What Factors Make Up Your Credit Score

Your credit score is calculated from five categories of information in your credit report. Understanding the weight of each category shows you where to focus improvement efforts and why some financial behaviors matter more than others.

Payment History (35%)

The single most important factor. Payment history records whether you’ve paid your accounts on time. A single 30-day late payment can drop a good score significantly — the exact impact depends on your starting score, the recency of the late payment, and how long you’ve otherwise maintained on-time payments.

Key points:

• Payments are typically reported as late at 30 days past due — not on the due date itself
• A 60-day or 90-day late payment damages your score more than a 30-day late
• Late payments stay on your report for 7 years but have decreasing impact over time as they age
• Paying off a collection account doesn’t remove it from your report — it updates the status to “paid collection,” which is better but not neutral

Protecting your payment history is the highest-priority credit action. Autopay for at least the minimum on every account prevents accidental missed payments.

Amounts Owed / Credit Utilization (30%)

The second largest factor. For revolving credit (credit cards, lines of credit), utilization is the percentage of available credit you’re currently using. On a card with a $10,000 limit, a $3,000 balance = 30% utilization.

Lower utilization is better. Scoring models generally favor utilization below 30%, with the best scores typically associated with utilization below 10%. Utilization above 50% has a significant negative effect.

Utilization is recalculated monthly based on the balance your issuer reports — typically the statement balance. Paying before the statement closes reduces reported utilization even if you pay the full balance by the due date.

Utilization applies to individual cards and to all cards combined. A single maxed-out card hurts your score even if overall utilization is low.

Length of Credit History (15%)

Longer history is better. This factor includes: age of oldest account, age of newest account, and average age of all accounts. Opening many new accounts simultaneously lowers your average account age.

Closing old accounts can hurt this factor — a 10-year-old card you close reduces your average account age and removes a long history from your active accounts. Old cards with no annual fee are worth keeping open and occasionally using to maintain the age benefit.

Credit Mix (10%)

Having a variety of credit types — credit cards (revolving), auto loans, mortgages, student loans (installment) — contributes positively. You don’t need every type, and opening accounts you don’t need just for credit mix is counterproductive. This factor rewards people who’ve managed different types of credit over time, not those who artificially diversify.

New Credit / Recent Inquiries (10%)

Hard inquiries from credit applications temporarily lower your score — typically less than 5 points per inquiry, with impact fading within 12 months. Opening multiple new accounts in a short period is weighted more heavily than individual inquiries, as it can signal financial stress.

Rate shopping for a single mortgage or auto loan within a 45-day window counts as one inquiry in FICO’s model — protection for comparison shoppers that doesn’t extend to credit card applications.

What’s Not in Your Score

FICO scores do not factor in: income, employment status, age, race, gender, marital status, where you live, or the interest rates on your accounts. Many people assume income affects their score — it doesn’t. Credit score and creditworthiness as measured by lenders are different things.

Score Range and What It Means

The highest-leverage improvements target the two largest factors: payment history and utilization. Everything else has meaningful but secondary impact. One month of catching up on any missed payment and paying down a high-balance card produces visible score changes within one to two billing cycles.