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Am I better off to consolidate my credit cards to1 low interest credit card?

Question: Am I better off to consolidate my credit cards to1 low interest credit card?I have 4 credit cards. One of them has a $100 dollar balance becauseI have paid it way down. Discover has a $900 dollar balance and theother 2 have $1400 dollar balances each. I plan on paying the $100 dollar balance card off today, and I make $300 dollar payments on each of them every month. Will it increase my FICO to pay the balanceoff of 2 of the cards and combine them all on a balance transfer to myCiti Bank card, or will it make my score lower? I want to make a higherscore, and have been slowly digging my self out of debt since a baddivorce. Currently, my fico is 218. Additional DetailsMy fico is 718, oops! I typed it wrong.



Answer: -Forget your FICO, You are in trouble and you need to get smart. Credit card debt is stupid debt. Do everything you can to get a lowerinterest rate and pay off all the cards AND THEN cut them up andcall the companies and cancel them all. The pay off the final loan or card asap. Then worry about your FICO after you have gotten back on track. Think of the house you could pay for with all those payments. Credit cards should never carry a balance and if you are not able to control yourself youshould not have them. There is also no reason to have more than one card. -If you cannot pay off the rest of your debt within the next 3 months then, yes, you need to move everything onto one card with a very low rate. That is not going to hurt your credit, it is just going to save you finance charges.Beware, though, that lower rate cards usually have a much higher minimumpayment requirement, and if you are even one day late on your payment, they will raise your rate. -Your score will remain the same right now, because the score is based on how much debt to available credit you have, which you're just distributing it around. Your available credit line will still be the same. However, by transferring the amounts to a lower interest credit card (and I suggest that you cut up the other cards so you can't use them) you'll decrease your debt, and increase your available credit, thereby increasing your credit score.

 


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