A credit score predicts how likely you are to repay debt on time. Lenders use it to decide whether to approve loans and what interest rate to offer.
FICO Score Ranges
- 800–850: Exceptional
- 740–799: Very Good
- 670–739: Good
- 580–669: Fair
- 300–579: Poor
What Affects Your Score
Payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), credit mix (10%), new credit inquiries (10%).
How to Improve Your Score
The fastest-moving levers are paying down credit card balances (aim to keep utilization under 30%, ideally under 10%) and making every payment on time going forward — a single 30-day late payment can drop a score 60–100+ points. Closing old accounts can hurt your score by shortening average credit history, so it's often better to keep unused cards open with no balance.
FICO vs. VantageScore
FICO is the score most lenders use, but VantageScore (used by many free credit-monitoring apps) weighs factors slightly differently and can show a different number for the same credit report. Neither is "wrong" — they're separate scoring models built on the same underlying data.