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What Categories Affect Your Credit Score?

Last Updated: January 10, 2025

4 min read

Table of contents

Key Points:

Your credit score helps lenders decide your creditworthiness.
Your payment history, credit utilization, length of credit history, new credit applications, and your credit mix make up your credit score.
A good credit score may help you get approval for future credit opportunities.

Your credit score is a three-digit number calculated from the information found in your credit report. Your credit score tells lenders how likely you are to pay back the money you borrow based on your credit history. Your creditors report your activity about once a month to a credit reporting agency (credit bureau).

There are different credit scoring models from each credit bureau. Plus, not every credit card issuer reports to all three major credit bureaus, so you may see a different credit score from each source.

Typical credit score range:

Exceptional—800 to 850
Very good—740 to 799
Good—670 to 739
Fair—580 to 669
Poor—579 or less

Your credit score is one of the most important numbers you'll have in your life. Do you know what goes into a credit score and how you can improve yours?

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What categories make up your credit score?

The following key credit categories help make up your score. The weight of each category may vary slightly depending on the credit scoring model used.

Payment history (35%)
Amounts owed or credit utilization ratio (30%)
Length of credit history (15%)
New credit (10%)
Credit mix (10%)

Payment history

Your payment history looks at whether you’ve paid your past credit accounts on time. This is the most important category of your credit score.

Because your payment history makes up about 35% of your total credit score, you should try to pay all your bills on time. You can put your bills on autopay or set up text or email alerts to help you avoid late payments.

You can choose to pay only the minimum amount due on your credit card. However, if you pay your statement balance in full each month, you could avoid interest charges on purchases and may help lower your credit card utilization.

Credit Utilization

Your credit utilization is the amount you owe compared to the amount of available credit you have.

For example, if you have a $1,000 balance on a credit card with a $8,000 limit, your credit use for that card would be 12.5%. To find your credit card utilization percentage across all cards: Divide the total balance across all your cards by your total credit limit.

According to the Office of Financial Readiness, you should aim for a credit utilization ratio of 1–10%. One way that you can help maintain a low credit utilization rate is by paying more than your minimum payment each month.

Length of credit history

Your length of credit history looks at how long you’ve managed your different credit accounts. The only way to get a longer credit history is just to wait, but if you’re new to credit, you can build a credit history with a secured credit card or student credit card if you’re enrolled in college.

New credit

The new credit category measures how often you apply for new credit accounts. When you open a new credit account, this can result in a hard inquiry appearing on your credit file. A hard credit inquiry can negatively affect your score temporarily, so you should only open new credit accounts sparingly.

If you want to shop around for credit cards, one option is to see if there are any cards that you prequalify for. When you prequalify for a credit card, it typically only results in a soft inquiry and doesn’t hurt your credit score.

Check which cards you prequalify for and compare offers for the best credit card for you before applying for one.

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Credit mix

Credit mix is the different types of credit accounts that you have. This includes revolving credit like credit cards, and other credit like a personal loan, car loan, student loan, or mortgage. Your credit mix makes up a small part of your credit score, but it's helpful to have different forms of credit.

Why do I have different credit scores?

You can sometimes have different credit scores because there may be different information on your credit file at the three major credit bureaus.

How can I improve my credit?

If you want to stay on top of your credit score, there are some things you can do that may help:

Pay your bills on time.
Pay down your credit card debt.
Maintain a good mix of credit.
Limit the amount of new credit lines you open.
Check your credit report for any errors.

Why is a good credit score important?

Good credit may help you reach more of your financial goals and qualify for more credit offers. For example, good credit can help you qualify for some of the best credit card offers from a new lender, like travel cards or cash back rewards credit cards. Understanding what categories make up your credit score may or could go a long way in helping you to improve your own score.

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