Your total credit limit is the combined maximum you can borrow across every open revolving account in your name. If you hold three credit cards with limits of $5,000, $8,000, and $12,000, your total credit limit is $25,000. That single number matters because it sits on the bottom of the credit utilization ratio, which drives roughly 30 percent of a typical FICO score.1myFICO. How Owing Money Can Impact Your Credit Score
How to Calculate It
Add the maximum balance allowed on every open revolving account you have. A Visa at $10,000, a store card at $3,000, and a personal line of credit at $7,000 gives you a total credit limit of $20,000.
You can find each limit on your monthly statements, in your issuer’s app, or on your credit reports. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion each list the limit for every open revolving account. Free weekly reports are available at AnnualCreditReport.com, the federally authorized source.
Which Accounts Count
Only revolving accounts — those with a reusable credit line — feed into the total. The usual ones are:
- Standard credit cards from Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover.
- Store credit cards branded to a specific retailer or merchant group.
- Personal lines of credit, typically unsecured, offered by banks.
- Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), secured by your home.
Installment loans do not count. A mortgage, auto loan, student loan, or personal loan involves a fixed sum on a set repayment schedule, so there is no revolving line to include.
Why the Number Matters for Your Score
Total credit limit is the denominator in your credit utilization ratio. Divide total revolving balances by total credit limit and you have your utilization rate. Owing $4,000 against a $20,000 total limit gives 20 percent utilization.2myFICO. How FICO Scores Look at Credit Card Limits
Lower is generally better. People with FICO scores between 800 and 850 average about 7 percent utilization; those in the 580–669 range average around 61 percent.3Experian. What Is a Credit Utilization Rate? The commonly cited 30 percent line isn’t a bright line. It’s roughly where higher utilization starts to bite harder. Single digits are ideal.
Zero isn’t better than low, though. If you never use your cards, you generate no payment history, and issuers may reduce your limit or close the account entirely — which shrinks your total and can push utilization up on whatever remains.4Experian. Is 0% Utilization Good for Credit Scores
Each Card Is Scored Too
Scoring models look at utilization on each individual card, not just the total. A single card maxed at 100 percent can pull your score down even when your overall utilization is low.3Experian. What Is a Credit Utilization Rate? Spreading spending across cards keeps both numbers in check.
What Closing a Card Does
Close a card and its limit vanishes from your total. If you carry any balance elsewhere, your utilization jumps immediately. Say your total limit is $30,000 with $3,000 in balances — that’s 10 percent utilization. Close a card with a $10,000 limit and the total drops to $20,000, so the same $3,000 balance now reads as 15 percent utilization. The bigger the closed card’s limit relative to what remains, the sharper the hit.
How Authorized User Status Changes the Total
When someone adds you as an authorized user on their card, that card’s full limit typically appears on your credit report and counts toward your total. Suppose you carry $500 and $800 on two personal cards with $2,000 and $3,000 limits. Being added to a card with a $10,000 limit and a $1,000 balance drops your total utilization from about 26 percent to roughly 15 percent.5Experian. Will Being an Authorized User Help My Credit?
The reverse applies too. If the primary cardholder runs the balance up, that balance shows on your report and pushes your utilization higher. You don’t control how they use the card, so the strategy depends on trust.
How to Increase Your Total Credit Limit
Raising the total lowers utilization without paying down a cent of debt. A few ways to do it:
- Ask your current issuer for an increase through the app or website. Approvals are more likely once the account has been open for several months and your income has grown since opening.6Experian. When’s a Good Time to Request a Credit Limit Increase
- Update the income on file with your issuer. Card companies can act on the figures you report and often don’t verify them independently, so a raise or new job is worth entering.7Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 1026.51 Ability to Pay
- Wait for an automatic increase. Many issuers periodically review accounts and raise limits for customers who pay on time and keep utilization low.
- Open a new card. Each new account adds its limit to the total, which can outweigh the temporary score dip from applying.
Mind the Hard Inquiry
Both limit-increase requests and new-card applications can produce a hard inquiry. A hard inquiry usually costs fewer than five points and affects your score for about a year, though it stays visible on your report for two.8myFICO. Do Credit Inquiries Lower Your FICO Score? Some issuers use only a soft inquiry for increase requests, which has no score impact. Call the number on the back of your card if you want to confirm before submitting.
How the Total Can Shrink on Its Own
A limit you never use isn’t guaranteed to stay. Issuers may reduce a limit or close an account outright after an extended period of no activity, often around 12 months or more. Either move cuts your total credit limit and can raise your overall utilization.
On non-home-secured accounts like standard credit cards, an issuer that decreases your limit has to give at least 45 days’ advance notice before charging an over-the-limit fee or applying a penalty rate tied to the new lower limit.9eCFR. 12 CFR 226.9 – Subsequent Disclosure Requirements That window doesn’t require notice of the reduction itself, only protection from penalties tied to a change you didn’t know about. A small purchase on each card every few months keeps accounts active and preserves the total.
What Happens If You Go Over a Limit
Exceeding a single card’s limit spikes that card’s utilization and can bring fees or a higher interest rate. Federal law limits what an issuer can charge without your consent. A card company cannot assess an over-the-limit fee unless it first gave you a clear notice describing the fee, got your affirmative consent to opt in, and confirmed that consent in writing or electronically.10eCFR. 12 CFR 226.56 – Requirements for Over-the-Limit Transactions If you never opted in, the issuer can still approve the transaction, but it can’t charge you a fee for it.
Fees aren’t the only cost. Going over the limit can trigger a penalty interest rate, and the opt-in notice has to disclose any increased rate that could apply.10eCFR. 12 CFR 226.56 – Requirements for Over-the-Limit Transactions Penalty rates often run well above the standard rate. If you haven’t opted in, many issuers simply decline the transaction at the register.