How do you calculate your debt to credit ratio?

Question

Or is it credit to debt ratio? Either way, I am a college student with 1k of bad marks on my credit report from years ago. I want to get a secured credit card for the amount that would look good to lenders like "this person pays on time and has a valuable credit history w/some lenders" (ie my dell account is on there which is good and the secured card would add to it).

Am I making sense? How can I do this? I'd rather not pay off the measley 1k, it should be removed within a few years anyway.

Answer 1

Credit to debt ratio is the amount of available credit divided by balances owed an easy way to improve that to a faster score is to get balances down to below 60% less is even better. You can pay down accounts to that level or in many cases have the card service raise your limit even if you don't use the card.