Credit cards are a wonderful tool to help you get more out of your spending, but they can also be a temptation that keeps you in debt. It all depends on how you choose to use them. However, even those who manage their credit cards wisely might be prone to these top three mistakes. Are you guilty of one?

1. Your Card Utilization is Too High

A major factor that affects your credit score is your credit card utilization. This percentage is based on the balances you have on each card compared to how much of a credit card line you have. For example, if you only have two cards with a $300 limit but you are at that limit, then your credit score will be penalized. On the other hand, if you have $5,000 of credit card debt but a $50,000 credit line on the card, your score will fare better.

But wait! Are you saying that a person with less credit card debt could possibly have a lower credit score because of their credit card limits? I know it doesn’t seem fair, but that is how about 25-30% of your score is determined. Even though the second person has more debt, they are showing that they can handle large credit lines without going overboard.

Luckily, there are two easy solutions to solve this issue. The first is to ask the card issuers for a credit line increase. Only ask for one if you can stay away from the temptation of spending. The second way to improve your card utilization ratio is to decrease the amount of debt…

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