Credit Bureau FICO scores range from 300 to 850 and their purpose is to predict the likelihood of how a person will handle their credit obligations. The higher the score, the lower the perceived risk and therefore, the lower the interest rate you will be offered. Five factors generally go into producing a credit score: Overall Payment History, Balances Outstanding vs. Credit Limits, Length of Credit History, Mix of Credit Use and New Credit Inquiries. Like a thumbprint, no credit score model is exactly the same. Each credit score model has a slightly different formula for weighing credit score factors. The credit bureau can use dozens of different credit score models based on the requirements of different lenders. As an example, a mortgage lender may use a different scoring model than an auto lender because they each place importance on different factors.Though your scores may vary, they're all based on information in your credit reports. So focusing on what's in your reports could help you build your credit overall. While FICO is the most famous, there are several other versions and providers of credit scores, such as VantageScore, NextGen, BEACON and EMPIRICA. Some scores are directly developed by credit bureaus, while others are developed by outside companies. This can be very confusing to the average consumer who is shopping for a home or a car to purchase. Hypothetically, the consumer could go to multiple dealerships or multiple lenders and see all different credit scores from each one.
How you pay your creditors is one of the most important factors and make up about 35% of the credit score, but just behind it come balances verses credit limits, which makes up about 30% of the score. The higher your balance is in relation to the credit limit, the more adversely your score will be impacted. It is usually better to have several small balances spread over several cards than one large balance on one maxed out card. The length of time a person has held credit is another factor which makes up around 15% of the score. Basically, a borrower who has a long credit history without past late pays will not be as adversely affected by suddenly having one 30 day late payment as a person who has a shorter credit history and suddenly has a 30 day late. However, also think about this....let's say a borrower has a 20 year credit history with no late payments and has always managed their credit cards, but suddenly their credit card balances are on the way up and then a late payment occurs. This scenario would probably adversely affect their credit score severely as it could indicate the person is having difficulty paying their bills and is borrowing to keep afloat.
Summary
Because there are hundreds of credit scores that measure many different probabilities, consumers generally do not need to be overly concerned with the type of score or even their number. It's also important to note that your credit score is a variable which can change every time your credit report changes. For these reasons, monitoring changes within a single score over time can be a better way to gauge your overall credit health. Best of all, it's always free to check your credit score with the big 3 credit bureaus annually. In this way, you can access your score as often as you want and always have a consistent baseline to better understand how your score is changing.
