Hi Everyone... This board looks great! Here is my current standing: Equifax - 622 Experian - 645 (was 606 11/01) Trans Union Personal - 732 Privasta - 671 - why is this higher than equifax when they say they use the same????? Annual salary (around 85k) I currently owe: Amex 24.99% (closed) - $2800 Amex Delta 14.75% (just lowered yay) - $1000 Citibank - 12.99% - $7500 Discover - 19.8% (closed acct) - $2200 Capital One - 5.9%BT - $900 Att UCS - 16.7%purc/19.8%cash - $2500 Student Loans - 4.76% - $10000 (in 6 diff loans) Car 9.9% - $13000 I have paid off a ton of stuff over the last year and the above is what I am left with. Here are my questions: Note: Besides minimum payments, I have about 350-500 a month I could pay off something with. 1. What should I pay off first from what is left above? If I pay down the ATT cuz its open will my score go up cuz the available credit will go up? Should I pay off the Amex first? I know the general rule is to pay off the highest interest first. 2. I can consolidate my student loans from 6 loans to 2 loans. That would cut my payment in half with them but extend the term. Since they will be paying off the other 6 in full, how does this affect my credit score? 3. I really would like to buy a house next year so whatever I can do to up my score I would love. Thanks so much for the help for the above and any other help you might be able to provide! Allen HTMLCenter.com www.htmlcenter.com
Hi, I can't address anything about the student loans because I have no experience whatsoever in that area. If you have no derogatories on your report, the most important thing in maximizing your scores is your utilization of credit. We have found that getting the accounts below 50% utilization was a sort of "magic number." Here's an example. We have a Cap1 account that has only an $800 credit line. Unlike most other cc companies, Cap1 doesn't report your limit, they report your highest balance instead. On this account our highest balance ever was about $180. A couple of months ago, we made the mistake of charging $167 on the card. So Cap1 reported and this account then LOOKED LIKE it was at about 90% utilization. We got 19 points back on our scores the following month when the balance went back to zero. There were no other changes in the reports, only this account. We have also gotten score bumps by an account going from 55% utilization to 49%, but of course not as much of a bump as in the previous example. Also, I can't remember if it was EX or EQ, but one or the other gave us a bump when there were only 5 or less revolving accounts showing a balance. (#6 was a $10 balance so we knew this was what made the difference.) These numbers take into consideration about $15K in revolving debt showing on the reports, so you can see there are definitely "magic numbers" to work toward. Now, what I don't know is if the scoring models take into account the debt still owed on a closed account as 100% utilization until it is paid in full. This would be a key point in helping you make a good decision about where to put your extra payments. If no one else posts to address it, you might post a specific question about just this single issue. Also, fla-tan has been very helpful in advising folks about mortgages. You might want to post or drop an email to get an idea as to what is most important to help you qualify. You may find you're not far away at all. And by the way.....welcome!!! All the best! DemPooches
