<prompt> Human: I decided I want to start building credit before I graduate from college and I just got my first card like literally today. Ive been told and have seen online that I should stick to using no more than 30 of my credit every month. How strictly should I adhere to this? Im in a bit of a bind where I need to purchase a plane ticket by tomorrow and my parents usually cover plane ticket expenses since they are pretty big for me as a college student but they couldnt this time so Im going to have to buy it with my credit card and pay it back after my parents give me the money to cover the ticket which should be before my billing cycle. The problem is that the ticket will cost somewhere between 150 and 200 which is 15 - 20 of my credit line I was approved for 1000 and that doesnt really leave much for my personal expenses before Ive used 30 of my credit line which I mostly planned on using for my necessities like food and stuff. I guess I can always use my debit card Im probably just being too impatient about building credit. Sorry if this is a dumb question, Im new to this; my parents did give me the rundown on how credit cards and credit work but the whole staying under a certain of your credit line is odd to me.  <response>: You can use it to pay for your ticket, even if it goes over 30 usage. The balance that matters is what is reported to the credit bureaus, and that depends on when the credit card reports to them. Honestly, even if you went over 30 for one month then paid it back down under, your credit score would be fine. Going over 30 utilization for one month wont permanently affect your credit score. 