Credit Utilization Calculator
Overall and per-card utilisation, what each target costs to reach, and why closing a card you have paid off makes the number worse.
Utilisation is one input among several, and lenders read the figure reported on your statement date rather than the one after you pay. Nothing here is uploaded or stored.
Closing a card you have paid off makes this worse
Two cards: $2,000 owed on a $3,000 limit, and nothing at all on a $7,000 card you never use. That is 20.0% overall. Close the unused one — the tidy, responsible-feeling move — and the same $2,000 becomes 66.7%. More than 3.3× higher, having borrowed nothing and repaid nothing.
The reason is that the ratio has two halves and closing an empty card only touches one of them. The balance is the numerator; the credit limit is the denominator. An unused card contributes zero to the top and its entire limit to the bottom, so it is doing nothing but helping. Close it and the help stops while the debt stays exactly where it was. Closing a card you are carrying a balance on is different — that moves both halves — but the empty one is pure denominator, and giving it up costs you the whole of it.
The overall figure can hide a maxed-out card
The same $900 of debt across the same $10,000 of total limit is 9.0% overall no matter how it is arranged. But put it all on the small card and that account is at 90%; spread it evenly and nothing is above 9%. Scoring models look at both numbers, so the comfortable aggregate is not the whole answer.
| Same debt, arranged as | Overall | Worst single card |
|---|---|---|
| All on one small card | 9.0% | 90.0% |
| Split evenly | 9.0% | 9.0% |
| All on the large card | 9.0% | 10.0% |
Which is a genuinely actionable difference, because moving a balance between cards you already hold changes the second column without changing the first. It costs nothing and repays nothing — it just stops one account from reporting that it is nearly full.
What each target actually costs
| Bring overall to | Pay down | Leaves owing |
|---|---|---|
| 50% | already there | $2,000 |
| 30% | already there | $2,000 |
| 10% | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| 0% | $2,000 | $0 |
For the wallet above, the first two targets ask for nothing — it is already under both. That is worth noticing before paying down anything: a target you have already met costs zero, and the money is better aimed at whichever card is reporting the highest individual figure.
How to use
- Enter each card with its balance and credit limit.
- Read the overall figure and the worst single card.
- Set a target to see what reaching it would cost.
- Close a card to watch what that does to the ratio.
Frequently asked questions
What is credit utilisation?
The balance you owe divided by your credit limit, as a percentage. It is worked out both across all your cards together and for each card on its own, and both figures are looked at — a comfortable overall number does not help much if one account is reporting that it is nearly full.
Does closing a credit card hurt my utilisation?
If the card has no balance on it, yes, and sharply. Closing removes its limit from the bottom of the ratio while leaving your debt at the top untouched. Two thousand dollars owed on a three thousand limit alongside an unused seven thousand card is twenty per cent; close the unused card and the same two thousand is sixty-seven per cent, having repaid nothing.
So should I never close a card?
Utilisation is one consideration among several. An unused card with no annual fee is doing nothing but helping this particular number, so there is little reason to close it for the ratio’s sake. A card with a fee you are not getting value from is a different question, and one this calculator cannot answer for you.
Is the overall figure the one that matters?
Not on its own. The same debt across the same total limit gives the same overall percentage however it is arranged, but nine hundred dollars on a thousand-dollar card is that account at ninety per cent while the aggregate reads nine. Spreading a balance across cards you already hold changes the second number without changing the first.
What utilisation should I aim for?
Lower is generally better, and the commonly quoted thresholds are thirty per cent and ten per cent. The table here shows what each target costs in repayment for your own figures, including the case where you are already under it and it costs nothing at all.
When is my utilisation measured?
Typically from the balance reported on your statement date, not the balance after you pay. That is why paying in full every month can still leave a high figure on record — the statement was cut before the payment landed. Paying before the statement date, rather than before the due date, is what moves the reported number.
Does a card with no limit break the calculation?
No. A card with a limit of zero contributes nothing to either side rather than producing a division by zero, and closing every card gives zero rather than an infinite ratio.
Does this send anything anywhere?
No. Every figure is computed in your browser, and nothing is uploaded or stored.
🔒 This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded, logged, or stored.