Credit Score Ranges

What Is a Credit Score Range?

There's a lot of talk about credit scores affecting consumers on a personal level. Everyone from cell phone companies to landlords may access a credit report to make decisions about lending to an individual. More and more Americans are now learning about the consequences of bad credit first-hand. Therefore, it stands to reason that some of these consumers might ask about how a credit score is reported and what it looks like.

The credit sector has established the Fair Isaac credit rating system, or FICO® score, to measure the credit risk of each consumer. Credit score ranges within the FICO® system generally run between the low 300s and the mid-800s (the exact figures are proprietary, copyrighted information that FICO® chooses not to share). Experts occasionally disagree about how many times a credit evaluator might see higher-end scores and whether it's possible to get a "perfect score." The same is true on the lower end, where 300 is the general bottom for credit score ranges.

In between these numbers, credit evaluators look for different ranges of credit risk. A credit score estimator might return a number like 750, which is considered pretty good, but not flawless. In contrast, anything under 620 and all the way down into the lower hundreds is considered poor, meaning a lender's willingness to extend credit to the person holding a score in this range is likely to be low. If the number is significantly down toward the end of the scale, there are often outstanding judgments from creditors (unpaid bills or obligations) that are ruining the credit score.

Trying to get a credit score into the range you want requires you to deal with outstanding judgments, bad credit history, and any other black marks on your record. It also means establishing a good credit history going forward to balance out the equation. But it starts with getting your credit score, taking a first-hand look at where you fall within the credit score range, and determining why you're there.

Read More About Credit Scores

• How missed and late credit card payments affect your credit score
• Your Credit Score: How Your Credit Cards Influence It
• The Relationship between Credit Scores and Age
• Credit Scores vs. FICO VantageScores
• Why Each Credit Bureau Has Its Own Credit Score
• Medical Bills Don't Have to Ruin a Credit Score
• Chapter 7 or 13 Bankruptcy Can Affect Credit Scores
• Ordering Your Credit Score From a Credit Bureau
• What is a Bad Credit Score?
• Factors That Damage Your Credit Score
• What Is a Good Credit Score?
• Credit Score Myths
• How Credit Scores Are Calculated
• Why You Need to Know All Three Credit Scores
• What Are the Three Credit Bureaus?
• How Credit Scores Affect Insurance Premiums
• Student Habits That Kill Your Credit Score
• Store Credit Card Application Could Damage Your Credit Score
• International Credit Score
• What A Credit Card Balance Does to Credit Scores
• How a HELOC Affects Your Credit Score
• Medical Credit Score
• Your Credit Score May Be Worse Than You Think
• FICO - What is Coming in 2009
• Credit Score Ranges
• Five Parts to Your FICO Credit Score
• How Corporate Cards Affect Your Personal Credit Score
• Who Wants to Know Your Credit Score
• Credit Rating - How Your Credit Gets A Score
• Credit Line and Your Credit Score