A FICO score is built from five weighted categories: payment history at 35%, amounts owed at 30%, length of credit history at 15%, new credit at 10%, and credit mix at 10%. Together these FICO scoring factors produce a three-digit number between 300 and 850 that predicts how likely you are to fall seriously behind on a debt within the next two years.1myFICO. How Are FICO Scores Calculated The percentages are approximate starting points rather than a rigid formula. FICO adjusts how much each category matters based on what’s actually in your individual credit file, so two people with identical behavior in one category can see different effects on their scores.
Payment History: 35%
Whether you’ve paid on time is the single biggest factor. The model looks at your record across credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, student loans, and other accounts, and it evaluates late payments by how recent they are, how many there are, and how late each one was.2myFICO. How FICO Considers Different Categories of Late Payments A single payment reported 30 days late can cause a noticeable drop, and the damage tends to be worse for someone with a previously clean record than for someone whose report already shows blemishes.
Delinquencies are reported in escalating severity: 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 120 days, 150 days, and eventually charge-off. A 90-day late hurts more than a 30-day late, but a recent 30-day late can do more damage than an old 90-day late because the model heavily weights recency.2myFICO. How FICO Considers Different Categories of Late Payments You can recover by getting current and staying current; the impact fades over time.
Bankruptcies, foreclosures, and collection accounts also fall under this category. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, most negative items can stay on your credit report for up to seven years.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 – Section 1681c Bankruptcies are the exception. They can remain for up to ten years from the date the court enters the order for relief, regardless of chapter.4Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Does a Bankruptcy Appear on Credit Reports
Collections get treated differently depending on the FICO version scoring your file. Under FICO Score 8, a collection with an original balance under $100 is ignored, but any unpaid collection above that amount still drags your score down even after it’s paid. FICO Score 9 and the FICO 10 suite ignore third-party collections once they’re paid or settled to a zero balance. Paid medical collections and medical debt under $500 no longer appear on credit reports at all, so no version of the FICO score considers them. Unpaid medical collections over $500 still show up, and FICO 9 and FICO 10 weigh them less heavily than non-medical collections.5myFICO. How Do Collections Affect Your Credit
Amounts Owed: 30%
The second-largest factor is how much debt you’re carrying relative to what’s available to you. For revolving accounts like credit cards, the key metric is your credit utilization ratio: total balances divided by total credit limits. Someone with $3,000 in balances on $10,000 in total limits has 30% utilization, and that’s roughly the threshold where the negative effect becomes more pronounced.6myFICO. Amount of Debt
People with scores of 800 or higher tend to keep utilization in the low single digits. Counterintuitively, 0% utilization scores slightly worse than 1%. The model wants to see you actively using credit, not sitting on unused accounts.7Experian. What Is a Credit Utilization Rate Utilization is also evaluated per card, not just across your total revolving credit, so maxing out one card can hurt even when your overall ratio looks fine.
For installment loans like mortgages and auto loans, the model compares your current balance to the original loan amount. Borrow $10,000 for a car and still owe $8,000, and you’ve only paid down 20% of the principal, which gives the model less evidence of your ability to see repayment through.6myFICO. Amount of Debt Lenders report balances monthly, so a snapshot from a high-spending month can temporarily inflate your utilization even if you pay in full every cycle.
Length of Credit History: 15%
Longer histories generally produce higher scores because they give the model more data. This category looks at the age of your oldest account, the age of your newest account, and the average age across all accounts.1myFICO. How Are FICO Scores Calculated It also considers how long it’s been since specific accounts were used. A 15-year-old card you charge something to occasionally provides more scoring value than one that’s been sitting untouched in a drawer.
This is why closing an old credit card can backfire. Shutting the account removes its limit from your utilization math immediately and, over time, drags down the average age of your accounts. The CFPB notes that keeping old accounts open — especially ones with positive payment history — helps maintain a higher score.8Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Does It Hurt My Credit to Close a Credit Card If a card charges an annual fee you no longer want to pay, ask the issuer to downgrade it to a no-fee product. That preserves both the account age and the credit limit.
New Credit: 10%
Every time you apply for a loan or credit card, the lender pulls your report and generates a hard inquiry. FICO only factors in hard inquiries from the past 12 months, though the inquiries themselves stay on your report for two years.9myFICO. The Timing of Hard Credit Inquiries – When and Why They Matter A single hard inquiry rarely moves the needle much. Several applications clustered together are what the model flags as a possible sign of financial stress.
There’s a rate-shopping exception. If you’re comparing mortgage, auto loan, or student loan offers, multiple inquiries within a 14-to-45-day window count as a single inquiry. Newer FICO versions use 45 days; older ones use 14.9myFICO. The Timing of Hard Credit Inquiries – When and Why They Matter Credit card applications don’t qualify for this grouping. Each one counts separately no matter how close together they occur.10Experian. How Long Do Hard Inquiries Stay on Your Credit Report
Checking your own credit report or score is a soft inquiry and has zero effect on your FICO score.11Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Does Requesting My Credit Report Hurt My Credit Score Pre-approval offers and employer background checks are soft too. Only inquiries tied to an actual credit application count. You’re entitled to a free credit report from each of the three major bureaus through AnnualCreditReport.com, and reviewing them regularly is one of the best ways to catch errors before they touch your score.
Credit Mix: 10%
The model gives a modest boost for managing different types of credit at once. Having both revolving accounts (like credit cards) and installment loans (like an auto loan or mortgage) shows broader experience with different repayment structures.1myFICO. How Are FICO Scores Calculated At 10% of the score, this factor rarely makes or breaks anyone. Taking on debt you don’t need just to diversify is almost always a bad trade.
One way to build this category without new debt is becoming an authorized user on a family member’s account. Authorized user accounts appear on your credit report and affect your FICO score. If the primary cardholder has a long history of on-time payments and low utilization, that positive data flows to your file. The risk runs both ways: if the primary cardholder misses payments, your score takes the hit too. Newer FICO versions give authorized user accounts less weight than accounts where you’re the primary borrower, so building your own credit history alongside is important for long-term score growth.12myFICO. How Authorized Users Affect FICO Scores
Why the FICO Version Changes What Each Factor Does
The five-category weighting stays roughly consistent across FICO versions, but what counts inside each category has shifted meaningfully over time. FICO Score 8 remains the most widely used base version. FICO Score 9 stopped penalizing paid collection accounts and reduced the negative impact of unpaid medical collections, and it began factoring in rental history when reported. FICO Score 10 refined its sensitivity to personal loan usage and debt consolidation patterns. FICO 10T incorporates trended data, analyzing whether your balances have been climbing or declining over the previous 24 months rather than looking only at the current snapshot.13myFICO. FICO Score Versions Someone who’s been aggressively paying down debt will look better under FICO 10T than under FICO 8.
What Your Score Number Means
Once the five factors run through the model, the result lands somewhere on a 300-to-850 scale that lenders sort into five tiers:14myFICO. What Is a FICO Score
- Exceptional (800–850): the lowest risk tier, with the best rates and terms available.
- Very Good (740–799): above average, with competitive rates from most lenders.
- Good (670–739): near the U.S. average, with likely approval for most products but not the lowest rates.
- Fair (580–669): below average, with approval possible but higher rates and less favorable terms.
- Poor (below 580): approval is difficult for most unsecured credit. Secured cards and credit-builder loans are usually the path forward.
Where you sit determines not just whether you get approved but how much credit costs you. The difference between a Good and Exceptional score on a 30-year mortgage can translate to tens of thousands of dollars in interest over the life of the loan. Each of the five weighted categories represents a lever you can pull to move toward a tier with better terms.