If you have the means, it is ALWAYS better to pay the card balance off in full each month but only AFTER the statement cuts. In other words, don’t pay the bill until you receive the statement telling you exactly what you owe.
A zero balance will always look better than carrying one no matter what anyone tells you. If you must carry a balance, then always pay more than the minimum amount due. I like to shoot for at least double the minimum payment and then round up.
Next to paying your bills on time, available credit is the most important factor in increasing your credit score. The more you owe your creditors the lower your credit score. The less you owe your creditors the higher your credit score.
Most professionals recommend that you keep your utilization at 30% or below but Ideally, your credit utilization should be at 10% or less than the overall amount of combined credit that you have access to.
I have recently put this through a test and have found that my credit score was much higher at 10% utilization than it was at 30% and even higher at 5%. Having said that, everyone is not in the position to pay their bills down that low so I’d say that 30% is a good goal to shoot for and anything less will make your scores soar.
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