notoriously inaccurate, so I emphatically would not base my expectations on what they say or use them to make any credit decisions. Closing cards will not help your scores; doing so would either have no effect or result in a score decrease, depending on whether the decrease in TCL would take you across util thresholds. Not adding any new cards, and pumping the breaks on applications generally, is something you will definitely want to do, tho, if you want to grow your scores and work towards important apps like a car loan or refi. How much of an impact credit seeking has had on your profile and how it would affect your chances at a car loan will depend on the number of new accounts and inquiries you have.
For a car purchase, there are two options you can look at right now if you want to avoid another subprime auto loan. The first is to buy less car with cash, if you have the cash to make that an option. Auto loans aren't really a good deal at even the best rates, since they're a loan on a quickly-depreciating asset--it's just that most of us need a car--so if you can get a reliable car w/o a loan you're doing yourself some financial good, imo. It can be difficult, and it takes a lot of looking, but it's possible. I've never had an auto loan, and I've never paid more than a few grand for a car, but the one's I've owned have all served me reliably for at least several years each. This route would let you save the money you would have paid in usurious subprime interest while you grow your scores, putting you in a better position to take out a loan for more car down the road.
The other option would be to look into the rates for used auto loans at your local credit unions. Credit unions often have more generous UW than the big banks, and their rates are going to be much lower than subprime lot loans, esp. since they're capped at 18% APR. So, if you do need to take out a loan to buy a replacement vehicle, it would probably be to your advantage to call around and get info on rates, estimated monthly payments, etc., from the CUs in your area and then app for a preapproval from the one that offers you the best terms. If approved, you'd walk onto the lot with a better loan than anything they can offer.
@Anonymous wrote:I'd be happy to answer your question but idk what "aggregate util" means. Average it's? Overall utilization? historical?
Yes, sorry. Aggregate is your overall utilization (total sum of balances / total sum of credit limits)