More deposit cash or lower "other debts" - which is preferred by a lender?

Evening folks,
Myself and partner are starting to try and plan our finances to allow us at some point in the not too dim and distant future to consider trying for a mortgage.

Now I know that ideally one would have no other debts and a great big deposit however that is not going to be the case for quite some time unfortunately.

At the moment we have "cash" available that would give us the 5% that the 95% ltv products are looking for but we do each have existing credit card balances. Whilst not small, they are perfectly manageable in terms of the monthly commitment and are all on long term low/zero interest deals if that makes any difference.

What I am trying to find out is whether it would be more useful to retain any additional cash we have in the future after the basics to increase the deposit amount or use that spare to reduce credit card balances or a bit of both?

I appreciate it may make no difference, one is still in the same net position regardless but I just wondered . e.g. say we were considering a newbuy mortgage deal (or an open market 95% deal for that matter) which requires a min 5% deposit. If you have a 7% deposit and a slightly higher level of existing debt, does that make you any more/less risky than a 5% deposit with lower existing debt?

Thanks for any guidance either way!

All the best,

Sandy