Overview
Being told to “keep utilisation low” is not much help when you cannot clear every card this month. The useful question is what to do with the money you can afford to repay.
A workable plan considers interest, payment deadlines and borrowing levels together. Moving numbers around purely to improve a score can leave the underlying debt unchanged or more expensive.
Quick Answer
Reduce utilisation by lowering reported card balances over time, while keeping all required payments up to date. Check both each card and the combined total. There is no percentage that guarantees approval or a particular score increase.
Do not take expensive borrowing simply to make a ratio look better. Protect essential spending first and base extra repayments on a realistic budget.
Calculate the Starting Position
Utilisation is the balance divided by the credit limit, multiplied by 100.
| Card | Balance | Limit | Utilisation |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | £900 | £1,000 | 90% |
| B | £600 | £3,000 | 20% |
| Combined | £1,500 | £4,000 | 37.5% |
The combined figure does not show that Card A is almost full. Keep both views in your repayment notes.
Experian gives general guidance about lower use of available credit, but its suggestions are not universal lender cut-offs. Read our utilisation explainer for the underlying concept.
What a £200 Repayment Actually Does
Using the example above, paying £200 to Card A reduces its balance to £700 and its utilisation to 70%. The overall balance falls to £1,300, or 32.5% of the combined limit.
Paying the same £200 to Card B also makes overall utilisation 32.5%, but Card A remains at 90%. The allocation changes the individual ratios even though total debt is identical.
That does not automatically make Card A the right repayment priority. If Card B charges much more interest, the cost saving may outweigh a cosmetic improvement in the first card's ratio.
This is why a spreadsheet column for APR belongs beside the balance and limit.
Use a Repayment Order You Can Sustain
Pay the contractual minimum on every account before allocating extra money. Then consider the most expensive borrowing, promotional expiry dates and any immediate risk of exceeding a limit.
Our debt avalanche and snowball comparison explains two ways of prioritising the extra payment. Neither requires pretending a score is more important than the cost of the debt.
If you cannot meet minimum payments after essential bills, the problem has moved beyond optimisation. Contact the lenders and seek free debt advice rather than using another card to conceal the shortfall.
Stop the Balance Rebuilding
A repayment plan is undermined if the card receives £200 but takes another £250 of spending.
Choose how new purchases will be funded and check whether recurring subscriptions are still being charged to the card. You do not have to cancel everything, but you do need to include it in the balance forecast.
For example, a £150 extra payment with £40 of unavoidable new charges reduces the balance by only £110 before interest. Plan using the net reduction rather than the amount transferred from your current account.
Keep a small cash buffer if otherwise every routine expense goes straight back onto the card.
Reporting Dates and Payment Dates Are Different
Paying by the due date protects the payment obligation. The balance supplied to a credit reference agency may come from a different snapshot date.
You can ask the lender when it normally reports, but do not miss a due date while trying to engineer a preferred snapshot. Also check whether a manual payment changes the amount of an upcoming Direct Debit; providers handle this differently.
Allow for the next reporting cycle before evaluating the result. A live banking balance and yesterday's credit-report update are not directly comparable.
Should You Ask for a Higher Limit?
A higher limit can reduce the percentage mathematically without reducing the debt. A £1,500 balance against £5,000 is 30%, but you still owe £1,500.
The lender may run checks, refuse the increase or consider the additional available credit in other decisions. A larger limit can also encourage more spending.
Use our credit-limit increase guide before treating this as a shortcut. Do not assume it is sensible immediately before a mortgage application.
What About Balance Transfers or Closing a Card?
A transfer can lower interest if the fee, promotional period and repayment plan work. It does not eliminate the debt, and opening a new account is a separate application.
Closing an unused card can reduce your total available limit and raise the combined ratio. That is one consideration, alongside fees and the risk of overspending. Read closing an old credit card before deciding.
Frequently Asked Questions
Browse credit-score guides. These examples illustrate arithmetic, not a predicted score change.
