Family Finance Help

700 to 850 - Excellent or Very Good Credit
680 to 699 - Good Credit
620 to 679 - Okay or Average Credit
580 to 619 - Low Credit
500 to 580 - Poor Credit
300 to 499 - Bad Credit
Things such as late credit card payments, or other bill payments, have a very negative impact on your score. For example, someone with an average good credit rating of 700, can increase their score by as much as 20-25 points, simply by making all of their monthly bill payments on time. Increasing debts can have a negative affect your credit score. By maxing out all of your credit cards you can lower your credit score by as much as 60 to 100 points.

By keeping an active credit card, and making all of your monthly payment on time, you are actually helping your credit more than if you did not have a credit card at all. This is because the FICO credit scoring system works to show that whether you are a responsible borrower, who is not in over their head.

A major benefit to checking your FICO credit score is to check for errors and out-of-date or inaccurate information. Detecting other things, such as identity theft and fraud, are other excellent reasons to check your FICO credit score and credit report. If you find any errors or inaccurate information, you can notify the credit reporting agency to remove them, boosting your overall credit score.

How Do I Check My FICO Score and Credit Report?