Can I quickly raise my FICO by paying off my CCs?

[Jeep 2005]

Just give a little background here:

Looking to buy a new car in the next couple of months.

- I have had 5-6 negatives removed in the last month and my last score check was around 610

- No longer have any outstanding debt, paid less then full, or collections

- Added a revolving tradeline (AU) with a perfect history and a 5%utlization on $14K limit

- My two credit cards are at 90% utlization (didn't know this was a negative effect until I found this forum!)

- I can pay off the full balance by the end of next month

Can I expect a nice lift in my score if I pay these all the way down?

[MrMoBeaster]

Yes you can. The scoring model does not like revolving debt (Credit Cards) and 90% is way too high. I would suggest bringing down your overall revolving debt to at least 30% of each of your cards credit limits, at or below 25% would be ideal. Example: if you have a Visa with a $1000.00 credit limit, it would be wise to pay it below $300, and great if you could pay it down to $250. It is really hard to guess what kind of credit score increase you can expect - the golden rule with credit is that EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE. The other catch is that if you pay off these debts today and go in to the auto dealer to get the car tommorow, the debt will still be there when they pull your credit. Don't expect for your report to be updated any sooner than 30 days. The only way to speed up this process is to do what is called a RAPID RESCORE, which must be done through a CRA (Credit Report Agency). A CRA is a company that supplies credit reports, and they can perform a rapid rescore for you that should get the accounts updated within 5 business days. It will cost you between $20-$30 per bureau per account to do this, but you wont have to wait the usual 30-90 days for your report to be updated by your creditor, if they even bother to do it. Hope I answered your question.