The easiest way to avoid repayment problems and ensure that your borrowing wont place an undue strain on your monthly budget is to limit the use of credit to your ability to repay the debt A useful credit guideline (and one widely used by lenders) is to make sure your monthly repayment burden doesnt exceed 20 percent of your monthly takehome pay Most experts, however, regard the 20 percent figure as the maximum debt burden and strongly recommend a debt safety ratio closer to 15 percent or 10 per