The Ideal Credit Card Balance to Optimize Credit Scores — Hope4USA (2024)

FAQs

What is the optimal credit card balance for credit score? ›

A 24% credit utilization is considered good. Anything below 30% is putting you on track to improve your credit score and look favorable to lenders.

A good rule of thumb is to keep your credit utilization under 30 percent. This means that if you have $10,000 in available credit, you don't ever want your balances to go over $3,000. If your balance exceeds the 30 percent ratio, try to pay it off as soon as possible; otherwise, your credit score may suffer.

To maintain a healthy credit score, it's important to keep your credit utilization rate (CUR) low. The general rule of thumb has been that you don't want your CUR to exceed 30%, but increasingly financial experts are recommending that you don't want to go above 10% if you really want an excellent credit score.

It's generally recommended that you have two to three credit card accounts at a time, in addition to other types of credit. Remember that your total available credit and your debt to credit ratio can impact your credit scores. If you have more than three credit cards, it may be hard to keep track of monthly payments.

The Credit Limit for a Credit Card should not be more than twice the monthly income of an individual. Conversely, the issuing entity can set the limit based on the credit score and repayment history.

Try to use less than 30% of your available credit. It's better to have a higher credit limit and use less of it each month. For example, suppose you have a credit card with a $5,000 limit and an average borrowing amount of $1,000. Your credit usage rate would be 20%.

Keeping a zero balance is a sign that you're being responsible with the credit extended to you. As long as you keep utilization low and continue on-time payments with a zero balance, there's a good chance you'll see your credit score rise, as well.

Then add up the balances on all your credit cards and compare the two numbers. If your total balance is more than 30% of the total credit limit, you may be in too much debt. Some experts consider it best to keep credit utilization between 1% and 10%, while anything between 11% and 30% is typically considered good.

To further help your score, try paying your balance more than once per billing cycle to keep your utilization consistently low. Using more than 30% of your available credit on your cards can hurt your credit score. The lower you can get your balance relative to your limit, the better for your score.

If you are trying to build good credit or work your way up to excellent credit, you're going to want to keep your credit utilization ratio as low as possible. Most credit experts advise keeping your credit utilization below 30 percent, especially if you want to maintain a good credit score.

Should I pay off my credit card in full or leave a small balance? ›

If you regularly use your credit card to make purchases but repay it in full, your credit score will most likely be better than if you carry the balance month to month. Your credit utilization ratio is another important factor that affects your credit score.

Using more of your credit card balance than usual — even if you pay on time — can reduce your score until a new, lower balance is reported the following month. Closed accounts and lower credit limits can also result in lower scores even if your payment behavior has not changed.

Making on-time payments to creditors, keeping your credit utilization low, having a long credit history, maintaining a good mix of credit types, and occasionally applying for new credit lines are the factors that can get you into the 800 credit score club.

Similarly, if you pay off a credit card debt and close the account entirely, your scores could drop. This is because your total available credit is lowered when you close a line of credit, which could result in a higher credit utilization ratio.

There is no right number of credit cards — it depends on how many you can manage. Having multiple credit cards helps reduce your utilization rate and provides lenders with more information to better gauge your creditworthiness.

Maintaining a 0% utilization rate on all your credit card accounts can help your credit scores, but you can achieve excellent scores without doing so. A low utilization rate, preferably under 10%, is ideal.

Using more than 30% of your available credit on your cards can hurt your credit score. The lower you can get your balance relative to your limit, the better for your score. (It's best to pay it off every month if you can.)

So, for a healthy credit score, try to use no more than 25% of your credit limit each month. You can do this by spending less on your card, or getting a higher limit.