Credit Utilization

Credit utilization is the amount of your available credit that is currently in use. It is often expressed as a percentage. Another name for it is "balance-to-limit ratio."

If you have three credit cards with credit limits totaling $10,000 and balances totaling $3,000, your credit utilization would be 30%. Credit utilization is a factor in calculating credit scores, with high credit utilization being a negative factor.