Two Credit cards with Balances

[Anonymous]

Wanted advice on something...

I have two credit cards open - one has a 3K balance, the other has a 4K balance.

MyFico.com says that I can increase my score by 15-20 points by paying off $3K of the debt, which is something I want to do. I have exactly $3,000 to use towards payments.

My question is, should I pay off my card with a 3K balance in full OR pay off some on one card, and some on the other (half and half essentially)

Curious as to what would have a more positive impact on my score. Does taking one card to a zero balance look better, than keeping a smaller balance on both?

Thank you so much in advance for your help and advice!

[Anonymous]

With only 2 cards, it's better to have 1 with a zero balance than it is to have 2 with smaller balances. You get dinged in your score for using all the cards. Some people have reported no change to their score with 2 cards reporting a balance, but they have 5+ cards and balances under 5% utilization

[elim]

what are the limits on both cards?

[Anonymous]

One card has 11k of available total credit. The other has 7500 of available credit..

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:
One card has 11k of available total credit. The other has 7500 of available credit..

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Which bank for each card and what is the brand of each card? Whch card has the $4k debt, which has the $3k debt? What is the APR on each of the cards? Is this question related to raising your score for your Mortgage application?

[Anonymous]

Yes...we are trying to raise our score for a mortgage application. Both cards are chase cards and each have an approximate 9% APR.

The card that has 4K debt has an $11k limit and the one that has 3K debt has a 10K limit.

Thanks for getting back to me and for your help! I want to make sure I do the right thing.

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Yes...we are trying to raise our score for a mortgage application. Both cards are chase cards and each have an approximate 9% APR.

The card that has 4K debt has an $11k limit and the one that has 3K debt has a 10K limit.

Thanks for getting back to me and for your help! I want to make sure I do the right thing.

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Recommend getting utilization on every card below 30% and get aggregate UT below 20%. If you have to carry a balance, I would suggest paying off the $3k to bring 2nd card to zero [that alone will drop AG UT below 20%]. Then pay down card #1 to reduce its utilization to under 30% ( balance to $3k)

[NRB525]

+1

Be careful in taking the cards to zero. Both are Chase, so if you bring one to zero, it will update within a few days. That can be good if you are trying to quickly optimize score, but as both cards get near zero (not there yet obviously) be sure that one is kept with some small reported amount. If all cards go to zero, nothing reports, you will see a score drop for that.

[Anonymous]

Thanks!! Really appreciate all of your help. You guys are great.