How low should I go?

[evo2]

I'm trying to boost my credit score so I can refinancing my mortgage.

My debt is spread out fairly equally over 5 cards, but the average debt to credit ratio is about 65% with one up to 80%

I plan on selling some stock to pay down a good chunck of the debt.

I'm shooting to get below 30%, but only if it will help significantly more than getting under 50%.

Obviously the lower the better, but I don't want to sell anymore stock than I have to.

Any thoughts on how much better getting below 30% is vs 50%?

Thanks.

[nvangel08]

That is a really good question. I was told that keeping it between 1-9% is what keeps your score really good. I am no expert and am working on getting my debt down to that myself. When I find out what worked for me I can let you know.

[user5387]

As already mentioned, optimal utilization is less than 30%, and typically consists of letting one card report a balance of 1-9% of that card's CL, and all other cards at $0.

Whether you want to aim for this, and how much it would benefit you, is difficult to say.

Another way of improving utilization is trying to isolate a carried balance on a single card, and let all the others report $0.