High Balance

[elim]

i can see on my CR's that before my past credit meltdown the "high balance" areas of my revolving accounts were very high (4.7k of 5k, etc.). with my new low limit cards it is hard to keep that number below a decent % but if and when i get some luv... "below what percentage should a keep my Historic High Balance on each card and how important is it?"

[adavis425]

Some say 30% is ideal. For optimal scoring, if that's what you're after, 10% (or less, but not 0) of your total CL on one card seems to be the magic number. YMMV, of course.

[Anonymous]

Agree with the other poster.

[SevenNEW]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Agree with the other poster.

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+1. More in detail, let only one card report below 10%, and pay off the other cards before the statement is generated, so that they will report 0.

[elim]

yeah my balances report between 1% and 9% each month but i have high balance of 80%. i have $500 limits so i guess anything that costs more than $45(9%) or $150(30%) i'll have to pay cash until CLI? back to the debit cards. thanks

[ezdoesit]

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@elim wrote:

i can see on my CR's that before my past credit meltdown the "high balance" areas of my revolving accounts were very high (4.7k of 5k, etc.). with my new low limit cards it is hard to keep that number below a decent % but if and when i get some luv... "below what percentage should a keep my Historic High Balance on each card and how important is it?"

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I would keep my total util under 10% and have no card reporting more than 30%.

[elim]

in my CR's i have a "Balance" that reported that month. and a "high balance" that has never been a statement balance. it was just my biggest purchase that was PIF the next day. that is the stat i'm refering to.

[SevenNEW]

Ah, so it's a balance that never reported. I don't really know, but my sense is I doubt it would be relevant for your score, nor that it would really change any lenders' view of your file. One thing is to make a large purchase and pay responsibly, another is to carry a balance for months and show you are not able to pay it off.

[elim]

yeah for rewards i put all of my purchases on 1 of 2 $500 limit cards and pif ($400) 3 or 4 times a month and leave a $10 balance to report. it must matter if there is a place on my CR's for that mid statement balance. hrmmm, i think i'll play it safe and never buy anything bigger than $300 on a $1k card before PIF. thanks again

[User11]

I am also interested to know how "High Balance" affects credit scores.

There seems to be some confusion in this thread about the term. "High Balance" is just another field on my credit report that is reported among other things such as statements balance and credit limit. Experian defines it as "The highest amount that you have owed on an account to date." (http://www.experian.com/credit-education/glossary.html#h). Some banks do not even report it at all (e.g. BoA) while others do (e.g. AmEx, Cap1).

From my practical experience it appears High Balance is not taken into consideration by the FICO score algorithm but I just wanted to double check with others who are more knowledgable on the subject than me.

Thanks for your responses!