Chose to pay down a card instead of opening a new one. Hit 720 this month.

I had about $400 extra from a good delivery week and was thinking about applying for a new rewards card. But I looked at my oldest card which had a $1200 balance at like 23% interest. Put that $400 towards it instead. My utilization dropped from 45% to 30% and my score went up 18 points. First time over 720. Has anyone else seen a bigger jump from paying down one card vs getting a new line of credit?

2 comments

2 Comments

jessicaw114h ago

That 18 point jump from paying down one card is solid. I did something similar with a store card that had a $600 balance and saw 22 points the next month.

marymorgan2h ago

That 22 point jump is impressive. I swear my credit score moves slower than molasses in January... one step forward, two steps back. My store card was for some boots I bought on a whim and the balance was maybe $200, but I still managed to drop it down and only got like 9 points out of the deal. Guess I need to find that magic $600 sweet spot or something.