Credit Utilization
The percentage of your available credit that you're currently using.
Credit utilization compares your credit card balances to your total credit limits. It's one of the more heavily weighted factors in credit scoring — keeping utilization low signals you're not relying on credit to get by, independent of whether you carry a balance or pay in full each month.
Worked Example
A $2,000 balance across cards with a combined $10,000 limit is 20% utilization. The same $2,000 balance against a $4,000 limit is 50% utilization — same debt, worse signal.
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