Carrying a balance with Barclays

[creditlady]

I have a toy $500 limit with them for the past 5 years. I really hadn't used this card as of late since the line is so low. Do they like to see me carry a balance with them before they will grant a CLI? Should I rack up close to 100% each month then pay it down to 1% before the statement cuts?

[TheGardner]

Yes! Barclay requires use and likes to see some balance. There are some good threads around with good information for Barclaycard including a post where they explained reasoning behind CLI/D

[masscredit]

Barclays seems like it's a card that you have to maintain while others you can just have. 

[nachoslibres]

Use will matter more than balance (if that even matters).  They can tell when a card is being used and I don't see why carrying a balance would make much of difference.  I've had no issues getting CLIs (I think both of mine have been HPs - I didn't wait around for auto-CLIs) because I got tired of having to make payments every 1-2 weeks to stay under the limit and I usually always pay off the balance before the statement cuts.