Your credit score reflects your credit report as it is at that moment. The closer you are to your credit limit, the more risky you may seem to credit lenders. For the most part, you can be seen as a safer risk if your balance is 30% or less of your credit limit. If that’s not possible during these overseas trips, would you be able to make larger weekly payments to get the balance down? Since you don’t know when your lenders are updating your report, it’s hard to know if a high balance or paid-off balance is what is being reported.

Here are some tips on how reducing your credit card balances may help your credit score: http://blog.equifax.com/credit/debt-reduction-why-paying-down-your-credit-card-debt-helps-your-credit-score/

I hope this helps.

My wife and I run a business whereas I will have a credit card with high balances for a month or two. She travels often domestically, Asian and Europe. She also has to purchase products in Europe. The balance might be $10,000 to $15,000 for one trip. This balance is paid off within one or two months. Yet this is another negative for me. At what point is a pattern recognized so that this is not a negative to the credit reporting agencies?

How do the agencies know what our debt to income ratio is? My wife and I make between 250-280k a year, with two mortgages (one is income property), one car payment, no children, and revolving credit cards with high balances paid off regularly. We are by know means in debt beyond our means, everything is paid on time, yet I can’t get a score higher than 780 and it is really starting to aggravate me. What can I do?

Thanks for your advice; it need not be as long as my post!