hdporter

It's not unheard of that a creditor will rely upon an earlier AR pull to make a CLI request decision. Out of curiosity, why do you state the related score was "inaccurate"?

What's that lyric? "It's 4:20 somewhere ..."

This should be do-able. Just a reality check: If I understand correctly, you're talking about paying down approx $45k of your revolving debt with either cash or refi into an installment loan, and then rolling the balance of approx $50k into the new mortgage. Right? You have approx $50k equity capacity to absorb the debt rollover in the new mortgage while staying within 80% LTV . Just remember to properly account for funding of your closing fees. I assume that your projected 37% DTI accounts for all debt outstanding under your assumptions. Standard cap on DTI is 36% for total debt, 28% for the housing expense portion aka front end ratio (don't forget to incl you H/O ins premium here). Because your housing expense exceeds the 28% threshold, you can expect that your application will see considerable scrutiny. I don't have experience with approvals of an app with an excessive front end ratio, so can't advise on your prospects.

The magic of Macy's/Citi is that if you use the card very lightly for a couple of years, they'll nerf your CL to something like $600. I have a 35 year account relationship with them and, frankly, I'm tired of that crap. So, I buy a couple of pairs of jockeys once a year. $600 CL with reported high balance of $8900. (Nordie's rocks!)

I thought Citi DC, when introduced in 2014, had set the bar that the other major issuers would be forced to stretch to. I now fear that it's at significant risk to being reduced to 1.5% at some point within the next 2 years, based on lack of competition (I imagine that they'll kill the 2-step earn).

Assuming that your revolving utilization is the only significant factor that's depressing your scores, it's reasonable to expect your scores to rebound to approximately 800 (+/- 40). Remember, it's important to have at least one revolving account report a current balance at all times otherwise you'll incur a score hit for inactive use of credit. The 401-k loan is a reasonable alternative so long as you won't reduce your contribution in order to fund a portion or all of your loan repayment. I would also advise electing as short a repayment period as is comfortable. Bear in mind that should you separate from your company before the loan is repaid, you'll need to repay the balance in full or else that amount will be reported as taxable income, with an additional 10% penalty on top of the taxes due.

For credit scoring purposes, utilization is calculated across your total credit lines as well as each individual credit line. Any time you use at least 50% of one or more credit lines, there's typically a significant score hit. So, for the biggest bang for the buck, you really need to pull each credit line balance to under 50% of the respective credit line. The total of your credit lines that are at higher than 50% utilization is $8100, with a total outstanding balance of $6805. Pulling those credit lines to just 49% utilization requires repayment of these lines to a balance of $4050, for a targeted repayment of $2755. If you can't swing a $2800 payoff, you can target max card utilization at something higher like 59% ($1834 payoff). There's a possibility that simply getting all your balances under a 60% threshold might be sufficient to get you to a 680 credit score, however odds are improved significantly if you can swing the 49% threshold. As a secondary factor, under the FICO mortgage scores, % of revolving credit lines reporting balance is a lesser, but still significant factor in your credit score. Once again, a targeted cap of 50% is desirable. With 10 reporting open revolving credit lines, and 7 currently reporting balances, it would also be desirable to pay off at least the 2 with small balances (total $560). Let me add a reminder that mortgage and HELOC credit apps typically score against FICO mortgage scores (Experian/Fair Isaac Risk Model v2 (FICO® Score 2); Equifax Beacon 5.0 (FICO® Score 5); TransUnion FICO® Risk Score 04 (FICO® Score 4)). These scores can vary significantly against the more commonly reported FICO 8 scores (often displayed in conjunction with your credit card accounts). If you haven't already done so, you may wish to purchase your 3 bureau (3B) reports from myFICO.com, which display several industry-segmented scores, including your mortgage scores, so that you have a better idea where you sit.

Having personally amassed $1000+ in cashback between 2 of these cards, I'll suggest you have a curious definition of "turd". Potentially both your cable subscription and mobile phone bills can earn 5% on this card too; you just likely need a 2nd one.

Coming into this discussion late. You rule out the feasibility of a home equity loan to refi at least a portion of the debt. I wonder if you were a little too hasty. HEL financing for up to 100% of your home value (w/ first mortgage factored) are offered. Rates typically run about 6% (YMMV). One should be circumspect before securing previously unsecured debt with their home, but the savings and additional speed with which you might tackle your debt makes it worth consideration. You haven't spelled out any details why you discount the possibility of a HEL. However, a refi of just $20k-$40k could do wonders.

So, I've inserted a copy of the Johnson Fee Schedule below. It's typically used by courts where there's a dispute about fees that are being charged to an estate and are considered reasonable. However, an estate agreement can enter into whatever terms are agreeable to the parties involved. It can be assumed that these fees assume largely probated assets and that the executor does most all the footwork involved (such as asset transfers). The the workload can be expected to be lighter, it's reasonable to assume that an executor would agree to reasonably "lighter" fees. An hourly rate contract may seem preferable, but even under the best of circumstances, settling an estate may require more time than anticipated. The benefit of an agreed flat rate means that there are no surprises and the executor has every incentive to move things along. Your example outlining a $55k fee for handling $500k in securities seems outsized. Assuming a $10k flat fee to start, and $18k fee for $500k under the table below ($9k on the first $200k, + 3% x residual $300k), the suggested fee is $28k. And, yes, as estate executor I would expect him/her to handle every step of the estate liquidation, without exception. Because each executor can exercise discretion in fees, it's absolutely advisable to seek out at least 2 alternate proposals. I suggest she have a thorough discussion with each, detailing the steps as well as the hazards if shortcuts are taken. (There's likely good reason to be wary of a low bid.)

So, as I've admitted, I'm not engaged in the most strategic card search I've ever engaged in ... While my travel is running on the low side, I find that I don't mind buying a hiatus before I commit to Altitude Rewards. Truth is, if I decide to return to Chase SR at a future date, I prefer not being on the string to rationale continued Alt Rew fees (i.e. charging just enough to use up the annual credit). Just my "thing" right now. So, yeah, your suggestion of the AAA VISA (issued by BA) hit a temporary sweet spot, so I pushed the app: $15k appr (not shabby, nothing to write home about). Kudos to @cv91915 and @swimmingwithsharks for indulging me!!

You're right ... this is a no-brainer. It should be clear I was shooting from the hip yesterday. I'll likely follow through with an app.

Looks like I was premature in targeting my Chase AARP Travel Rewards for reuse in lieu of the cancelled CSR ... they nerfed he 3% cash back benefits from all Travel charges to just Dining / Gas in March 2019. This escaped my notice because I'd been almost exclusively using CSR since late 2016, with just an occasional AARP charge to keep the account active. At first glance, it seems like Citi Premier, with attractive SUB, will at least fill the premium cb hole I now face in the Hotel purchase category. That still leaves a glaring gap in all other travel categories (occasional, but significant, air/cruise/rail/taxi/uber). Car Rental is tentatively slated for my Citi Pro Cash (3%), but I'm unsure whether Citi nerfed the rental CDW benefit, as was the case with their personal cards. < Not exactly a well-planned strategy execution, but this is temporary since I anticipate returning to CSR once my annual travel expenditures get back to approx $30k. >

This prompted me to request for myself (last CLI was Jul 6). Currently at $20k. Declined. (I'll report back when they send the AA letter.)

Cross posting our decision to cancel my Chase Sapphire Reserve, due to a 60% reduction in travel/dining charges in 2020 vs 2019. I initially asked for a downgrade to the $95 fee Sapphire Preferred, but in the 60 sec that I waited for the CSR to put the request in, it suddenly occurred to me that we had no use for a 2%/2.5% rebate card on travel/dining. We can fall back on our old 3% combo of Chase AARP (travel) & Citi Prof (dining), which I wouldn't mind "airing out at all!