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What a credit score actually is

FICO is five factors. Knowing the weights changes what you do.

10 min read

The five FICO factors (weights)

  1. Payment history (35%) — do you pay on time?
  2. Amounts owed (30%) — what % of your available credit are you using?
  3. Length of credit history (15%) — how old is your oldest account?
  4. Credit mix (10%) — variety of account types.
  5. New credit (10%) — how many new accounts/inquiries recently?

What this means in practice

  • A single 30-day-late payment can drop you 60-110 points.
  • Keeping utilization under 30% — and ideally under 10% — moves the needle fast.
  • Closing an old account shortens your average history. Usually a bad idea.
  • Each 'hard inquiry' drops you ~5 points temporarily.

Free score, free report

  • annualcreditreport.com — the only federally authorized free credit report site. Free weekly from all three bureaus. Do not pay for credit reports.
  • Many credit unions and apps (Credit Karma, Experian) show free FICO/VantageScore. They're estimates but useful for trend.