Credit Utilisation Ratio
Usage Examples
"Thandi has a R15,000 credit card limit. She owes R8,000. Her utilisation is 53%. That's too high — her credit score dropped 20 points. She paid down to R4,500 (30%) and watched her score bounce back up."
"Nomsa has four store cards totalling R40,000 limit. She owes R35,000 across them. That's 87.5% utilisation. Eish. When she applied for a new loan, lenders saw her as overextended. She paid down to R12,000 (30%) and then the new loan approval came easy."
"Sipho learned: utilisation matters more than owning credit. He got approved for R50,000 across multiple accounts but never used more than 30% at any time. His credit score stayed at 720+. His mate maxed everything out and his score tanked to 580. Same available credit, different discipline."