What is credit utilisation?
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In short: Credit utilisation is the percentage of your available revolving credit that you are currently using — mainly credit card limits. Lenders and credit reference agencies often view utilisation below about 25–30% as healthier; maxing out cards can lower your credit score even if you pay on time.
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Reviewed by Kaiser Khan
If you have a credit card with a £5,000 limit and a £2,500 balance, your utilisation on that card is 50%. Credit scoring models also look at overall utilisation across all cards and sometimes at your highest single-card utilisation. Lower usage suggests you are not overly reliant on credit.
Utilisation is calculated on your statement balance and reported balances, not necessarily what you pay off each month. Paying in full before the statement date can reduce the balance reported to credit reference agencies, though the main benefit of paying in full is avoiding interest.
Increasing a credit limit lowers utilisation if your spending stays the same — but only if you do not spend more as a result. Opening new cards raises total available credit, which can help utilisation, but multiple recent applications can hurt your score through hard searches.
Utilisation does not affect everyone equally — it is one factor among payment history, electoral roll registration, length of credit history and public records. For mortgage applications, lenders focus more on affordability and whether you make minimum payments, but high utilisation can still flag financial stress.
Primary source: moneyhelper.org.uk/en/everyday-money/credit/credit-cards
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