Guide to Credit Score Ranges (2024)

Vault’s Viewpoint on Credit Scores

• The two most common types of credit scores include FICO Scores and VantageScores, although these scores come in different forms that are used for different purposes.
• The most commonly used credit scores fall between 300 and 850, with higher scores representing the best possible credit health.
• With major scoring models, the biggest factors impacting your scores include your payment history and how much debt you have in relation to your credit limits.
• A good credit score can help you qualify for financing with better rates and terms and make it easier to rent a space or secure lower insurance rates.

What Is a Credit Score?

While there are different types of credit scores used for different purposes, each one serves as a numeric representation of your overall credit health. The most popular types of credit scores (FICO Scores and VantageScores) fall between 300 and 850, with higher scores indicating consumers have a better handle on their credit and bill payments.

Lenders and other businesses rely on credit scores when deciding whether to approve you for their products or services, which can include loans, credit cards and more. Credit scores help these companies assess how likely you are to pay back a loan or treat credit responsibly.

Credit scores can even be used to approve you to rent an apartment or determine your auto insurance rates. That’s because, once again, these three-digit numbers give lenders an overview of how you’ve used credit in the past.

What Are the Credit Score Ranges?

Both FICO and VantageScore use the same general range of 300 to 850 for scores. However, these scoring models set different standards for which scores are considered poor, fair, good or excellent.

A “good” FICO Score is considered any score of 670 or above, whereas a “good” VantageScore starts at 660. Here’s a rundown of which scores achieve different credit score ratings with each of the major scoring models:

FICO Score Ranges

VantageScore Ranges

What Factors Impact These Scores?

Both FICO and VantageScore use the same general factors to assess creditworthiness, like payment history and how much debt is owed. They just give more weight to some factors over others.

For example, FICO Scores consider your payment history to be the most important proof of creditworthiness overall. How much debt you owe in relation to your credit limits, also known as your credit utilization ratio, comes in at a close second. Meanwhile, the newest model used by VantageScore (VantageScore 4.0) also considers your payment history to be the most important but takes depth of credit and credit utilization into major consideration.

The most popular VantageScore model (VantageScore 3.0) also considers the same factors as the most important but distributes their importance in a slightly different way. Below, you’ll see which factors impact your scores the most with each of these common models.

FICO Score Factors

• Payment history: 35%
• Amounts owed: 30%
• Length of credit history:: 15%
• New credit: 10%
• Credit mix: 10%

VantageScore 4.0 Factors

• Payment history: 41%
• Depth of credit: 20%
• Credit utilization: 20%
• Recent credit: 11%
• Balances: 6%
• Available credit: 2%

VantageScore 3.0 Factors

• Payment history: 40%
• Depth of credit: 21%
• Credit utilization: 20%
• Balances: 11%
• Recent credit: 5%
• Available credit: 3%

Factors That Do Not Impact Credit Scores

Your credit score shows lenders how you manage bills and other types of debt. However, these scores are not used to determine your wealth or assess other factors about your lifestyle.

Some examples of factors that have nothing to do with credit include:

• Your income
• Marital status or divorce
• Paying high interest rates or fees
• Working with a credit counselor
• Payments you make with debit or cash

Also note that federal law—the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)—prohibits credit discrimination based on factors like race, color, religion, sex, gender identity and age.

How To Improve Your Credit Score

Your credit score is one area of life where you actually have quite a bit of control. The fact is, the steps you take and don’t take with credit can make a huge difference.

Consider these tips if you’re looking for ways to work toward better credit, build credit from the ground up or repair your credit after past mistakes.

Never Miss a Payment

While each scoring model gives slightly more weight to your payment history, FICO and VantageScore say your ability to pay bills on time is the most important factor they consider. This means you’ll want to ensure you never miss a bill payment, and that you make every payment you owe early or on time each month with no exceptions.

If you’re worried about late bill payments, consider marking due dates on your calendar, using a bill payment app or setting up autopay.

Pay Down Existing Debt

Since both FICO and VantageScore consider how much debt you have as a major factor of creditworthiness, paying off some of your debt—especially revolving debt like credit card debt—can help your score.

Also note that there are financial advantages that come with paying off debt, especially since today’s average credit card interest rate is well over 20%. With rates that high, paying off debt can help your credit and save you money along the way.

Stop Adding New Debt

Paying off debt won’t help if you keep using credit cards to add more debt to the pile. Do your best to spend less on credit cards so you can keep balances as low as possible.

Most experts recommend keeping your credit utilization below 10% of your available credit for the best results, or below 30% at most. This means never owing more than $1,000 (and a maximum of $3,000) across every $10,000 in available credit you have.

Use Credit Building Financial Products

If you’re trying to build credit from scratch or need help fixing your credit after mistakes made in the past, consider using a financial product that’s geared toward credit building. One option is a secured credit card that requires a cash deposit as collateral but reports your monthly payments to the credit bureaus. There are also unsecured cards specifically designed for those building their credit, as well as starter credit cards that don’t require a credit check.

You can also look into credit-builder loans that have you make payments to a savings account in your name but also report your payments to help build credit. Once the credit builder loan term is over, you get the money you paid back, minus fees.

Build Credit With Free Apps

Free credit-building apps like Experian Boost can also help your credit. With Experian Boost, in particular, you can connect various bills you pay to the app to get them reported to the credit bureaus. Examples of payments that can build credit include utility bills, subscriptions, rent payments and more.

Check Your Credit Reports for Errors

Check your credit reports for errors on AnnualCreditReport.com, which offers free weekly reports from each of the credit bureaus. If you find information on your reports that’s incorrect or amounts you owe that you don’t recognize, follow the formal process required to dispute this information.