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Credit Utilization Calculator

Created by Mateusz Tkaczyk
Reviewed by Bogna Szyk and Steven Wooding
Based on research by
Brigham, E.F.; Ehrhardt, M.C. Financial Management: Theory and Practice; 2016
Last updated: Jan 18, 2024


Credit utilization calculator is a tool that will help you easily see how much of your entire credit limit is in use.

Many of us use credit cards, often more than one. This calculator will help you manage your debt balance and analyze the credit utilization chart, which explains the importance of credit utilization for your credit score. Go to the next section, "what is credit utilization ratio?" to find more details.

What is the credit utilization ratio?

The credit utilization ratio is a value that measures how much credit is currently in use. Having a credit card gives you access to a limited amount of cash. The value that is already used, divided by the entire credit card limit, is the credit utilization rate.

In the next section you will discover why it is essential to keep track of the loan balance.

Benefits of knowing your credit utilization ratio

You may wonder what the reason for calculating the credit card utilization rate is. We are here to help. Check the points below to know why you should monitor your credit utilization.

  1. Banks offer lots of financial products to provide you more money - like loans, mortgages, or credit cards. To check if you will be able to pay off the debt, they will look for your credit limits, credit history, and finally, your credit card utilization to know if you had any difficulties in paying off your previous debts.

  2. The credit utilization ratio is an essential value for the banks as it remains unchanged once you are paying off one debt (as you do with a credit card — you can find out more at our credit card payoff calculator) using another one. This value alone provides more adequate data as you might have used all the credit from one credit line, but still have many other lines opened to prove that there are no issues with your cash flow.

  3. Thanks to credit utilization rate, you may manage your calculated budgets. Keeping track of cash from all credit lines is used to take a big picture on your balance.

  4. The tool will help you understand if the credit lines you already have are sufficient, or you need to ask for a bigger limit. Once the credit utilization rate is high, it may be helpful to increase the limit to keep the cash flow stable.

  5. Your credit utilization may be low for an extended period, which means that the credit limit you have maybe too big. You may try to reduce this limit so that your creditworthiness (how the banks see you as a potential borrower) improves.

🙋 Loans may be hard to understand: Omni provides you with a collection of useful tools: try our loan calculator, the loan repayment calculator, or, after reading this article, the loan balance calculator!

Credit card utilization affects your credit score - which is how the Bank perceives you as a client. Below you may find a credit utilization ratio table to see how it impacts your credit score.

Credit utilization scale
Credit utilization scale - from excellent to very poor.

Credit card utilization rate formula

Credit utilization calculator is based on the formula:

Credit utilization rate = Total credit used / Total credit limit

where:

  • Total credit used - the sum of used cash from all the credits; and

  • Total credit limit - the sum of all your credit limits.

Follow the next section to see an example and understand how the credit utilization calculator works.

Credit card utilization example

Let's imagine a household in which there are three credit cards used with different limits.

  • Husband's Credit Card - $1,400 used from the limit of $4,000
  • Wife's Credit Card - $1,100 used from the limit of $4,000
  • Credit Card used by both of them - $2,500 used from the limit of $7,000

Based on the above condition, let's calculate the credit utilization ratio for the entire household.

Credit Utilization Rate = Total Credit Used / Total Credit Limit

Credit Utilization Rate = ($1,400 + $1,100 + $2,500) / ($4,000 + $4,000 + $7,000)

Credit Utilization Rate = $5,000 / $15,000 = 33.33%

This value means that the household uses one-third of all the credit lines. Such an amount should be safe, as you can still use two thirds in the future.

Try your values in the credit utilization calculator!

FAQ

What is my credit utilization if I used $500 with a limit of $2000

Your credit utilization ratio is 25%. To find your credit utilization ratio, follow these simple steps:

  1. Divide the utilized quotas of your credits by the limit: $500/$2000 = 0.25.
  2. To express your result as a percentage, multiply the output of the last step by 100 and add the symbol %: 0.25 × 100 = 25%.

How does the credit utilization ratio affects my credit score?

A high credit utilization ratio indicates bad spending habits, or possibly problems in repaying debts. Banks can assess the trustworthiness of a client according to intervals of credit utilization ratio:

  • From 0% to 9%: excellent credit utilization.
  • From 10% to 29%: good credit utilization.
  • From 30% to 49%: fair credit utilization.
  • From 50% to 74%: poor credit utilization.
  • From 75% to 100%: very poor credit utilization.

Is a low credit utilization ratio always good?

Generally speaking, yes, a low credit utilization ratio is good, as it warrants you all the possible credit score points. However, a credit utilization ratio of 0% can be too low and indicate a static client, which can make you look not as inviting to banks. If you want to maximize your credit score, aim for a credit utilization ratio of 1%!

How do I calculate the credit utilization ratio on all my lines?

To calculate your credit utilization ratio on all your credit lines, follow these simple steps:

  1. Sum the credit utilization for all your credit lines.
  2. Sum the limits on all your credit lines.
  3. Divide the total credit utilization by the total limit.

To express the result as percentage, simply multiply the result by 100, and add the % symbol.

Mateusz Tkaczyk
Credit line 1
Money used
$
Credit limit
$
Credit line 2
Money used
$
Credit limit
$
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