Originally Posted by cdancer20

Well this is mostly up to you. Remember that any balance you run up will show up on your credit report. Even if you lower it later, the max balance may still show up on the report (I'm not 100% sure of how Barclaycard reports it.). However, the most important thing to remember is if you plan to apply for any new credit cards before that year is up, that high balance will show up on your report and could negatively affect the decision and/or your credit limit.