Plain-English explanations, worked examples, and checklists for credit utilization — how revolving balances compare to credit limits, how statement balances differ from what you owe today, and how utilization relates to common scoring models.
Educational purposes only. Not financial advice. No utilization level guarantees a specific score change.
| Path | Purpose |
|---|---|
docs/what-credit-utilization-means.md |
Definition and per-card vs overall math |
docs/statement-balance-vs-current-balance.md |
Why reported balances may differ from your app |
docs/utilization-and-score-models.md |
How utilization fits among score factors |
examples/utilization-examples.md |
Walkthrough scenarios with numbers |
checklists/utilization-review-checklist.md |
Periodic review checklist |
data/utilization-example-scenarios.json |
Machine-readable example scenarios |
data/link-map.json |
Credit Plainly and official source index |
Credit Plainly hosts a free educational calculator (runs in your browser; does not send your numbers to a server):
- How do I get and keep a good credit score? — CFPB
- Credit reports and scores key terms — CFPB
- What's in your FICO Score — FICO education (model publisher)
- What affects your credit score
- How to improve your credit score
- How to build credit
- Credit score terms glossary
- Promise that lowering utilization will raise your score by a set amount
- Recommend specific credit cards or balance-transfer products
- Replace reading your own statements and credit reports
This repository is maintained by Credit Plainly, an educational credit literacy project.