cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Which would improve my Credit Score more?

tag
Anonymous
Not applicable

Which would improve my Credit Score more?

I have a choice between completely paying off one card account

 

Or

 

Getting my Credit Utilization under 30% with another Credit card account.

 

My Time window is 2 weeks since I am applying for a mortgage and I need help from the community to see which action would give me a higher score.

Thanks

Message 1 of 11
10 REPLIES 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Which would improve my Credit Score more?

We can help you best if you tell us how many cards you have (it may be exactly two, but not I'm sure) and the balances and credit limits on each.  The following template would give us what we need:

 

Card #1.  Current balance = ____.  Credit Limit = _____

Card #2.  Current balance = ____.  Credit Limit = _____

Card #3.  Current balance = ____.  Credit Limit = _____

etc.

Message 2 of 11
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: Which would improve my Credit Score more?


@Anonymous wrote:

I have a choice between completely paying off one card account

 

Or

 

Getting my Credit Utilization under 30% with another Credit card account.

 

My Time window is 2 weeks since I am applying for a mortgage and I need help from the community to see which action would give me a higher score.

Thanks


1. You may not be able to accomplish anything in a 2 week time window.

 

2. So I would just make the payment towards the account with the closest statement date.


Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 701 TU 704 EX 685

Message 3 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Which would improve my Credit Score more?

Card #1.  Current balance = 4,918.56.  Credit Limit = 10,000

Card #2.  Current balance = 912.70.  Credit Limit = 6,800

 

Thank you for the help


@Anonymous wrote:

We can help you best if you tell us how many cards you have (it may be exactly two, but not I'm sure) and the balances and credit limits on each.  The following template would give us what we need:

 

Card #1.  Current balance = ____.  Credit Limit = _____

Card #2.  Current balance = ____.  Credit Limit = _____

Card #3.  Current balance = ____.  Credit Limit = _____

etc.


 

Message 4 of 11
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: Which would improve my Credit Score more?


@Anonymous wrote:

Card #1.  Current balance = 4,918.56.  Credit Limit = 10,000

Card #2.  Current balance = 912.70.  Credit Limit = 6,800

 

......

Since you have an 11 day "time window" your best bet is to pay the money towards the card that has a statement date within the next 11 days. If neither does, then you're not going to affect your score within the time window. Even if there is a statement cut within the next 11 days, it doesn't mean the new balance will report within 11 days.

 

But putting aside your 11 day time window, I would expect you to get the most bang for your buck by paying off card #2 completely and paying the additional $1k+ towards card no. 1


Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 701 TU 704 EX 685

Message 5 of 11
Aahz
Established Contributor

Re: Which would improve my Credit Score more?


@SouthJamaica wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

Card #1.  Current balance = 4,918.56.  Credit Limit = 10,000

Card #2.  Current balance = 912.70.  Credit Limit = 6,800

 

......

Since you have an 11 day "time window" your best bet is to pay the money towards the card that has a statement date within the next 11 days. If neither does, then you're not going to affect your score within the time window. Even if there is a statement cut within the next 11 days, it doesn't mean the new balance will report within 11 days.

 

But putting aside your 11 day time window, I would expect you to get the most bang for your buck by paying off card #2 completely and paying the additional $1k+ towards card no. 1


I'm not sure why you think this.

 

Paying Card#1 down to $2890 would bring not only that card below 30%, but also aggregate revolving utility to 22% and would give a much better FICO hike then paying off one card and leaving the other above 30% individual utility.

 

Though I totally agree any changes are likely to be reported within the next 11 days.  Can't hurt to call the creditor and ask for a manual update once the payment is made, though.

Message 6 of 11
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: Which would improve my Credit Score more?


@Aahz wrote:

@SouthJamaica wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

Card #1.  Current balance = 4,918.56.  Credit Limit = 10,000

Card #2.  Current balance = 912.70.  Credit Limit = 6,800

 

......

Since you have an 11 day "time window" your best bet is to pay the money towards the card that has a statement date within the next 11 days. If neither does, then you're not going to affect your score within the time window. Even if there is a statement cut within the next 11 days, it doesn't mean the new balance will report within 11 days.

 

But putting aside your 11 day time window, I would expect you to get the most bang for your buck by paying off card #2 completely and paying the additional $1k+ towards card no. 1


I'm not sure why you think this.

 

Paying Card#1 down to $2890 would bring not only that card below 30%, but also aggregate revolving utility to 22% and would give a much better FICO hike then paying off one card and leaving the other above 30% individual utility.

 

Though I totally agree any changes are likely to be reported within the next 11 days.  Can't hurt to call the creditor and ask for a manual update once the payment is made, though.


Because number of cards reporting a balance is a major component.
BTW aggregate utilization is the same no matter how the money is paid.

 


Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 701 TU 704 EX 685

Message 7 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Which would improve my Credit Score more?


@Aahz wrote:

 Paying Card#1 down to $2890 would bring not only that card below 30%, but also aggregate revolving utility to 22% and would give a much better FICO hike then paying off one card and leaving the other above 30% individual utility.

 


I disagree. 

 

There are 3 factors at play.  Most important is aggregate utilization followed by number of cards reporting balances and individual balances.  Aggregate in either case remains the same.  Paying off one card completely drops the OP from 100% of cards reporting balances to 50% of cards reporting balances which is a favorable move.  Yes one of his individual balances will still be pretty high, but he now also has one at zero to counter that.  Paying off the one card should yield equal or more points.

Message 8 of 11
Aahz
Established Contributor

Re: Which would improve my Credit Score more?


@Anonymous wrote:

@Aahz wrote:

 Paying Card#1 down to $2890 would bring not only that card below 30%, but also aggregate revolving utility to 22% and would give a much better FICO hike then paying off one card and leaving the other above 30% individual utility.

 


I disagree. 

 

There are 3 factors at play.  Most important is aggregate utilization followed by number of cards reporting balances and individual balances.  Aggregate in either case remains the same.  Paying off one card completely drops the OP from 100% of cards reporting balances to 50% of cards reporting balances which is a favorable move.  Yes one of his individual balances will still be pretty high, but he now also has one at zero to counter that.  Paying off the one card should yield equal or more points.


In my experience number of cards reporting balances is worth far fewer points than individual utilization. 

 

When I had 8 of 16 cards reporting balances (individual utility below 30% on all cards) and reduced that to 3 of 16 cards maiking all three between 30% & 50% individual utilization (same aggregate utilization) I lost 24-30 points.

 

When I spread the debt back out (dropping individual utilization again) the points all came back.

Message 9 of 11
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Which would improve my Credit Score more?

Well, I suppose this varies greatly from profile to profile then.

Message 10 of 11
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.