A good credit score starts at 670 — if the score is a FICO Score. If it is a VantageScore, the equivalent band starts at 661. Both scales run from 300 to 850, and both are calculated from the same underlying credit reports. They still do not draw their lines in the same places, which is why a score quoted without the model behind it tells you less than it seems to.
So the honest answer to “what is a good credit score?” is two answers. Below are both, taken from the ranges FICO and VantageScore publish themselves — not from the slightly different versions that circulate in articles about them.
You do not have one credit score
Three things decide which number you are looking at:
- The bureau. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion each hold their own credit report on you. Lenders do not report to all three every time, so the files differ — and so can the scores built from them.
- The model. FICO and VantageScore are competing scoring models. Each reads the same report data and weighs it differently.
- The version. FICO alone has many versions. FICO Score 8 is the most widely used general version; newer versions such as FICO Score 10 and 10T exist, and the industry-specific FICO Scores used for auto loans and credit cards run on a different scale altogether, 250 to 900.
The practical result: the score in your banking app can be tens of points away from the score a lender pulls on the same day, with nothing wrong anywhere. Before you judge a number, find out which model and bureau produced it.
FICO score ranges
Base FICO Scores run from 300 to 850, and FICO groups them into five bands. These are FICO’s own labels and cut-offs:
| FICO Score | Rating | What FICO says it means |
|---|---|---|
| 800–850 | Exceptional | Well above the average U.S. consumer; an exceptional borrower |
| 740–799 | Very good | Above average; a very dependable borrower |
| 670–739 | Good | Near or slightly above average; most lenders consider this a good score |
| 580–669 | Fair | Below average, though many lenders will approve loans at this score |
| 300–579 | Poor | Well below average; signals a risky borrower to lenders |
For context, FICO put the average FICO Score in the United States at 714 in early 2026 — squarely inside the good band. The good band is not an elite tier; it is roughly where the typical borrower already sits.
VantageScore ranges
VantageScore, built by the three bureaus, uses the same 300 to 850 scale but only four tiers, with different names and different cut-offs:
| VantageScore | Tier |
|---|---|
| 781–850 | Superprime |
| 661–780 | Prime |
| 601–660 | Near prime |
| 300–600 | Subprime |
The differences are small but real. A score of 665 is “fair” on the FICO scale and “prime” on VantageScore’s, because VantageScore’s top tier does not start until 781 while its second tier stretches much wider. Neither model is wrong; they are simply different rulers.
VantageScore is also the score most free credit apps show you, and it matters more than it used to: mortgage lenders are now permitted to use VantageScore 4.0, alongside FICO, for loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
What a band actually gets you
No band comes with a guaranteed approval or a guaranteed interest rate. Every lender sets its own cut-offs, and the score is one factor among several — lenders also weigh your income, your existing debts and the loan itself. As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) puts it in its mortgage guidance, your credit scores are only one factor in a lender’s decision, even if an important one. With that said, the bands do map to real-world treatment in broad terms:
- Exceptional and very good (740+): you qualify for the best advertised rates on cards and loans, and for premium rewards cards. This is the tier lenders compete over.
- Good (670–739): you qualify for most mainstream credit cards, auto loans and mortgages at reasonable rates — though not always the lender’s single best rate, which is usually reserved for the tier above.
- Fair (580–669): approvals are still common, as FICO itself notes, but pricing is noticeably worse: higher interest rates — the APR you are actually offered — lower credit limits, and deposits on things like utilities and rentals become more likely.
- Poor (below 580): mainstream unsecured credit is hard to get. The standard routes back are a secured credit card or a credit-builder loan, which report to the bureaus like any other account. Be wary of companies promising to “fix” your score for an upfront fee — the CFPB flags advance-fee credit repair as a classic scam pattern, and no company can remove accurate information.
The five factors that build a FICO Score
A FICO Score is calculated only from the information in your credit report, grouped into five categories. FICO publishes the general weight of each one:
| Factor | Weight | What it reads |
|---|---|---|
| Payment history | 35% | Whether you have paid your accounts on time |
| Amounts owed | 30% | How much you owe, especially against your credit limits |
| Length of credit history | 15% | Age of your oldest account, newest account, and the average |
| New credit | 10% | Recent applications and newly opened accounts |
| Credit mix | 10% | The variety of account types you manage |
FICO is explicit that these percentages describe the general population — the importance of each category shifts with what is actually in your file. But two of them, payment history and amounts owed, carry about two-thirds of the score between them, and that is where almost everyone’s leverage is.
Payment history (35%). The single biggest factor is simply your record of paying on time. The model looks at how late a payment was, how much was owed, how many accounts went past due, and how long ago it happened — a recent 90-day late payment does far more damage than an old 30-day one. Payments are generally reported as late once they are 30 or more days past due.
Amounts owed (30%). This is where credit utilisation lives: your balances as a share of your limits. Owing money does not by itself make you a bad risk, but using most of your available credit does. FICO publishes no magic threshold — lower utilisation generally scores better, and the improvement from paying a card down can show up within a billing cycle or two, because balances are re-reported every month.
Length of credit history (15%). Longer is better. Closing your oldest card does not erase it from your report immediately, but it removes that card’s limit from your utilisation maths straight away, which can push the amounts-owed factor the wrong way.
New credit (10%). Every application that triggers a hard inquiry is recorded. Inquiries stay on your report for two years, though FICO Scores only count those from the last 12 months. Shopping for a mortgage, auto loan or student loan inside a short window is treated kindly: the CFPB notes that multiple mortgage-lender checks within a 45-day window are recorded as a single inquiry.
Credit mix (10%). Managing both revolving credit (cards) and instalment credit (loans) scores slightly better than cards alone. It is the smallest lever — never take on a loan just to feed it.
How to check your score and reports for free
Your reports and your scores are two different things, and the free route to each is different.
For reports, there is exactly one federally authorised source: AnnualCreditReport.com. Despite the name, you can now pull your report from each bureau there free once a week — the bureaus made weekly access permanent in 2023. The reports do not include a score. What they give you is the raw material every score is built from, which is where errors live: accounts you do not recognise, wrong balances, late payments that were not late. Read all three, because they are not identical.
For scores, many banks and card issuers show one free inside their apps. Check which model it is before you rely on it — free app scores are often a VantageScore, while the mortgage or auto lender you apply to will usually pull a FICO Score. A gap between the two is normal, not a mistake.
And checking any of this yourself is safe. When you request your own report or score it is a soft inquiry, which the CFPB confirms has no effect on your scores at all. Only hard inquiries — the checks a lender runs when you actually apply — can nudge a score, and only slightly.
How long negative marks stay on your report
Negative information does not follow you forever. Federal reporting limits, summarised by the CFPB, are:
- Most negative information — including late payments, collections and charge-offs: up to 7 years.
- A lawsuit or judgment against you: 7 years, or until the statute of limitations runs out, whichever is longer.
- Bankruptcy: up to 10 years.
Two qualifications matter. First, the limit is on reporting — and while an old late payment can legally sit on your report for years, scoring models weigh recent behaviour far more heavily, so its practical effect fades long before it disappears. Second, these limits protect you only against old information, not accurate information: nobody can remove a late payment that really happened before its time is up. Information that is wrong, however, can be disputed at any point — that is what the free reports above are for.
Five myths that refuse to die
“Checking my score will lower it.” False. Checking your own score or report is a soft inquiry and has zero effect, per the CFPB. Check as often as you like.
“My income is part of my score.” False. FICO states plainly that its scores do not consider your salary, occupation, title, employer, employment history, age, or where you live. A lender may ask about income on an application — that is the lender’s own decision-making, not the score’s.
“You have to carry a balance to build credit.” False, and expensive. The score reads the balance your issuer reports; it does not reward you for paying interest on it. Paying in full builds the same payment history and costs you nothing in interest.
“Keep utilisation under 30% and you’re fine.” Half-true at best. The 30% figure is a rule of thumb repeated from article to article; neither FICO nor the CFPB publishes it as a scoring threshold. Lower is simply better — someone at 8% utilisation is not in the same position as someone at 29%.
“A 750 is a 750 everywhere.” False. As the tables above show, 750 is “very good” on a FICO Score and merely “prime” on a VantageScore — and a lender might pull a different version, from a different bureau, and get a third number.
Quick answers to the score questions people actually ask
Is 700 a good credit score? Yes, on both rulers. A 700 sits inside FICO’s good band (670–739) and VantageScore’s prime band (661–780). It will qualify you for most mainstream cards and loans, though the very best advertised rates usually sit a band higher.
Is 750 a good credit score? It is better than good — but the label depends on the model. To FICO, 750 is “very good.” To VantageScore, 750 is still “prime,” because its top tier does not start until 781. Same number, two different compliments.
What is a bad credit score? There is no single line, and articles that give you one (“600 or lower”) are blending two models. On FICO’s published bands, “poor” runs up to 579; on VantageScore’s, “subprime” runs up to 600. State the model and the answer stops being fuzzy.
What is the highest credit score? 850, on both base scales. The industry-specific FICO Scores used for auto and card lending are the exception — they run from 250 to 900.
How can I improve my credit score? Work the two heavy factors first, because together they carry about two-thirds of a FICO Score. Never let a payment reach 30 days past due — set up autopay for at least the minimum so a forgotten bill cannot become a late mark. Then bring card balances down against their limits; balances are re-reported monthly, so a pay-down can show up within a cycle or two. Space out new applications, leave old accounts open unless a fee gives you a reason not to, and dispute anything on your reports that is simply wrong. There is no honest shortcut and no published timetable — anyone promising a number of points by a date is guessing.
The bottom line
“Good” begins at 670 on a FICO Score and 661 on a VantageScore, and the average American — at 714 — is already inside the good band. If your number is below that, the fix is unglamorous and mostly in two places: never let a payment reach 30 days late, and keep card balances low against their limits. Pull your three reports free at AnnualCreditReport.com, dispute anything that is wrong, and let time do the rest. And keep the score in its place: it measures how you handle borrowed money, a different question from how your net worth is calculated — a strong score and very little wealth can sit in the same person, and so can the reverse.
This article is general education about how credit scores work, not personal financial advice. Scoring models and their published ranges change over time; the figures here were checked against FICO, VantageScore and CFPB publications in November 2026.