Credit Utilization Calculator
Find out your credit utilization ratio by entering your total credit card balances and limits. Credit utilization is the second most important factor in your credit score, accounting for roughly 30% of your FICO score.
Credit utilization is calculated by dividing your total credit card balances by your total credit limits. If you owe $3,200 across all cards with a combined limit of $15,000, your utilization is about 21.3%.
Most credit experts recommend keeping utilization below 30%, and people with the highest credit scores typically keep theirs under 10%. Going above 30% can start to ding your score, and maxing out cards (approaching 100%) can cause significant damage. The good news is that utilization has no memory. Once you pay down balances, your score adjusts with the next reporting cycle.
Both your overall utilization and per-card utilization matter. Having one card at 90% utilization and another at 0% is worse than having both at 20%, even if the overall number is the same. Try to spread balances across cards when possible.
If your utilization is too high, you have two options: pay down balances or request credit limit increases. A higher limit with the same balance automatically lowers your utilization rate. Just be careful not to treat a higher limit as an invitation to spend more.