Hi Ciera. Sounds like you are a little confused about what we are saying. There are three factors that FICO looks at connected with credit cards:
(1) Total Utilization. This is your total CC debt (across all cards) divided by your total credit limit (all open cards added together, including those with a zero balance).
(2) Individual Utilization. This is your CC debt divided by your credit limit for each card considered by itself.
(3) Number of Open Accounts reporting a positive balance. This is an integer number like 0, 1, 2, etc. For example, if you had four open loans and three open cards, then you'd have 5, 6, or 7 accounts reporting a balance (since the open loans all have a positive balance). It's also possible that FICO looks at ratios here: in that case you'd have 5/7, 6/7, or 7/7 reporting a balance. Note that a card is reporting a balance even if that balance is a tiny number: e.g. if a card has a balance of $1 then it is reporting a balance.
#1 and #2 are the two kinds of revolving utilization. #3 is something else entirely, and it has nothing to do with credit limits. #1 has the hugest affect on your score, #2 the next biggest effect (assuming none of your cards are maxxed out), and #3 typically has the smallest effect by far.
Does that help?
PS. There is one more kind of "utilization" which people here often call Installment Utilization. It is confined to loans and other similar installment accounts. When your loans are mostly but not entirely paid off, your IU is low which is good. When you still owe most of the original loan amount, your IU is high. This can cost you about 35 points in the FICO 8 model.
