Amount of debt on each card counts toward a person's credit score

By Angela Hawke on Mar 10th, 2010

One of the main ways that a person can help improve their credit score is through making sure their credit utilization ratio is low.

However, a recent post on her website from personal finance expert Liz Pulliam Weston noted that it is not just overall credit use that is considered by FICO when calculating a score. The company also considers the credit utilization ratio of each card a person has.

"There's no hard and fast rule about how much of your available credit you should use on each account," Pulliam Weston wrote. "The less you use, the better."

There are a number of other things that can affect a person's credit score in addition to how much credit they use. For example, payment history plays a factor, as late payments can lower a score.

Other things that can lower a score including defaulting on loans or needed to declare bankruptcy, which can haunt a consumer's credit report for a number of years.

Though many consumers may consider bankruptcy when dealing with debt, there are other options they could contemplate before walking down that road. For example, a debt management plan might lower the amount of interest a person pays on their credit card debt.

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