Don't have many places to brag about this, so sorry if it's a bit self-indulgent. Had a bonus that gave me some extra cash and I paid down my balances to a 28% utilization. Nextcard was charging 24 freakin' percent and I paid off the $4,000 on that completely. They would have taken $3200 as a settlement but I figured for $800 it was worth it for a better paid in full (never late, never any problems, but they went outa biz) It's going to take a while before this bubbles up to my CR but I'm looking forward to seeing how it changes my fako and FICOs. I was over 80% utilization at the start of this year, down to 55% before and now I'm in the home stretch.
This is just one of many steps, started out in '98. I owed HUGE money to the IRS and MA DOR, things were a mess. I decided to stop being self-employed and have been an employee ever since. Well, almost, year long break of unemployment but been making slow & steady progress. Steps included a Ch7 BK in 2001 and have been working on my CR since May. The CC debt was piled up during my unemployment, so it's good to drive it down to something reasonable.
