What Do My Credit Score Numbers Mean?

Published

November 30, 2016

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550? 725? 680? What does your credit score mean? In this chart, we take a look at what goes into having excellent, very good, good, fair, bad and very bad credit.

See what your credit score tells lenders and where you can improve. This useful guide to credit scores, compiled by Credit.com’s Credit Experts, is based on the most common credit scoring range used by FICO.

Of course these are generalizations with almost as many exceptions as rules, but it provides a useful guide for any consumer.

If you’re trying to build — or maintain — your credit, it helps to monitor it regularly, along with your credit reports, to check your progress and look for areas you need to work on. You can obtain your credit reports for free from each of the three major credit reporting agencies once a year through AnnualCreditReport.com. And you can get your credit score for free once a month using Credit.com’s Free Credit Report Card.

Quality	Late payments, collections, public records	Credit utilization (balance/limit ratio)	Length of credit history	New accounts & Inquiries	Rates qualifying for	Score range
Excellent	None	1% – 10%	Long	None	Lowest	800+
Very good	None	1% – 10%	Medium to long	Very few	Lowest	750-800
Good	None recently	10% – 25%	Medium	Few	Low to medium	700-750
Fair	Recently, but not currently	25% – 50%	Short to medium	More than a few	Low to medium	650-700
Bad	Currently and in the past	50% – 75%	Short	Too many	Medium to high	600-650
Very bad	Currently and in the past	75% – 100%+	Short	Too many	High	Below 600