Does it hurt my credit if I make only the minimum payment on my credit card rather than paying it off in full?

Does it hurt my credit if I make only the minimum payment on my credit card rather than paying it off in full?

The Answer : OC does a good job explaining it, but left out one thing.A major portion of your credit score is determined by your "debt to credit" ratio. They take the total amount of your debt in relation to the total amount of credit limits you have.Example, lets say you have two cards with $1000 and $2000 credit limits, and you have both nearly maxed out ($900 and $1800). Your ration is 90%. The credit bureau's want to see it at around 25%.Remember this is only one factor, but having such a high ratio will lower your credit score several points. You need to stop your credit spending and get your balance down.