Credit Utilization Calculator

Credit utilisation is the share of your available revolving credit you are actually using, and after payment history it is the biggest single factor in most credit scores. It is also the easiest to move quickly, because it depends on balances and limits rather than on years of history. Paying down a card can shift a score within a month or two of the new balance being reported. The maths is total revolving balances divided by total credit limits, usually expressed as a percentage. What surprises many people is that it is calculated across all your cards as well as per card. Maxing out one card while others sit empty can hurt even if the total looks reasonable, and conversely a high overall total spread thinly across several cards reads better than one saturated account. The familiar guidance is to stay below thirty per cent, and to aim for under ten per cent for a genuinely strong score. The difference between thirty and ten per cent is often worth several points, so if you are about to apply for a mortgage or a loan it is worth clearing balances down before the lender pulls your report. Closing old cards can backfire, because it removes available credit and pushes the ratio up even though your spending has not changed. Timing matters. Card issuers usually report balances once a month, on or near the statement date, and the figure reported is often the statement balance rather than what you owe today. That means paying before the statement closes can lower the utilisation that gets reported, even if you keep the same spending. Some people make a mid-cycle payment for exactly this reason. This calculator shows your ratio, the range it falls in, and the exact amounts you would need to repay to reach thirty, ten and one per cent. It treats all revolving balances and limits as one pool, which matches how the totals are scored, and it does not predict a specific score change, because every scoring model weighs the factors differently.

This calculator returns estimates for general information only. It is not financial, investment, tax or legal advice, and it cannot replace guidance from a qualified professional who knows your circumstances. Figures such as loan payments, investment growth and retirement projections are simplified models based on the inputs and assumptions you provide, not guarantees of future results.