What is a better way to pay off credit card debt and improve my credit score?

Here is the scenario.... I have a credit score of 650, I have high balances on all four of my small credit cards (500-650 limits). I have 1,200 saved up to go towards paying off these balances. Whats the best route to go? Should I pay off two of these cards and leave the other balances high or should I spread out my money and pay down to make all of my cards a little lower? What looks better on the credit score?

What is a better way to pay off credit card debt and improve my credit score?

Check out %26quot;www.Prosper.com.%26quot;

You can get loans online up to $25,000. You should be able to get a pretty good rate with your credit, then you can pay off your cards.

Prosper reports to the credit agencies so pay them off on time and your credit will get better to.

Good luck!

What is a better way to pay off credit card debt and improve my credit score?

pay off 2 then work on the other ones

What is a better way to pay off credit card debt and improve my credit score?

Pay off the smaller balances and work towards paying off the higher one. What will make your score go up is paying bills on time every month.

What is a better way to pay off credit card debt and improve my credit score?

If your bill reads $30 due, pay $40.00.

Slowly pay off all the bills.

Keep the money in the bank for suprise bills

What is a better way to pay off credit card debt and improve my credit score?

Pay off the card that has the highest intrest rate first and then pay off the next hightest intrest rate and so on.

What is a better way to pay off credit card debt and improve my credit score?

Lower your total balance. For your best results, pay down the one with the highest interest rate first.

What is a better way to pay off credit card debt and improve my credit score?

Looks better to lower them all.... but you are not going to get anywhere that way.

Pick your card with the highest interest rate and focus on that. Try to pay as much as you can on the others to pay them down (obviously), but make one card your main target. Target the car that is screwing you on interest. Once you have that one down to a reasonable amount, turn your sights onto the next highest interest rate. Attack them with a vengeance. By keeping up with all your payments on all your cards, and showing a focus on one card and actually getting somewhere, that is what looks best.

What is a better way to pay off credit card debt and improve my credit score?

Don%26#039;t use them. If so pay them off monthly.

the only way to get rid of the debt is to get rid of the principal. Try to double your interest payment to pay off in a shorter time.

Do not cancel cards that have low or no annual fees. It counts against you when you close an active account and hurts your score.

What is a better way to pay off credit card debt and improve my credit score?

my advice to you , is pay all cards off, then cut into small peices, good luck

What is a better way to pay off credit card debt and improve my credit score?

Take it from someone who knows and found out the hard way, bite the bullet and pay them all. The less you have in debt, the better you are long term. There is no such thing as paying a little here and there, as the intrest will eat you alive. The companies want you to keep paying tiny amounts. Don%26#039;t fall for the bait. Just do the smart thing and pay them all off. Then cut them up and don%26#039;t look back.

What you lose in ease of purchases, you gain in loss of ulcers and sleepless nights wondering how to pay them off. You pay cash, you pay one time, no more how do I do this? It takes a while to get accustomed to this system, but trust me, bancruptcy isn%26#039;t worth it.

What is a better way to pay off credit card debt and improve my credit score?

If you want to pay off QUICK, definitely pay off the one with HIGHEST interest rate. If you have money left over from the $1,200, pay toward the second highest credit card. This will save you some interest (kind of like money your throw away). So save some interests and pay off the highest interest rates account. This will improve your credit score because your debt ratio (total debt over total available limit) will be low. This is another reason why you don%26#039;t want highest interest accrued on your account, which takes up your available credit limit. Once pay them off, do not close them. Because that will hurt your credit score. One very important thing is pay attention to the interest charged on your accounts, and if they are higher than the minimum payment required, pay the interest charged (and possible more). Good luck!!

What is a better way to pay off credit card debt and improve my credit score?

Keeping the available credit to 1/3 to 1/2 of the available credit is the best. If you pay 400 on each of the three you should be in good shape.

What is a better way to pay off credit card debt and improve my credit score?

The most recent answers about paying the highest interest rate are the best. Another thing no one else mentioned was that you can transfer balances from your high interest cards to your low interest cards. This will also save money. Pay as much as you can on the highest interest cards and transfer all the remaining debt to your lowest interest card. If it is truely unmanagable, then go get professional help. There are many NPOs that will help you and they can make a BIG difference, most/many are free services or cost little in comparison to the money you save. This will help you get debt free, and being debt free is what looks best on a credit score.

What is a better way to pay off credit card debt and improve my credit score?

Suze Orman would tell you to look at the interest rates on each card, then pay off the card with the highest rate first. Reason being is that you will pay less interest in the long run.

I, on the other hand, had a similar situation not that long ago. From my perspective it is much more satisfying to pay off as much as possible as soon as possible. I would recommend taking what you have saved up and pay off the lowest balance card first. With the money you have left from your savings, I would put that toward the %26quot;new%26quot; lowest balance card, in addition to making my monthly payments on the other cards. This gives you the satisfaction of having one card paid off, possibly a second card paid off, or darn near so while you are working on the last two cards.

For the next two cards, take the next lowest balance and put whatever you have budgeted for card payments minus the minimum on the last card, on this card. You will be making bigger payments on the 3rd card and minimum on the 4th until to 3rd card is paid off. After that all of the money you have budgeted for card payments will go to the 4th card, paying it off that much sooner.

Don%26#039;t get caught in the trap of taking money from your card payment budget and blowing it while you have cards to pay off.

As far as your credit score goes - Their big concern is if you pay on time and don%26#039;t miss any payments. When you write out checks for your payments label the stamp area of the envelope with a due date 2-3 days before the actual due date. Keep these envelopes in date order. Time your payment to be received within the 2-3 days prior to the actual due date. When it is time to send off the payment, cover the date with the stamp.

This all takes time, but I am living proof it can be done on your own.