Credit card limit utilization

CLAPTON

Cycrow wrote: »

Thats not completely true, you can still struggle to get credit if you have high utilisation, regardless of income.

i was infact in the same situation you describe, my salary is 30k, i had about 3k limits, and was at over 90% use. And i struggled to get any more credit. One of the rejections even quoted the high usage as the problem
I eventually got another card at 3k, and since then, i've had much less trouble

were you paying in full each month?

eskbanker

skybluesaver wrote: »

Thankyou. I think i'll keep on making the occasional extra payment to my accounts when necessary to keep them below the 30% utilization rate. Sure i read somewhere sometime ago that this was the percentage that providers thought was responsible to stay below.

If you're paying them off in full every month, there's no need to make extra payments in between clearing the monthly statemented balances.

skybluesaver

When i view my credit report it quite clearly shows the current credit card balances, credit limit & how much spent & paid each month. It also gives a percentage of used available credit & anything over 30% utilization is shown as a negative point.

YorkshireBoy

skybluesaver wrote: »

When i view my credit report it quite clearly shows the current credit card balances, credit limit & how much spent & paid each month. It also gives a percentage of used available credit & anything over 30% utilization is shown as a negative point.

That's what Experian (or whoever) think. What matters more is what prospective lenders will think...and it won't necessarily be the same as Experian's (or whoever) generic view of credit utilisation.

Yes, if you're carrying a £10K debt out of £30K available, making minimum payments, not on a promotional rate, and on a £30K salary, prospective lenders may view it (perhaps slightly) negatively, but if you've small limits, a reasonable salary, and are clearing in full each month then they'll not be alarmed by your 30% month-on-month utilisation.

All in my opinion of course.