Financial Wellness

• Do race, age, and other, non-credit related factors affect my VantageScore® credit score?
  

  One of the most important misperceptions about credit scores is what information the
  VantageScore® model, or any credit scoring model, is NOT used. The
  VantageScore® model does not consider race, color, religion, nationality, sex, marital status,
  age, salary, occupation, title, employer, employment history, where you live or shop.

• What Factors Influence My Credit Score?
  

  Five major categories make up a credit score:

  • 
    40% Payment History
    Essentially, lenders want to know whether you’re good about paying your loans on time.
  • 23% Credit Usage
    Credit usage, or credit utilization, is the ratio between the total credit used and your total credit limit on your revolving accounts. It is best to keep your credit usage below 30%.
  • 21% Credit Age
    The average of your oldest open credit accounts to your newest open credit accounts
    determines your credit age. Generally, the longer your credit history, the better, particularly
    for accounts with a good payment history and no late payments.
  • 11% Credit Mix
    It’s essential to have a mix of different types of credit, like revolving credit and installment loans. Your score will likely be higher if you have a good payment history with installment loans, like student loans and mortgages, and revolving credit, like credit cards.
  • 5% Inquiries
    Any time you apply for a credit card or a lender checks your credit for a loan, it’s known as an inquiry. Hard inquiries show on your credit report when your credit is pulled by a lender for a car loan, mortgage, or credit card. However, soft inquiries don’t show on your credit report and occur when you check your credit or a lender pre-approves you for an offer.

  Applying for several credit cards or opening multiple credit accounts in a short period creates hard inquiries and could signal an increased credit risk to a lender.

• What Does a "Good" Credit Score Mean to Me?
  

  A good score may mean you have easier access to more credit and lower interest rates. The
  consumer benefits of a good credit score go beyond the obvious. For example, underwriting
  processes that use credit scores allow consumers to obtain credit much more quickly than in the
  past.

• What is VantageScore®?
  

  VantageScore® was founded by the three leading credit reporting agencies – Experian, Equifax,
  and TransUnion. This credit score model was developed by a representative team of
  statisticians, analysts, and credit data experts from each of the credit reporting companies and
  is used by hundreds of institutions, including credit unions, banks, credit card issuers, and
  mortgage lenders.

  
  The VantageScore® 3.0, the score that is shown in SavvyMoney, is a newer and more popular
  version of VantageScore®. It is calculated on a scale of 300-850, with 300 being the lowest and
  850, the highest score.

• What is a Credit Score?
  

  A credit score is a three-digit number calculated to indicate your creditworthiness. The higher
  the score, the more creditworthy you are to a lender. A credit score is calculated from the
  information in your credit report. It considers your on-time payments, the length of your
  payment history, your mix of different types of credit accounts, and other such factors. It is
  essential to know that your score does not take your age, income, employment, marital status,
  or bank account balances into account.

  
  You can learn more about credit scores and scoring models from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau website here. 

All Credit Score FAQs