<prompt> Human: So in November of last year I got married. I maxed out credit cards I know, not the best idea in order to pay for the wedding and set up our apartment to move in, because of this my credit score went from 780 to 682. I recently went over all of our debts and made a list of everything and now want to get a loan in order to consolidate and bring down the interest rate on those debts that have high interest. We are on a strict budget and manage to pay everything on time but I want to pay it down faster. Is it a good idea to pay it out at once in one fell swoop with the loan, or should I dish out a portion of it and keep 30 on the credit cards to help boost my credit? Im not sure if it matters at this point. Advice?  <response>: A lot will depend on how much debt were talking here. A loan and paying off the cards is good, as keeping credit utilization low is part of your credit score. However, in actuality its a bit more complicated than that. The real answer is, whichever will make you feel like youre making more progress. If making consistent payments on a loan will help you feel like youre getting out of debt, great. If youd rather pay the cards bit by bit, thats also great. Either way, paying off the debt and following a budget will eventually raise your credit score back up. 