Definition
Credit Utilization
The share of your available credit that you are currently using.
Credit utilization is your total credit card balances divided by your total credit limits, shown as a percentage. If you owe $1,000 across cards with a $5,000 combined limit, your utilization is 20 percent.
It is one of the largest factors in a credit score. Keeping utilization under about 30 percent, and ideally under 10 percent, helps your score, because high utilization signals you may be overextended.