Credit Score Scale

The one thing everyone knows about how the credit score ranges is that they’d like to have something better, and that they have a lot of questions. This FAQ gives you an overview of some common questions, and answers, about rating basics.

What is the credit score range? This is not a one to a thousand number scale, like many people believe it to be. In fact, the scale ranges from three hundred to eight hundred and fifty, with people on either end being extremely rare, so that it averages out to be more about from five hundred to seven hundred and fifty.

How do they decide what my rating is? Your score is calculated based on the information in your report. This is made up of information like your payment history, the limit on your cards, the age of your history, and a list of other factors.

What is a good credit score? Every company decides what they want to work with and what they don’t on their own. Even with this in mind, however, we can make some general judgments about what is usually considered good and what isn’t. A great score is seven hundred and thirty, and above. Some companies will consider anything over seven hundred as excellent. Good is usually about six hundred and eighty and up. Anything below six hundred is most definitely undesirable.

How can I get a better rating? This depends on what your report looks like, but even those with the best ratings can always do something to improve. Paying down your card or loan balances can really help a lot, and so can getting your card limit raised. If your limit is mismarked on your report make sure to call and have that fixed. This is all important because one of the factors that determines your score is the amount of credit available to you versus how much you are actually using. To this end, using less of your credit and having a lot available to you makes you look great. Keep in mind that you do still need to be active and use things, the key is to do so lightly. Another factor for where you fall on the credit score range is late payments. If you had a late payment a long time ago, but have since been a good and loyal customer, you can ask the company for a good faith adjustment. You can send them this request in writing. It can’t hurt, and it could help rid you of a bad mark that’s dragging you down! Another thing is the age of your history. If you have an old card that you haven’t used in a while but is still technically active you can dust this off, use it lightly, and help age your report and raise you up a bit.

How come when a company ran my credit they got something different than what I found? There are three major reporting agencies: experian, equifax, and transperian. To get an accurate view of where you are on the credit score range you need to look at all three of these companies, because you never know what the company who is checking will be using (and some use all three!).