I have a bank account and some credit cards with just enough to pay the bills. The rest are in crypto. It's more convenient and you do build up a good credit rating or credit score if you pay off all your cards or keep utilization below 5%.
When you guys talk about credit utilization.... do you mean something like deferring payments instead of paying the bill at end of month?
Never knew anyone that would do that. Looks suicidal considering the extreme interest. I would expect someone having to resort to that type of credit to be on the verge of bankruptcy already. Same with the people leasing or buying cars on credit (although I know some of those).
Utilization (for credit rating purposes) is usually the balance at the time of the statement or whenever the bank reports it to the CRA. So you can have some utilization (under 10% preferably) and pay it off without interest within the grace period, 20-30 days.
Edit: I drive a leased car. With interest rates near 0% it makes sense for a couple of reasons - opportunity cost and depreciation risk.
As long as it is interest free it is ok for me. Credit cards are convenient. But if I had to pay ANY interest I would resort to other payment options. It's no wonder they keep bombarding with the "great" conditions of their payment deferrals. The irony is that I would give NO credit to anyone that really was willing to pay that outrageous interest (looks really desperate and incapable of repayment).
ABout the leased cars... if you can do it with a negligible interest rate or you can deduct it as a business expense that is a very different thing. If you did it because you were UNABLE to pay it upfront and instead opted to pay outrageous interest fees over a few years that is again a sign of walk to the path of bankruptcy, it's those ppl who I was referring to. Although the credit card thing looks much more critical to me.