

What % of a credit card can you use before it looks bad on score?

Is this a % per card or a % of all available credit?
How much damage does exceeding this % while still within limit do? how long does it take to repair the damage?

Thank you.

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12 Responses to “What % of a credit card can you use before it looks bad on score?”

  1. curmudgeon said:

    no damage. your score is based on how well you pay back, nothing else.

  2. puddy said:

    i dont understand your question. you can spend what you like on your card up to the limit, or more if the company lets you

  3. neogriff said:

    Using your credit actually improves your credit score as long as you make regular payments, my credit score is diabolical because I have never had any credit cards or bought anything on credit. Twisted but true.

  4. GreboGuru said:

    Not so much how much you spend on it but your repayment history. Having too much debt will show but worst is to consistently fail to pay on time. Failed direct debits are recorded and count against you.

  5. said:

    you do not want to go over 50% of your available balance, this can be a minor effect but having below the 50% is a positive.

  6. photoheathen said:

    Holy cow, look at all these people who are so poorly informed. Yes, if you go over 50% of your limit, it will start to reflect negatively.

  7. Miss Behavin said:

    It’s not your percentage use of the card which counts, but your payment history. You will get low scores if you have a history of late payments or defaults, and if you have not been at your present address for at least two years, amongst other things – but it is the repayment history which really counts. You could spend £10k in a month and it wouldn’t matter if you repaid £5k in each of the following two months, for example….equally you could get a really bad rating for owing £50 and never paying a penny of it back.
    Try a credit rating agency like experian, where you can apply online for your own credit reference history, and to correct any mistakes.

  8. William H said:

    How much of a balance you have on your credit card isn’t what lenders consider unless perhaps it is very high compared to your income.

    The important point is that the account is current. If you can see a credit report you will observe that the only comment following the listing addresses whether or not you are up to date with your payments. If it doesn’t say “current” or something like that, that is a black mark on your credit.

  9. JT said:

    To have a premium credit score your balances need to be 36% of your limit or below. Your DEBT RATIO does have everything in the world to do with having an excellent score.

    You can use any amount of the limit but if possible you should pay the balance down before your cycle date because the balance as of the payment date is what will be reported on next months bureau.

    As long as there are no late payments, high ratios can be corrected in as little as 30 days if it can be paid down.

  10. SELL2K_com said:

    Keep your balance BELOW 50% of your available credit on each card.

  11. Mountain Top said:

    It never looks “bad” unless you don’t pay it. However, your score can increase if you don’t use as much of your credit line.

    The breakpoints are 5%, 15%, 25%, and 50%. There’s about 30 point difference between the lowest and highest.

    It’s not the amount of any one card, it’s all the balances on all your cards divided by the total of all the revolving credit lines.

  12. Smoovy Loco said:

    To answer your question, the scoring system allows anywhere between 25-30% usage at any time. As far as “repairing damage” this aspect of your credit score is the the easiest to control. Since your score fluctuates from month to month, it will depend on what your current balance is at the time when it reports. So as I’ve said before, by keeping the balance no more than 25-30% of your available credit at any given time, should work out well.


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