<prompt> Human: I want to improve my credit,I can either pay off my whole credit card in one go or pay a small part of the principal interest over time.My question is which one will impact my credit score better?  <response>: Between the two options, pay the thing off. Neither holding a balance long term nor paying interest improve your credit score at all. Pay it off when you get the bill --- and preferably not before, so that a balance does get reported to show utilization 0. 