How is my credit score calculated?
The five factors, weighted.

What are the five FICO score factors?

Your FICO score (used by roughly 90% of top US lenders) is built from five weighted inputs. The weights below are published by FICO itself at myfico.com ↗:

• Payment history (35%): Have you paid on time? A single 30-day late payment can drop your score 60–110 points. That range is a widely cited FICO-derived estimate, not a guarantee: the exact drop depends on your starting score, and higher scores fall further. Set up autopay for minimums on everything.
• Credit use (30%): How much of your available credit are you using? Lower is better. See below.
• Length of credit history (15%): Average age of your accounts. This is why you should never close your oldest card.
• Credit mix (10%): Variety of account types (credit cards, auto loan, mortgage). Do not open accounts just for mix.
• New credit inquiries (10%): Hard pulls from applying for new credit. Each one dings roughly 5 points for ~12 months, and FICO says the hit is usually less than 5 for most people (myfico.com ↗).

What is a 760+ credit score worth?

The same math applies to auto loans, private student loans, and credit card APRsAnnual Percentage Rate (APR)The yearly cost of borrowing money, shown as a percentage.Full definition. A strong credit score is a direct savings account that pays you every time you borrow.

FICO or VantageScore: which one are you looking at?

Almost every free score app shows a VantageScore. But roughly 90% of top US lenders make decisions with FICO (myfico.com ↗), and mortgage underwriting still commonly pulls the older FICO 5, 4, and 2 models. The same credit file can score 20–60+ points apart across models on the same day.

So do not panic when a free app score swings 30 points in a month. It is usually utilization noise on a model your lender will not pull. And above roughly 760–780, extra points do not change the rate you are offered: every score in that band gets the same top tier.

How do you build credit from zero?

No credit history is different from bad credit. If you are starting from nothing:

1. Secured credit card: deposit $200–500 as collateral, use it for one recurring charge, autopay the full balance monthly. As of mid-2026, Discover it Secured ↗ and Capital One Platinum Secured ↗ are solid options: no annual fee, the deposit is refundable, they report to all three bureaus, and both can graduate to unsecured cards.
2. Authorized user: ask a parent or partner with a long-history, low-use card to add you. Their account history transfers to your report immediately. You do not even need to use the card.
3. After 6–12 months: apply for a regular unsecured card. Your score should be 680+ if you kept use low and paid on time.

Is 30% utilization good enough, or should you target 10%?

You have probably heard "keep use below 30%." That is the threshold where your score starts to drop noticeably. But for maximum score optimization, keep reported use below 10%, ideally 1–5%. People with 800+ scores typically report 1–3% use.

Tip: pay your balance down before the statement closing date (not just the due date). The statement balance is what gets reported to the bureaus, so a payment made before the close lowers your reported utilization even if you already pay in full every month (CFPB, consumerfinance.gov ↗).

Should you freeze your credit?

Yes. Freeze your credit at all three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). It is free by federal law, takes about 10 minutes per bureau, and prevents anyone from opening accounts in your name (FTC, ftc.gov ↗). You temporarily lift the freeze when you apply for credit. There is no reason not to do this.

Your full reports are free every week from all three bureaus at annualcreditreport.com ↗, the only federally authorized source, upgraded from once per year to weekly (made permanent in 2023). The report contains no score: it is the raw record your scores are computed from, so read it for errors, not a number.

Disputing an error is free, the CFPB publishes free dispute-letter templates (consumerfinance.gov ↗), and a successful dispute can raise your score immediately. Free monitoring: Credit Karma (TransUnion + Equifax, VantageScore not FICO, see above).