Walmart Credit Card Available Balance

Thank you for your question about your available credit on your Walmart card. There are a few different ways for you to determine how much available credit you have and there are a few reasons why you should make the effort to figure things out.

There are three quick ways for you to figure out your available credit on your Walmart account:

1. Call the Customer Support phone number listed on the back of your card
2. Carefully review your most recent billing statement
3. View your credit report

One reason for you figure out how much credit you have is that it will, at the same time, help you figure out how much debt that you have. I suggest that you start making a budget. Bills.com has a great budget guide that will help you get a handle on your finances and take the right first steps to create some achievable financial goals. Keep an eye on your income, your projected and actual expenses, and your assets and debts. This will help you understand what you have to work with, so you can establish a solid financial plan and monitor the progress you make towards achieving your goals.

Another important reason for you to be on top of your available credit and the size of your debts is so you can take the right steps to build and maintain a good credit rating. Your credit score is determined by looking at various aspects of your finances, such as how much debt you have and your payment history.

A significant portion of your credit score is based on what is called your ‘credit utilization.’ The credit reporting bureaus look at how much of each card’s maximum credit line you are using. While there is no hard and fast rule, it is generally recommended that you keep your monthly balance to less than 35% of any card’s maximum credit line. The fact that you are not sure how much credit you have indicates that you may also be unsure of the size of your current Walmart balance and therefore how it is affecting your credit rating. Even Fair Isaac & Co., the creator of the FICO credit score, is inconsistent in its public statements regarding at what point credit utilization passes from good to bad to severe score damage.

Two factors are taken into consideration when calculating credit utilization. The first is overall utilization. This is calculated by adding together the balances of all of the revolving accounts, then adding together all of the credit limits, and finally dividing the balance by the limit.

Let us look at a simple overall utilization example using sample data:

In the credit score business, a credit account such as a charge card or auto loan is called a tradeline. In the example above, the owner of these three accounts has a 50% overall credit utilization, which is neither in the good territory nor the bad. The credit scoring models do not stop just at overall credit utilization.

Individual credit account utilization is also taken into account when calculating credit utilization. In the example above, the individual account utilizations vary from 30% to 60%. The 60% utilization is likely harming this credit score because even if overall credit utilization is under 30%, any single account above 30% will drag down a score.

Payment history is the No. 1 component in a credit score, accounting s for 35% of a score. Credit utilization is the No. 2 variable and makes up 30% of a credit score.

Therefore, if you pay all of your tradelines 100% of the time, keeping your credit utilization down is the top variable in your credit score. It is also the hardest thing to keep in check for many of us. We are bombarded with messages that happiness and satisfaction is a simple card-swipe away. We buy things we know we don't need and can't afford on credit thinking all we have to do is make the minimum payment next month.

I can’t tell from your question if you have other active credit accounts. If you do not, you should work to set up a few other accounts. I am not recommending that you run up debt, only that you use and pay on a minimum of three active accounts at all times. This will help you build your credit score.

For more information on credit scores please visit our credit resources page.