Credit Advice

Your report has to show that you actually do utilize credit, and utilize it well. The key is being able to show a balance at the time that the bank reports the information to the credit agencies, but also pay it off monthly, if you'd like.

I pay mine off every month. But, between the time of my statement and when I pay it off, I tend to have at least a couple of charges, so when I pay off the monthly balance, I still have a balance.

There are three dollar amounts that get reported that go into the credit score: credit limit, balance, high balance. The high balance shows that you do use. Some banks only report the balance on the day they report. Others look at your overall account activity. I don't believe a value here can be decreased at any time. Once a high balance is set, it can only be increased should you have a larger balance.

Again, your utilization reported is reflected by the balance at the time your bank submits its monthly update to the credit agencies. You can leverage this site by getting your scores updated regularly and having a balance or different balances on your card to figure out about when they report.

From that, you can plan when you would pay, etc.

Your utilization is the amount of debt you are using with your cards. For example if your total credit card limits are $1000 and you make a $100 purchase, your utilization would be 10%. Because you pay your bill in full each month you are not reporting any debt. That being said with your 0% utilization you are reporting zero debt which is awesome and that can't get any better.