shifter

They do not really use DTI, although income does play a small role at the highest levels. It's all about existing limits. Whether they "match" or "beat" or don't depends on the creditor and their internal scoring models. This is why it's preferred to app early with a creditor who is known for generous limits to try to acquire a "prybar" card which can be leveraged in future app sprees to get other issuers to go higher.

I'm surprised your FICO5 is that high. When I was maxed out across the board but no lates many years ago I was in the low 600s. What did PenFed offer you for rates a few months ago?

It's hard to say because you are still going to be dinged for overall balance being so high. What are your FICO 8s right now? I'd guess probably low 600s? You could probably get to 670 with no maxed out cards. But that's zero. Even one will tank your scores. Will that make a noticeable difference on the interest rate on your auto loan? Depends on who is the lender and what their score bands look like. You could probably ask them what the interest rate would be at 610 vs 670.

With so many cards and almost all of them maxed out, it's going to be hard to get your scores up in the next few months. The first step would be to pay each card down to below 89.5% of the limit. That would give you zero "maxed out" cards from a FICO perspective, which would give you a pretty decent score bump. But that's going to cost you about $4-5k and most of that money is going to go to your lower interest rate cards, so it's going to cost you. But if it results in a better auto loan rate, that could save you quite a bit of money. So you just have to decide what's more important to you. Also, I'm confused how you pay off $80k at 30% interest in 3 years with $500/mo? You're going to need more like $3k/mo to do that.

Citi uses Bankcard 8. Amex uses FICO 8 and NFCU uses FICO 9. 740 vs 840 doesn't really make any difference. Credit cards aren't approved based on credit score anyway. Most issuers use internal scoring models in addition to FICO. As far as why your Bankcard model is lower, likely due to your profile having some low limit cards and very few cards in total. Bankcard 8 is out of 900 vs 850 for FICO 8 so traditionally it's higher if you have a good credit card profile.

If you pay off and close cards, that will not help your util. If you post a list of cards with limits and balances and fees we can help direct your payments. The biggest issue that will tank your scores is maxed out cards i.e. +89.5% util.

Definitely drop the subprime AF cards. No reason to close cards with no fees.

If you haven't heard from them I'd probably just wait it out. 1.5 years is a short price to pay for that large amount.

Regardless, disputing the original balance is a fool's errand. Makes no difference to anyone but you. And it probably won't get updated.

How can the balance be lower than zero since they are paid? Disputes can cause a hangup on manual review but if you get instant approvals it shouldn't matter.

Inquiries don't matter. Especially not ones almost 2 years old.

This is the last thing I would worry about at this point in your credit journey. HD is the most conservative person I've ever encountered about credit. But he's earned that right to do what he wishes based on his many years of credit management. However, no one I've talked to including people who have forgotten more about credit than I will ever know have worried about CLs that are too large. Personally I believe in the bigger the better and most everyone I know agrees. If anything it's good to have $50k+ CLs because their util won't hurt you if you have a large expense and run a $30k balance for a month or whatever. The only real potential harm is you can't do the $2 trick with a $50k CL because it will ding you like you have zero balances. As far as $35k, even that is ultra conservative as I believe enough testing has been done to nail down the precise limit above $42k but below $48k. So it's somewhere in there but nowhere near $35k.

I have due dates throughout the month. I used to have one due on the 28th. You can also request them to change the date.

Not really. Individual util does matter, and under 29.5% is better, but it only really affects you above 69.5% and especially 89.5%. But you're nowhere near there and at 30% APRs, those couple of points (maybe) are not a high concern.

Your plan is not going to hurt you - you're going to get over half your revolving debt paid off whatever you do, congrats! - but it's also not really a good plan. None of your individual utils is high enough to be problematic on its own, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to spread out the $2500 like that across every one of your accounts. Whatever you do is going to reduce your overall util the same amount, which will basically result in the same minimal score increase. Getting the highest interest rate accounts with the lowest balances paid off completely would be my priority, which also serves to reduce the number of accounts with balances which will eventually raise your score once you get it down to just a couple. For example on QS, why would you pay nothing and leave a paltry $65 balance on that card at 30%? And why would you make any payment on the two cards that are at 0% right now?

Usually quite a bit more than that. Closer to 80 points depending on other factors.

It's risky but if they haven't served you they shouldn't be able to hold the hearing. The judge should likely end up postponing it and requiring them to serve you. But it depends on the specific laws in your state about attempted service, which is why it's better to get an attorney involved and get advice there.

Don't you need an attorney near the court rather than near you? I thought the issue was you can't make it to court because of the distance.

Yep. One of the classic unintended consequences of certain repair tactics that can cause a large score drop. Although a CO will ding your score for the full 7 years, it does diminish in impact over time and when it goes from 5 years to 0, it can drop you 100 points.

Usage. I always PIF. But I did carry a 0% balance for several months and that resulted in zero CLIs.

You're right; 15 points is unlikely. It's likely costing you closer to 25 points at 5 years. https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?/topic/527614-the-master-graphs-thread/&do=findComment&comment=5023928

Huh? This doesn't make any sense. You've had a LP for 5 years you've never known about?

Short answer probably not. Longer answer there's some threads here about the Platinum value and maximizing it. It has a very high AF and is only worth it with a 150k point offer and if you travel a ton and make use of the Centurion Club.

Gold is a charge card and not very useful for anyone. In fact cost to value it's about the least useful card they offer. Unless you get a nice targeted SUB offer I would not advise that card. One of their revolvers are typically much more useful for most people's portfolios.

You don't have to app spree only trash cards. Any well designed and researched app spree can be done with prime cards that fit your spending patterns and credit needs. It's especially useful for issuers like Chase and their 5/24 rules and Citi and their recent inquiry sensitivity.