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LIMOMx2
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Member since 5/05 24989 total posts
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Silly Credit Card Question and Paying them off
If you have Credit Card Debt and pay it all off at one time, will this help your credit scores? If so how long does it usually take to start to get better?
TIA
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Posted 7/10/08 9:52 AM  |
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kms717
St Philomena Protect My Son
Member since 2/06 2747 total posts
Name:
Kelly
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Re: Silly Credit Card Question and Paying them off
Credit card companies will look more at your history. How long have you had your cards? Do you pay at least the minimum balance every month? Have you been late on payments? What is your debt to income ratio? I don't know how much of an impact paying them off all at once will have without a history. Sorry I can't be of more help.
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| Posted 7/10/08 10:00 AM |
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Shroggie
Don't Worry...Be Happy
Member since 5/06 6261 total posts
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Re: Silly Credit Card Question and Paying them off
yes...it will help
As long as when the cc company reports the information to the credit bureau, the card is still paid off.
They don't really see how much you pay each month. Just as long as it's the minimum payment, and it's not more than 30 days late.
The most important factors in improving credit are:
1) on time payments (not 30/60/90 days late)
2) length in file - the longer you've had open credit, the better
3) usage - lets say you have a cc with a credit limit of $1000. You should try to keep your balances no higher than $500. Otherwise, it's seen as high credit line utilization, and can lower your score.
I know for me, Once I took out a personal loan, and used it to pay off all of my revolving debt (charge cards, credit cards, store cards), my credit rating really boosted up.
So, the way I see it, it's best to pay in full if you can.
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| Posted 7/10/08 11:13 AM |
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Beth
The Key to your new home....
Member since 2/06 24849 total posts
Name:
Beth
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Re: Silly Credit Card Question and Paying them off
it should normally take about 30 to 60 days to show on your report
and it should boost your score
if you needed your score boosted for a mortgage by a few pionts
you can do something called rapid rescore- it can get to 5 to 10 points
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| Posted 7/10/08 11:17 AM |
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Beth
The Key to your new home....
Member since 2/06 24849 total posts
Name:
Beth
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Re: Silly Credit Card Question and Paying them off
oh and DON'T Close them after they are paid!
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| Posted 7/10/08 11:17 AM |
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ave1024
I Took The Wrong Road
Member since 12/07 6153 total posts
Name:
That Led To The Wrong Tendencies
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Re: Silly Credit Card Question and Paying them off
Posted by 5ofClubs
If you have Credit Card Debt and pay it all off at one time, will this help your credit scores? If so how long does it usually take to start to get better?
TIA
If you have some high balances and you pay them off, YES your credit score will improve and improve quickly.
Most banks report your balances to the CRAs about 10 days after your payment is due.
So if your payment is due on July 31st, the information will probably start to appear on your credit reports around August 10th or so.
Paying off a 10k balance can raise your score at least 5 points. But of course it's YMMV since there are other factors that can affect this (like if you are carrying other balances as well).
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| Posted 7/10/08 11:23 AM |
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ave1024
I Took The Wrong Road
Member since 12/07 6153 total posts
Name:
That Led To The Wrong Tendencies
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Re: Silly Credit Card Question and Paying them off
Posted by Beth1210
it should normally take about 30 to 60 days to show on your report
It's quicker than that. I check my report daily and my balances are updated about 10-20 days after my due date.
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| Posted 7/10/08 11:24 AM |
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LoveyQ
Stalkers, get a life.
Member since 11/07 12820 total posts
Name:
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Re: Silly Credit Card Question and Paying them off
Posted by ave1024
Paying off a 10k balance can raise your score at least 5 points. But of course it's YMMV since there are other factors that can affect this (like if you are carrying other balances as well).
What does YMMV mean? Also, paying off 10K only raises your score by about 5 points? That doesn't seem like much to me (of course I don't know enough about how this works). I would have imagined it would raise it something more like 50 points (of course also depending on the rest of your credit situation like you mentioned).
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| Posted 7/10/08 11:43 AM |
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ave1024
I Took The Wrong Road
Member since 12/07 6153 total posts
Name:
That Led To The Wrong Tendencies
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Re: Silly Credit Card Question and Paying them off
Posted by MrsQ-in2007
Posted by ave1024
Paying off a 10k balance can raise your score at least 5 points. But of course it's YMMV since there are other factors that can affect this (like if you are carrying other balances as well).
What does YMMV mean? Also, paying off 10K only raises your score by about 5 points? That doesn't seem like much to me (of course I don't know enough about how this works). I would have imagined it would raise it something more like 50 points (of course also depending on the rest of your credit situation like you mentioned).
It means "your mileage may vary". Pretty much every person's credit situation is different so it's difficult to predict the credit scoring system. It may go up a lot more.
Don't underestimate the power of paying off your credit cards. Your score may only go up a little, but things like your debt/credit ratio will go down, as well as your monthly revolving payment, and this is just as important if not MORE important than your credit score when judging somebody's credit.
10k of credit card debt really isn't that much. I was carrying a 25k 0% credit card for a while and my scores were in the 780s WITH that debt.
If I paid that off, how much would my scores have realistically gone up? Definitely not 50 points. 
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| Posted 7/10/08 11:48 AM |
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LoveyQ
Stalkers, get a life.
Member since 11/07 12820 total posts
Name:
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Re: Silly Credit Card Question and Paying them off
Posted by ave1024
Posted by MrsQ-in2007
Posted by ave1024
Paying off a 10k balance can raise your score at least 5 points. But of course it's YMMV since there are other factors that can affect this (like if you are carrying other balances as well).
What does YMMV mean? Also, paying off 10K only raises your score by about 5 points? That doesn't seem like much to me (of course I don't know enough about how this works). I would have imagined it would raise it something more like 50 points (of course also depending on the rest of your credit situation like you mentioned).
It means "your mileage may vary". Pretty much every person's credit situation is different so it's difficult to predict the credit scoring system. It may go up a lot more.
Don't underestimate the power of paying off your credit cards. Your score may only go up a little, but things like your debt/credit ratio will go down, as well as your monthly revolving payment, and this is just as important if not MORE important than your credit score when judging somebody's credit.
10k of credit card debt really isn't that much. I was carrying a 25k 0% credit card for a while and my scores were in the 780s WITH that debt.
If I paid that off, how much would my scores have realistically gone up? Definitely not 50 points.
Ah got it! Thanks for the info. We have debt but have a plan for paying it off in a certain time frame so I am very interested in knowing how much our scores could potentially go up. Both DH and I have scores over 700 even with our considerable debt, but I think a lot of it has to do with always making payments on time and working on our debt to limit ratio.
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| Posted 7/10/08 11:57 AM |
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LIMOMx2
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Member since 5/05 24989 total posts
Name:
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Re: Silly Credit Card Question and Paying them off
Thanks everyone. I am going to do it regardless but I was curious if it would help any. 
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| Posted 7/10/08 12:00 PM |
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ave1024
I Took The Wrong Road
Member since 12/07 6153 total posts
Name:
That Led To The Wrong Tendencies
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Re: Silly Credit Card Question and Paying them off
Posted by 5ofClubs
Thanks everyone. I am going to do it regardless but I was curious if it would help any.
At the very least it will help your sanity. It definitely won't hurt.
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| Posted 7/10/08 12:00 PM |
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