What is a bad credit score? What's a good score?
 Usually, credit scores are on a scale from 400 to 900, with higher scores
being better. With the most commonly used scoring systems...
- If your credit score
is over 800, you're in the top 10% of the populace.
- If your score is about 710, you're right in the middle. (Half of the US
population is better, and half is worse.)
- If your score is below about 575, you are in the bottom 10%.
Typically, a lender or credit card company sets multiple cutoff points. For
example, if you are above 800, you might be offered the Platinum card. If you
are above 700, you might be offered the Gold Card. If you are on the border
line, your application might be referred to a credit manager for further
review. Click here to get your credit
report and score now.
It is important to remember - what is a bad score for one lender, might be OK
to another. (And, there are still some lenders that don't use scores at
all.) Lender's set their own policies and cutoff points, and they may
target their offerings to people in specific ranges of credit scores.
Credit score Decisions
There are many kinds of decisions based on credit scores...
- Approve or decline.
- Require a big deposit, little deposit, or no deposit.
- Require a big down payment, little down payment, or nothing down.
- Offer a high, moderate, or low interest rate.
- Fund your "paper" though this, that, or the other
source of funding
- Offer this or that product, this or that credit card.
In many cases, the credit score might be based on just one bureau's data -
for example Experian. Sometimes, especially for mortgage loans, lenders
ask for the scores from all three bureaus: Experian,
Equifax, and Trans
Union. Then they take the middle score. (Depending on their own rules,
they might use the top score, the bottom score, or the average of all three. It
is up to to the lender, or the investors that are providing the funds to the
lender.)
More and more often, the decisions are becoming completely automated. A human
might not even look at your credit report!
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