<prompt> Human: If this is the wrong sub for this, I would appreciate somebody pointing me in the right direction. Background on me, Im 20 years old and an apprentice electrician. I currently make around 40k a year and have a guaranteed 1.50hr raise every 6 months. I am also married and my wife makes around 15kyr. I have 3 credit cards with a total max of 4300 and 1545 on them right now 36. Pulled my official credit score today and it said my average score is 706. I have about 3k in savings. Im hoping to buy a fixer uper house this fall and then remodel it. I specialize in remodels and my dad is a remodel contractor so I am not worried about remodeling and I understand the cost associated. My main question is should I focus on saving more or paying down debt faster? Anything else I should keep in mind? Should I be concerned about my credit score? Any help would be greatly appreciated.Assistant: Are you paying your credit cards off in full each month? If not, you need to work on that first. You dont want any CC debt if you can manage it. If you already cant pay for your monthly bills without CC help, how do you think youre going to pay a house payment and the material costs to fix it up?Not trying to dissuade you from buying a house, but you need to make sure your finances are in order first. And doing the fixer upper thing with your skillset will be a good idea. You can profit quite a bit if you have that know how. Ive bumped the resale value of my house by simply painting some stuff and putting in new counter top and flooring in the kitchen. Human: I am not paying off the cards in full each month. About 1k on my main credit card left over from my wedding, the rest is on 2 0 promotional cards I used to finance a mattress and a tire set. We have an 800month budget surplus after making minimum payments on all cards, I guess the main thing Im wondering is would my money be better spent on paying the cards down faster or saving for a higher down payment. Also houses in the price range I have been looking at would have mortgage payments lower than my current rent.Assistant: Well if you have an 800 month surplus, then why the hell do you still have things on your CC? Pay those off, even if they are 0. Youre going to have to pay the money back at some point. You could easily pay off that debt in 2-3 months, then start saving for a downpayment on a home. The extra 2 months you could save for a down payment is not worth the risk of something coming up unexpectedly where you dont have that surplus anymore, and then before you know it, youre now paying interest on those balances. PAY THEM OFF. Then, save yourself a decent emergency fund, then start saving for a down payment. Id even say itd be ok to put 400 a month away for an emergency fund, and 400 away for a down payment, after youve paid of the CCs, and until you build a decent emergency fund. Sounds like youre headed down the right track, just get those CCs paid off. Human: Thanks for the advice! Everyone Ive talked to said I should keep around 20-30 of my credit utilized, so thats why I havent been more aggressive with paying them down.  <response>: God no, dont carry balances. This is terrible advice, yet it still gets repeated.To build credit you do have to use your credit cards, but you do not need to carry a balance or pay interest. 