[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]My credit score would easily be 800+ if not for my credit utilization percentage, which is lousy enough to drag me down into the upper-mediocre zone. I'm trying to figure out the best way to fix this issue in a reasonable amount of time. I've begun the process of "[/font][font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]snowballing[/font][font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]," which will definitely get the job done but may take a few years to do it (I'm also saving up money for a vehicle, or at least a healthy downpayment on one.) But I've also wondered whether it would make sense to get a personal consolidation loan large enough to pay off all the credit cards at a comparable or better interest rate. As I see it....[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Pros: [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]-Would instantly drop my credit utilization to 50 percent, even before I started paying it down (Actually, if I shift the rotating credit debt to installment payment debt, it looks like I'll drop my CC utilization all the way to zero)[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]-Zeroed-out credit cards would continue to work for me, but only for essential monthly bills which would be paid off in full each month, reinforcing good credit behavior to help overall score that much more[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Cons:[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]-Would reduce the age of a big chunk of my overall debt (which is one of the strong points of my current score)[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]-I'd have to cough up one big payment a month as opposed to several smaller ones[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]-If the rate or terms change, it'll hurt more than a rate/term change on an individual CC balance[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Thoughts?[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Pros: [/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]-Would instantly drop my credit utilization to 50 percent, even before I started paying it down (Actually, if I shift the rotating credit debt to installment payment debt, it looks like I'll drop my CC utilization all the way to zero)[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]-Zeroed-out credit cards would continue to work for me, but only for essential monthly bills which would be paid off in full each month, reinforcing good credit behavior to help overall score that much more[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Cons:[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]-Would reduce the age of a big chunk of my overall debt (which is one of the strong points of my current score)[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]-I'd have to cough up one big payment a month as opposed to several smaller ones[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]-If the rate or terms change, it'll hurt more than a rate/term change on an individual CC balance[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Thoughts?[/font]