Your credit utilization ratio is how much debt you have relative to how high your total credit limit is and this ratio plays a big role in calculating your credit score. Keep your debts below 33% of your total limit as much as possible and try to avoid dramatically increasing this ratio within a short period of time. If you maintain a flexible amount of available credit, credit reporting agencies will consider you more of a low-risk borrower. But remember that certain types of debt, like government-backed loans, usually have a lesser impact on your score than do revolving products like credit cards.