Just as the understanding of the value of a dollar comes with time, the importance of your credit score often evades us until we are deciding to buy a car or purchase a home. The gravity that a credit score holds is substantial. These scores influence the credit available to you and the terms that go along with it, such as interest rates. When looking to purchase a car or home, lenders rely on the consumer’s credit scores for an understanding of the risk they take on by loaning money.
While there are different credit scores, the most widely used and accepted is the FICO score created by Fair Isaac Corporation. Using the information provided by one of three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and Transunion) FICO creates a credit score ranging from 300 to 850, with the higher number representing lower risks for lenders and insurers.
How exactly do they determine a consumers credit score? FICO analyzes five main factors, which each have a different impact on the score:
- Payment History (35% of the FICO score)
- Debt/amounts owed (30%)
- Age of credit history (15%)
- New credit/inquiries (10%)
- A mix of accounts/types of credit (10%)
While the exact number of your credit score can be distracting, it is more beneficial to focus on the areas that require work, rather than feeling overwhelmed by your rank on the credit range. Let’s take a more in-depth look at the five main factors considered by FICO when determining consumer credit scores:
Payment History
This is simply how well does a consumer do with paying their bills on time. Credit reports show when consumer payments are submitted for lines of credit, and it specifies how long payments took to come in: 30, 60, 90, 120 or more days late. Since payment history is the most significant component of a credit score, it is essential to get all credit line payments in as soon as possible.
Accounts Owed
This refers to the amount of money a consumer owes in whole. Having a lot of debt doesn’t necessarily have a significant impact on your credit. Instead, FICO looks at the ratio of money owed to the amount of credit available. Put simply, do not max out your lines of credit.
Length of Credit History
The longer a consumer has had credit, the better this element of their score will be. FICO looks at how long the oldest account has been open, the age of the newest account and the overall average.
New Credit
This refers to recently opened lines of credit. If a consumer opens a bunch of new accounts in a short period, this signals FICO that there is a higher risk, which lowers the consumer’s credit score.
Mix of Accounts
Just like stockbrokers want to diversify their portfolios, consumers want to expand their credit portfolio. With a healthy mix of retail accounts, credit cards, installment loans, such as a car loan, and mortgages, a consumer has ensured a higher FICO score.