A credit score is a three-digit number that lenders use to determine the risk of loaning money to a borrower.
Credit card companies, auto dealers, and mortgage bankers are among the types of lenders that will check your credit score before deciding how much they are willing to loan you and at what interest rate. Insurance companies and landlords may also look at your credit score to determine how financially responsible you are before issuing an insurance policy or renting out an apartment.
Here are the five biggest factors that affect your score, how they impact your credit, and what a credit score means when you apply for a loan.
Key Takeaways
- Payment history, debt-to-credit ratio, length of credit history, new credit, and the amount of credit you have all play a role in your credit report and credit score.
- Landlords may request a copy of your credit historyor credit score before renting you an apartment.
- Your FICO Scoreonly shows lenders your history of hard inquiries, plus any new lines of credit you opened within a year.
- Experts suggest that you should not close credit card accounts even after paying them off in full because an account’s long history (if it’s strong) will boost your credit score.
What Counts Toward Your Score
Your credit score shows whether or not you have a history of financial stability and responsible credit management. The score can range from 300 to 850.Based on the information in your credit file, major credit agencies compile this score. The FICO Score is the most commonly used credit score, specifically the FICO Score 8, but there are other credit scores, such as the VantageScore.
Here are the elements that make up your FICO Score 8 and how much weight each aspect carries.
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1. Payment History:35%
Your payment history carries the most weight in factors that affect your credit score, because it reveals whether you have a history of repaying funds that are loaned to you. This component of your score considers the following factors:
- Have you paid your bills on time for each account on your credit report? Paying late has a negative effect on your score.
- If you’ve paid late, how late were you: 30 days, 60 days, or 90+ days? The later you are, the worse it is for your score.
- Have any of your accounts been sent to collections? This is a red flag to potential lenders that you might not pay them back.
- Do you have any charge-offs, debt settlements, bankruptcies, foreclosures, lawsuits, wage garnishments or attachments, liens, or public judgments against you? These items of public record constitute the most dangerous marks to have on your credit report from a lender’s perspective.
- The time since the last negative event and the frequency of missed payments affect the credit score deduction. For example, someone who missed several credit card payments five years ago will be seen as less of a risk than a person who missed one big payment this year.
2. Amounts Owed:30%
The FICO Score 8 takes into account your credit utilization ratio, which measures how much debt you have compared to your available credit limits. This second-most important component looks at the following factors:
- How much of your total available credit have you used? If you have a higher credit utilization ratio, lenders will be less likely to believe you can manage more debt.
- How much do you owe on specific types of accounts, such as a mortgage, auto loans, credit cards, and installment accounts? Credit scoring software likes to see that you have a mix of different types of credit and that you manage them all responsibly.
- How much do you owe in total,and how much do you owe compared to the original amount on installment accounts? Again, less is better. For example, someone who has a balance of $50 on a credit card with a $500 limit will seem more responsible than someone who owes $8,000 on a credit card with a $10,000 limit.
3. Length of Credit History:15%
Creditors like to see how long you have been using credit. For how many years have you had obligations? How old is your oldest account? What is the average age of all your accounts?
Long credit history is helpful, but this factor has less weight because borrowers with short history may have proven they make payments on time and don’t owe too much.
This is why some personal finance experts recommend leaving credit card accounts open even if you don’t use them anymore. The account’s age by itself will help boost your score. Close your oldest account and you could see your overall score decline.
4. New Credit:10%
Your FICO Score 8 considers how many new accounts you have. It factors in accounts you have applied for recently and considers the last time you opened a new account.
Whenever you apply for a new line of credit, lenders typically do a hard inquiry (also called a hard pull), which is the process of checking your credit information during the underwriting procedure. Thisis different from a soft inquiry, like retrievingyour own credit information.
Hard pulls can cause a small andtemporary decline in your credit score. Why? The score assumes thatif you’ve opened several accounts recently and the percentage of these accounts is highcomparedto the total number, then you could represent a greater credit risk. Why? Because people tend to do so when they are experiencing cash flow problems or planning to take on lots of new debt.
5. Types of Credit in Use:10%
The final thing that the FICO formula considers in determining your credit score is whether you have a mix of different types of credit, such as credit cards, store accounts, installment loans, and mortgages. It also looks at how many total accounts you have.
Since this is a small component of your score, don’t worry if you don’t have accounts in each of these categories,and don’t open new accounts just to increase your mix of credit types.
What Isn’t in Your Score
The following information is not considered in determining your credit score, according to FICO:
- Marital status
- Age (though FICO says some other types of scores may consider this)
- Race, color, religion, and national origin
- Receipt of public assistance
- Salary
- Occupation, employment history, and employer (though lenders and other scores may consider this)
- Where you live
- Child/family support obligations
- Any information not found in your credit report
- Participation in a credit counseling program
Example of Why Lenders Look at Your Debt
When you apply for a mortgage, for example, the lender will look at your total existing monthly debt obligations as part of determining how much mortgage you can afford.
If you have recently opened several new credit card accounts, this might indicate that you are planning to go on a spending spree in the near future. This means that you might not be able to afford the monthly mortgage payment that the lender has estimated you are capable of making.
Lenders can’t determine what to lend you based on something you might do, but they can use your credit score to gauge how much of a credit risk you might be.
FICO Scores only take into account your history of hard inquiries and new lines of credit for the past 12 months, so try to minimize how many times you apply for and open new lines of credit within a year.
However, rate shopping and multiple inquiries related to auto and mortgage lenders will generally be counted as a single inquirysince the assumption is that consumers are rate shopping—not planning to buy multiple cars or homes. Even so, keeping the search under 30 days can help you avoid dings to your score.
What It Means When You Apply for a Loan
Following the guidelines below will help you maintain a good score or improve your credit score:
- Watch your credit utilization ratio. Keep credit card balances below 15%–25% of your total available credit.
- Pay your accounts on time, and if you have to be late, don’t be more than 30 days late.
- Don’t open lots of new accounts all at once or even within a 12-month period.
- Check your credit score about six months in advance if you plan to make a major purchase, like buying a house or a car, that will require you to take out a loan. This will give you time to correct any possible errors and, if necessary, improve your score.
- If you have a bad credit score andflaws in your credit history, don’t despair. Just start making better choices, and you’ll see gradual improvements in your score as the negative items in your history become older.
How can I get my credit report for free?
You can get your free credit report by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com. You are legally entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Do lenders use FICO Score 8?
FICO Score 8 is the most widely used credit score. About 90% of lenders use FICO Scores, and FICO Score 8 is the most commonly used. FICO Score 9 is another commonly used version.
Is a 700 FICO 8 Score Good?
A FICO 8 Score of 700 is considered a “good” credit score. You can likely qualify for lower interest rates with a credit score that is considered “very good:” 740 or above.
The Bottom Line
Your credit score is important in getting approved for loans and getting the best interest rates. Different scores take different factors into account, but the most commonly used score, the FICO Score 8, places heavier weight on credit utilization and payment history. It also takes into account the length of your credit history, whether you’ve recently opened new credit, and your credit mix.
