Creditors and lenders don’t make there money from annualfees on credit cards.  They make theremoney on the interest that you pay each month. If you are paying off your balances each month, the creditors andlenders aren’t making any money.  Creditors want to see someone that can maintain a balance each month andmake payments on time.  This goes a longway in showing your credit worthiness and actually is built into the algorithmthat calculates your credit score. 

Your debt to credit ratio is very simple to calculate.  Suppose you have a credit card with a $10,000limit.  If your balance on this card is$2500 then your debt to credit ratio would be 25%.  A good ratio to maintain to help raise yourscore would be between 30-35%.  Your ratio is based on all your credit card limits andbalances and combined.  This actuallygives you some flexibility.

If you had a limit on one card of $5000 and a balance of$3250 then your debt to credit ratio would be around 75%.  To fix this you could pay off a big portionof your balance or you could ask the creditor to raise your limit to$10,000.  The latter costs you no moneybut alters your ratio to around 35%. With multiple cards there are many combinations to achieve a good creditratio by upping the limits on some cards and paying down others.  I think you get the idea.

It may not be necessary to maintain this high ratio on yourcredit cards all the time.  Use thistechnique to build your credit fast.   Ifyou will soon be in the market to get a home loan or auto loan, perhaps beginmoving towards this ratio several months before shopping for a loan.  Once you get a loan you can let this ratio godown to something more manageable.

This is just one little technique that can have hugeramifications on your credit score.  Ihope it helps.  And remember to make allyour payments on time.  This can’t bestressed enough.  Those 30 and 60 daylate payments will kill your credit faster than you can repair it.   Good luck!