What is the best suggestion for building and maintaining a good credit score?

Maintaining a good credit score is essential for financial health, and keeping debt low while paying bills on time is the most effective strategy for achieving this. A significant factor in credit scoring models is payment history, which accounts for a large portion of your score. Making payments on time demonstrates reliability to creditors and helps build a positive credit history.

Additionally, managing debt levels contributes to a lower credit utilization ratio, which is another critical component of credit scoring. Keeping outstanding debt low in relation to your available credit limits shows lenders that you are not overly reliant on credit and can manage your finances responsibly.

In contrast, maximizing credit card limits could potentially lead to higher debt levels and increased risk of missed payments, which might harm your credit score. Applying for multiple credit cards can also be detrimental because each application can result in a hard inquiry on your credit report, which might lower your score. Avoiding all loans is not a practical approach either, as establishing a credit history often requires responsible use of credit, including loans or credit cards, to build a solid score over time. Overall, option A provides a balanced approach to maintaining creditworthiness.