Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open.

Pay off credit cards in one lump sum, or spread over a few months?
Should I allow the credit cards to be paid out of escrow in one lump   sum? Or should I take the cash and pay the cards down over a few   months. I have heard that it is better for your credit score to pay   them down over time. Will it make much of a difference? Will the money you save by increasing your credit score (assuming this statement is true) be larger than by eliminating the interest payments for the credit card payments over "a few months" (13% APR at $24,000 is $3120 a year in interest; $260 a month, so if "a few months" is three, that would cost over $700 - note that as you pay more principal the overall amount of interest decreases, so the "a year" in interest could go down depending on the principal payments). Also, on a related note regarding credit score, it doesn't look good to have more than a third of a credit line available balance exceeded (see number 2 here: http://credit.about.com/od/buildingcredit/tp/building-good-credit.htm).