Not using enough of my revolving credit??

dan8030

Hello, I am currently in the process of buying a new house, I have my mortgage offer and as part of the offer I needed to clear the balances of 2 of my credit cards, which I have done and have also cleared the balance on my other credit card, all good so far. I am keeping an eye on my credit files ensuring that they are being updated.
However, I have received messages from some credit reference sites advising that 'I am not using enough of my revolving credit and that by doing so this could impact my credit score'.  I am not sure what this means? Surely by not using the credit cards, this can only be a good thing can't it?  Or should be using the 1 not included against my mortgage offer and just keep paying the bill off each month in full?
Any advice and guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Sandtree

You've been told by the mortgage provider what to do... ignore all other advice until the mortgage is in the bank.

Outside of that, "credit score" is a random number generator that is used for almost nothing other than for making money for credit reference agencies. A lender never sees that number, they get passed your credit history and make their decisions based on that data not the "score". Each lender has its own methodology for risk assessment and so what one bank likes another may dislike.

Existing credit, generally speaking, is a set of conflicting considerations... lenders like to see that others trust you and that you are using that trust responsibly (hence them advising you to use your cards) however at some point the use gets too much and it may start looking like you are in financial distress. 

dan8030

Great - thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

born_again

As far as any lender goes the main point they look at is credit history and if there are any missed payments.
Forget the rubbish about % of credit used etc. This is a myth started by the credit ref co's. Made even worse now by them being able to offer products from other companies and get a nice kick back for these being taken up.