 TITLE: What You Need to Know About the New FICO<sup>®<\/sup> 10 Scores CONTENT: Credit Card Debt Will Have a Bigger Impact With FICO® 10\n--------------------------------------------------------\nOne of the most important metrics that credit scoring systems consider is the amount of your credit card balances compared with your credit limits. This is called \"credit utilization,\" and is calculated by dividing your credit card balances by your credit limits. For example, if you have $5,000 of credit card debt and $10,000 of total available credit, then your utilization is 50%. The lower that percentage, the better it is for all of your credit scores.\nWhile credit utilization has long been a component of credit scoring models, its impact will be more pronounced in FICO® 10.\nYou can achieve lower utilization in several ways. First, if you use credit cards sparingly and avoid large balances, your utilization will likely remain low. And if your credit card issuers increase your credit limits, your utilization percentage will go down—unless you charge larger amounts to those credit cards. Finally, if you leave your unused or infrequently used credit cards open rather than closing them, your scores will continue to benefit from the unused credit limit in the form of lower utilization. END