A reader asks…

My husband and I are trying to straighten out our finances because we have a lot of debt (credit cards mostly) and we want to buy a house. Everyone tells us that getting a a debt consolidation loan will help because we can combine all of our debts into one monthly payment, but we kept getting turned down or offered a low amount because we have too much credit being used. What’s the point of a debt consolidation loan if your too much in debt?

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A Reader Asks…

I would prefer answers from people who work in the credit industry and can tell me roughly the number of points, and how long it will take for my score to recover once the new higher available credit kicks in…
I know part of your credit score is determined by how much available credit you have. I closed several cards a few years back before I knew it would hurt my score, and now I have very little credit available. I have excellent credit otherwise, and pay off anything I charge the next month. However, I do have a balance I’ve been slowly paying down, and want to open a new card so that my balance takes up less of a proportion to my total credit debt.
How much will this ding my credit in the short term? And how long will the point drop last?