Credit scores compress your borrowing history into a three-digit number, most commonly on a 300–850 scale. Lenders use it to decide two things: whether to say yes, and what to charge you.

The bands, roughly

Exact cutoffs vary by lender and model, but the market broadly reads the scale like this:

  • 800+ — exceptional. Everything's approved; you get the best advertised rates.
  • 740–799 — very good. You see top-tier pricing on most products.
  • 670–739 — good. Approvals are routine; pricing is solid if not always best-shelf.
  • 580–669 — fair. Approvals get selective and interest rates climb noticeably.
  • Below 580 — poor. Mainstream credit is mostly unavailable; secured and builder products are the path forward.

Where the number actually bites

The score's real-world impact is concentrated at the band boundaries, and it's largest on big, long debts.

On a mortgage, the pricing difference between a "fair" and a "very good" profile can amount to a meaningfully higher monthly payment on the same house — sustained for decades. On auto loans the APR gap between bands is even wider, it just runs for fewer years. On credit cards, the score decides which products you can get at all.

That leads to the most useful reframing: moving from the middle of one band to the middle of the next is worth real money; moving from 780 to 820 is worth nothing. Optimize until you're safely in the band you need, then spend your energy elsewhere.

What the number is made of

Scoring models weigh roughly the same handful of things: whether you pay on time (the biggest factor), how much of your available credit you're using, how old your accounts are, how recently you've applied for credit, and the mix of account types. We break each one down in the five factors that move your score.

A sane way to relate to your score

Check it through a free monitoring service, not by buying reports. Expect small month-to-month wobble — balances report on a cycle, so a few points of noise is normal. React to trends and to surprises (a sudden drop can flag an error or fraud), not to single-digit moves.

The score is an output. The inputs — autopay, low balances, old accounts left open, rare applications — are the only things you can actually manage.