What is the highest credit card utilization you should have if trying to build your credit score?

Experts advise that your credit utilization should not exceed 30% if you plan to improve or maintain a good credit score. Your credit utilization ratio is calculated not just based on one credit card limit or balance, but the sum of all your active credit cards and their respective credit limits. Your credit utilization ratio is the amount you currently owe divided by the total credit limit.

It accounts for 30% of your FICO® credit score and is considered the “extremely influential” factor on your VantageScore®. Tracking your credit utilization rate regularly helps you manage it and keep it at a minimum. One way to do this is to use credit only when necessary. While 30% is the limit, keeping your credit utilization as low as possible helps improve your credit score. One way to do this is to pay off some or all of your credit card bills as soon as you see it reaching the 30% limit. This way any new credit gets reported as a fresh utilization rate.