 TITLE: Why Is the Credit Card Balance on My Credit Report Different? CONTENT: How Do Credit Card Balances Affect Your Credit?\n-----------------------------------------------\nTo avoid incurring interest on your credit card, you must pay your statement balance in full every month. Otherwise, whatever portion of the statement balance you don't pay will carry over to the following month and will begin to accrue interest.\nIn addition to racking up interest, carrying a balance on your credit card might lower your credit score by increasing your credit utilization ratio. This ratio measures the amount of revolving credit you're using compared with the total amount available on each account and across all your accounts. If your credit utilization rate goes over 30%, your credit score may drop.\nHow does credit utilization work in practice? If you have three credit cards, each with a $5,000 credit limit, you have $15,000 in total available credit. You could use up to $4,500 of your total available credit and still be within the 30% range for overall credit. You could also carry a balance of up to $1,500 per card and remain within the 30% range for each account. If you carry a $2,500 balance on one card, however, you'd be using 50% of that card's available credit, which could hurt your credit score.\nYou can reduce the impact of high credit utilization on your credit score by ensuring none of your card balances cross the 30% threshold. In addition, if you have old credit card accounts you no longer use, keeping them open can help reduce your overall credit utilization by increasing the amount of credit available to you. END